〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of the love of God alone wherewith he loved us of Hieromâ—… and likewise of Primatius Quomodo nos Deus diligat ex hoc cognoscinous how God doth love us hereby wee know To these from among the Popish Writers we may adde Cardinal Cajetan who saith the Apostle manifesteth the solid foundation of hope from the love of God towards us and againe whereby it appeareth that he setteth forth the love of God towards us as the chiefe foundation of hope Cardinal Tolet charitatem Dei appellat qua diligit nos Deus he calleth it the love of God wherewith hee loveth us Arias Montanus that our hope is rooted in that love wherewith God hath loved us B. Iustitian who expoundeth the words thus because that divine charity wherewith God imbraced us is shed into our hearts § III. Thirdly wee oppose evident reasons from the whole context that is not onely from the words of the text it selfe but also from those which either goe before or follow after For first touching the words of the Text By the holy Spirit is meant the Spirit of Adoption as Bellarmine confesseth in his next proofe viz. that the Apostle speaking Rom. 8. 15. de hoc ipso Spiritu of this selfe same Spirit saith you have received the Spirit of Adoption who is then said to shed abroad Gods love in our hearts when he doth perswade our soules of Gods love towards us in Christ testifying with our Spirits that wee are the sonnes of God and making us to cry in our hearts Abba Father with whom being the Spirit of promise and the earnest of our inheritance so many as beleeve are sealed unto the day of our â—…ull redemption Thus by sealing unto our soules the assurance of Gods love he is said to shed abroad the love of God in our hearts Secondly that love of God which he sheddeth abroad in our hearts and sealeth unto us as the ground whereupon our sound hope which never maketh ashamed is founded is Gods eternall and immutable love from the assurance whereof sealed unto us by the Holy Ghost our assured hope doth flow And therefore if we speake as the Apostle here doth of such a love of God as is both the Object of our faith and the ground of our hope we must say with Saint Iohn herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Sonne to be the propitiation for our sinnes For that is it whereby especially God hath commended this his love towards us as it is here said vers 8. and as Saint Iohn also saith in the same place 1 Ioh. 4. 9. In this was manifested the love of God towards us because God sent his onely begotten Sonne into the world that we might live through him As for us wee love God because he loved us first 1 Ioh. 4. 19. For when we are by the holy Ghost shedding abroad the love of God in our hearts perswaded of Gods love towards us in Christ then and never till then our hearts are inflamed to love God againe and our neighbour for Gods sake But why is this love of God said to be shed forth in our hearts for this some doe urge I answere either in respect of the knowledge and assurance thereof wrought in us by the holy Ghost as I have said for therefore the holy Ghost is given unto us that we might know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things freely given or vouchsafed unto us of God among which the principall is his love or as those of the Church of Rome who consent with us in this point do speak it is said to be effused either as the cause is said to be effused by the effects which are the gifts proceeding from Gods love the chiefe whereof is the Spirit which is given unto us even the Spirit of adoption which as Chrysostome saith upon this place is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greatest gift or as the bounty of a Prince is shed abroad by his Almoner distributing the princes goods for even so the love and gracious bounty of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Spirit of grace the dispenser of Gods gifts unto us 1 Cor. 12. 11. § IV. In the words going before the Apostle setteth downe the fruits of justification by faith first that being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ secondly by him we have through faith accesse into this grace wherein wee stand or as the Apostle speaketh Ephes. 3. 12. by him we have boldnesse and accesse with confidence through faith in him thirdly joy in the holy Ghost rejoycing in hope of the glory of God And in these three the kingdome of grace consisteth viz. in righteousnesse peace and joy in the holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. And this joy the Apostle amplifieth because we glory and rejoyce in hope of glory not onely when all things goe with us according to our minds but also in affliction and tribulation Knowing that affliction being sanctified to them who have peace with God worketh patience and patience worketh probation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as Chrysostome very well expoundeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it maketh him approved who is tryed for by patient bearing of afflictions which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tryals a man is by experience found to bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a sound and upright Christian as Saint Iames saith and when hee is so found hee shall receive the Crowne of life And therefore hath cause to hope as Saint Paul here saith that probation worketh hope and the hope of him that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 maketh not ashamed whereas contrariwise the hope of the hypocrite maketh him ashamed but what is the ground of all this how come wee to have this peace this confidence this joy this undaunted hope Can wee have it by the bare assent of faith without application or desire thereof which is the onely faith which the Papists acknowledge Can wee have it by our owne charity when wee cannot know as the Papists teach that we have charity Nothing lesse but the ground and foundation of all our peace and comfort is this because the spirit of God teaching those that beleeve to apply the promises of the Gospell to themselves which cannot be done without special faith the love of God is shed forth into their hearts that is by the Spirit of adoption sealing those that do beleeve they are perswaded in some measure assured of the eternall love of God towards them in Christ upon which doe follow peace of conscience accesse with confidence and joy in the holy Ghost I conclude with Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith hee the Apostle having said that hope maketh not ashamed hee ascribeth all this not to our good workes but to the love of God not that whereby wee love him for that is our chiefe 〈◊〉
that which is lesse than it ought to be is faulty or vicious By reason of which vice there is not a righteous man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not By reason of which vice no man living shall be justified before God By reason of which vice if we shall say that we have no sinne we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us And for which though we be never so good proficients we must of necessity say forgive us our debts c. § XI Secondly hee replyeth that the Law which prescribeth love requireth no more but that we should love with our whole heart But that this not onely may be done but also should be done in the new Testament the Scripture doth witnesse Deuâ—… 30. 6. Answ. The Phrase of loving with the whole heart being legally understood according to the perfection prescribed in the Law doth signifie as it soundeth neither can be performed by any mortall man though regenerate because he is partly flesh and partly Spirit Neither can more than the Law requireth in this behalfe be performed in our Country For as August saith in the life to come our love shal be not only above that which here we have but also far above that which we either aske or think Notwithstanding it can be no more than what the Law requireth with all our heart with all our soule and with all our minde For there doth not remaine in us any thing which may be added ad totum to that which is all for if any thing remaine which might bee added then it is not totum all But the phrase is many times Evangelically understood as in the place quoted to signifie not absolute or legall perfection but the integrity and uprightnesse of the heart which is the Evangelicall perfection as I have shewed elsewhere and shall againe ere long declare § XII Thirdly he replyeth that the Scriptures teach that men may bee perfect in this life And to this purpose alleâ—…geth Gen. 6. 9. 17. 1. Matth. 5. 48. 19. 17. Phil. 3. 15. 1 Iohâ—… 2. 5. The use of the word in these and some other places is to bee distinguished For in the most of them it is not opposed to imperfection and so many places are impertinently alleaged but either to hypocrisie and so it signifieth up right and sincere as Gen. 6. 9. 17. 1. Or to partiality when wee are good to some but not to others as Matth. 5. 48. Be you perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect doing good to men of all sorts both good and bad both friends and foes or to infancy and childhood and so it signifieth adultus a growne man and so it is used 1 Cor. 14. 20. Heb. 5. 14. and so in the place cited Phil. 3. 15. Where the Apostle acknowledging that he had not attained to perfection but still labouring to bee a good proficient exhorteth so many as are perfect to be of the same minde with him that is to strive towards perfection as having not yet attained to iâ—… In 1 Iohn 2. 5. the phrase is varied In him that keepeth Gods word the love of God is perfected that is perfectly knowne hereby we know that we are in him And so is the word used Iam. 2. 22. 2 Cor. 12. 9. There remaineth onely the answere of Christ to the justitiary Matth. 19. 17. If thou wilt bee perfect c. Which as I have shewed before our Saviour fitteth to the disposition of that justitiary whom having a great conceit of himselfe that he had kept all the commandements of God from his youth he thought good to discover and unmaske by a commandement of tryall If thou wilt saith hee bee perfect that is If thou wilt approve thy selfe to be a perfect observer of the Law as thou pretendest goe and sell that thou hast and give to the poore and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and follow mee For if thou refusest so to doe thou shalt bewray thy selfe to bee a meere wordling preferring the love of the world besore the love of God and desiring to retaine thy earthly wealth rather than to obtaine the heavenly treasure § XIII His third sort of testimonies is of such as doe testifie that some have kept the Commandements of God and namely those of loving with the whole heart and of not coveting And to to this purpose he alleageth the examples of David of Iosiah of Asa and his people of Iosuah and others whom hee doth but name of Zachary and Elizabeth of the Apostles and namely of Paul and in conclusion of Ezechias and of Abraham Answ. All these were sincere and upright keepers and observers of the Law but none of them were perfect and perpetuall fulfillers of it none of them wâ—…re wâ—…thout sinne David was a man according to Gods owne heart in respect of his uprightnesse and integrity 1 King 3. 6. and for that and not for any absolute perfection he is commended in the places alleaged Psal. 119. 10. 1 King 14. 8. Act. 13. 22. 1 King 15. 5. And yet for all this David was a sinner and in many of his Psalmes bewayleth his manifold sinnes desiring the Lord not to enter into judgement with him for if hee should neither he nor any other could be just in his sight placing his justification in the remission of his sinnes and in Gods acceptation of him imputing unto him righteousnesse without workes Iosias also was a godly and upright king but yet not without fault in that hee harkened not unto the Words of Necho from the mouth of God but presumptuously fought against him 2 Chron. 35. 22. Of the people under Asa no more can be gathered but that with upright hearts and willing minds they entred into a covenant to seeke the Lord in sincerity and truth Of Asa himselfe the Scripture indeed doth testifie that his heart was perfect that is upright before the Lord all his dayes Notwithstanding in the same place it is said that the high places were not taken away and in the next Chapter three sinnes of his are recorded that hee had relied on the King of Syria and not on the Lord that being reproved therefore by the Prophet Hanani he committed the Prophet to prison that in his sickenesse he sought not to the Lord but to the Physitians That which is said of 〈◊〉 doth not concerne the observation of the Morall Law but those politicke precepts which the Lord had given to Moses and Moses to Iosuâ—…h concerning the utter destruction of the Canaanites whom the Lord had delivered into his hands Of Zachary and Elizabeth it is said first that they were just before God that is upright and secondly that they walked in all the commandements and ordinances of the Lord blamelesse which latter they might doe and yet bee farre from that perfection which the Law requireth For Paul professeth of himselfe that even before his
the gifts of grace bestowed on them for the good of others Deâ—…t 33. 8. 2 Chron. 6. 41. Psal. 4 4. 132. 6. 16. To which purpose 〈◊〉 saith wel God loveth all things which he hath made and among them he loveth more the reasonable creatures and among them hee loveth more amply those who are the members of his onely begotten Sonne and much more his onely begotten himselfe the sonne of his love And generally by how much the better any man is than others it is an evidence that hee is so much graced and favoured of God the grace and favour of God being the cause of their goodnesse and consequently the greater favour of greater goodnesse § X. Fifthly it is saith he compared to essence which is given by creation hence it is that we are said to be created in Christ Eph. 2. 10. and to be a new creature Gal. 6. 15. But that by which we are called creatures is inward and inherent in us Answ. That whereby wee are created anew according to the image of God in true holinesse and righteousnesse is the grace not of justification for wee are created to good workes which in the same place are opposed to grace and are excluded from justification but of regeneration and sanctification which we acknowledge to be inwardly wrought by the holy Spirit in those that are justified by the gracious favour of God through faith But who would thinke that the Papists were so blinded with malice as either to perswade themselves or to goe about to perswade others that wee deny the graces of sanctification to bee inherent and affirme that wee are sanctified by such a righteousnesse or holinesse as is without us § XI Finally saith he it is compared to light 2 Cor. 6. 14. What followship hath light with darkenesse Eph. 5. 8. Ye were sometimes darkenesse but now you are light in the Lord. 1 Ioh. 2. 9. He that saith that hee is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkenesse But light doth not make a body lucidum unlesse it be inherent neither doth it suffer darkenesse with it How then 〈◊〉 a justified man bee said not onely to be â—…ucidus lightsome but also light in the Lord whereas before he was darke if still the darkenesse of sinne be inherent iâ—… him and the light of grace abide without Answ. Wee are called light in the abstract by a metonymie either because we are in the light which is not inherent in us being either God or the favor of God which is the state of grace or because of that light which is in us which is the grace not of justification but of regeneration and is compared to light both in respect of the inward illumination of the soule and also of the externall sanctification of the life shining forth to others of which our Saviour speaketh Mat. 5. 16. Let your light viz. of your godly conversation so shine before men that they seeing your good workes may glorifie your Father that is in heaven But where he saith there can be no darkenesse in him that is light it is as much as if hee should say that there can be no sinne in him that is sanctified But he should remember that God alone is light in whom there is no darkenesse 1 Ioh. 1. 5. and that in the best of us there is darkenesse that is the flesh even a body of sin and of death as well as light that is the Spirit Gal. 5. 17. Rom. 7. 14 17 20 23 24 25. and that hee who saith hee hath no sinne which is the case of all justified yea of all baptized and of all absolved and absolute Papists he is a Iyar and there is no truth in him 1 Ioh. 1. 8. And this was his fourth argument containing sixe petite proofes CHAP. V. His fifth argument from Rom. 5. 5. answered § I. FOr having no more places where grace is named to proove justifying grace to bee inherent hee flyeth to Rom. 5. 5. where not grace but the love of God is mentioned That grace saith he wherby the Apostle saith wee are justified is said also to be charity diffused in our hearts by the holy Ghost which is given unto us The words are because the love of God or Gods love is effused or powred forth c. But here now the question is first whether by the love of God in this place is meant the love whereby God loveth us or that love whereby wee love God And secondly if that love of God whereby wee love him should be meant how is it proved that that love of ours is Gods justifying grace For this latter though wee constantly deny it Bellarmine goeth not about to prove but taketh for granted it being the maine point in question which cannot be proved out of this or any other place As touching the former our Divines doe hold that by Gods love in this place is meant that love whereby God loveth us and not that whereby wee love God The Papists hold the contrary which Bellarmine endeavoreth to proove by the testimony of Augustine and two weake proofes out of Rom. 8. § II. The testimony of Augustine hee urgeth very sophistically as if wee had no better proofe to oppose to the testimony of Saint Augustine than the authority of our owne writers or as if we might not differ from Augustine in expounding some place of Scriptures unlesse we will preferre our selves before him when notwithstanding the Popish writers in expounding the Scriptures differ from Augustine as oft as wee But to the Testimony of Augustine who saith that the love which is said to bee shed in our hearts is not that love whereby God loveth us but that whereby we love God we oppose first the authority of those Writers who understand this place of the love of God both actively wherewith he loveth us which is the same with his saving grace and also passively whereby he is loved of us which is a notable fruit of his saving grace or of either of them both indifferently as Origâ—…n Sedulius Haymo Anselmus Remigius Bruno Thomas Aquinas Dominicus à Soto Pererius Disput. 2. in Rom. 5. Cornelius à Lapide Secondly the authority of those who understand this love to be that wherewith God loveth us As of Ambrose who saith wee have the pledge of Gods love in us by the holy Ghost given unto us for that the promise is faithfull the holy Ghost given to the Apostles and to us doth prove and doth confirme our hope and that he might commend the love of God in us that because it is impossible that those who are beloved should be deceived he might make us secure concerning the promise because both it is God who hath promised and they are deare to him to whom he hath promised Of Chrysostome who saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom Theophylact followeth from that love which God sherved towards us Of Oecumenius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Flesh and the Flesh lusting against the Spirit So that though Will be present with us that wee cannot doe what we would and much lesse after what manner wee would that is with our whole soules with our whole mind heart and affections For what good wee minde or will as wee are Spirit the same wee will as wee are Flesh. This concupiscence the Apostle had not knowne to bee a sinne had not the Law said non concupisces that is thou shalt have none evill concupiscence neither habituall nor actuall Neither is it onely a sinne as the Apostle oftentimes doth cal it but also it is the mother-sinne Iam. 1. 13 Rom. 7. 17. which taking occasion by the Law to produce ill concupiscences therein forbidden is convinced not onely to bee a sinne but exceedingly sinnefull Rom. 7. 13. But of this I have spoken before and proved by the testimony of Augustine that concupiscence against which the good Spirit lusteth viz. in the regenerate for in the unregenerate the Spirit is not is both a sinne and the cause of sin and a punishment sinne § XIII And as touching the second the summe of the Law is that we should love God with all our heart and with all our soule c. but where is any defect of love there God is not loved with all the heart c. it being legally understood and therefore every defect is an aberration from the Law and consequently a sinne I have also proved out of Augustine that it is a fault where love is lesse than it ought to bee from which fault it is that there is not a righteous man upon earth which doth good and sinneth not For which also though wee bee never so good proficients wee must of necessity say forgive us our debts Therefore every defect is a debt that is a sinne whereunto wee may adde that of the same Augustine It is a sinne either when there is not charity where it ought to bee or is lesse than it ought to bee whether this may or may not bee avoided by the Will § XIV And as to the third If those which the Papists call veniall sinnes bee not contrary to the Law then they are not forbidden in the Law and without doubt they are not commanded therein Now if neither they bee commanded nor forbidden then they are things indifferent but that is absurd yea but saith hee veniall sinnes hinder not justice And the Scripture absolutely calleth some men just and perfect notwithstanding their veniall sinnes I answere they hinder not imputative justice nor evangelicall perfection which is uprightenesse for to them that beleeve and repent they are not imputed Neither can it be denied but that the most upright men have their imperfections infirmities and slippes which though in themselves and according to the Law are mortall sinnes for if they should not bee forgiven they would as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth exclude men from heaven yet to them that are in Christ Iesus thâ—…y become veniall by the mercie of God through the merits and intercession of Christ. § XV. His second reason is taken from divers absurdities which hee conceiveth doe follow upon our assertion when as indeed they follow not upon our doctrine but upon his malicious misconceiving and misreport thereof as if wee held that all even the best workes of the righteous are mortall sinnes But wee acknowledge that the good workes of men regenerate are truly good and so to bee called notwithstanding the imperfection thereof Onely wee deny them to be purely good wherin we have the consent of holy Scriptures and of the ancient Fathers some whereof I before alleaged to whom I added Gregory and Bernard Gregory in the conclâ—…sion of his Moralls saith thus Mala nostra pura mala sunt bona quae nos habere credimus pura bona esse uequaquaÌ„ possunt Our evill things are purely evill and the good things which we suppose our selves to have can by no meanes bee purely good Bernard t Our lowly justice if we have any is perhaps true but not pure Vnlesse peradventure wee beleeve our selves to bee better than our fore-fathers who said no lesse truely than humbly all our righteousnesses are as it were the cloth of a menstruous woman wee doe not say that the good workes of the faithfull are sins and much lesse mortall sins For we hold that the sins of the faithful become to them venial But this we say with Salomon that there is not a righteous man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not which in effect is the same with that assertion of Luther Iustus in omni opere bono peccat § XVI Now let us examine the absurdities which hee absurdly upon his owne malitious misconceit objecteth against us In all which it is supposed that wee call the good workes of the righteous sinnes yea mortall sinnes The first if all the workes of the faithfull bee sinnes then the worke of faith whereby we are justified and that prayer whereby we begge remission of sinne should be sinnes Answ. The worke of faith and the act of prayer are good but not purely and perfectly good Neither are we justified by the worthinesse or by the worke of our faith but by the Object which it doth receive nor obtaine our desires by the merit of our prayer but by the mediation and intercession of Christ our Saviour Our faith is such that wee have need alwayes to pray Lord increase our faith Lord I beleeve help mine unbeleefe and our prayer such that when wee have performed it in the best manner we can wee have neede to pray that the wants and imperfections of our prayer may bee forgiven us § XVII The second If all the works of the righteous be sinnes with what face could the Apostle say that hâ—… knew nothing by himselfe And what boldnesse was that for his good workes that is for his mortall sinnes to expect a Crowne of righteousnesse Answ. Though the Apostle had no doubt sometimes offended after his conversion yet he was not conscious to himselfe in particular of any actuall sinne or crime committed by him for as the Psalmist saith who can understand his errors No man saith Basil is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 free from sinne but God for of those many things wherein we offend the most wee understand not for which cause the Apostle saith I know nothing by my selfe but in that I am not justified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in many things I offend and doc not perceive whence also the Prophet saith who understandeth his trespasses But though hee was not conscious to himselfe of his slippes and oversights yet hee was not ignorent of his owne corruptious and infirmities against which when hee had prayed to God hee received this answere My grace is sufficient for thee and in weakenesse my power is made perfect Neither did the Apostle expect the reward for the
confute himselfe Now in the sixt verse the Apostle sheweth what manner of faith that is which justifieth viz. not a dead or a counterfeit but a lively and effectuall faith a faith which is effectuall or effectually worketh by love a faith which as Saint Iames saith is not without workes but is demonstrable by good workes § III. But these words Bellarmine doth wilfully deprave For in other places hee readeth and understandeth the wordes as wee doe following the vulgar Latine translation unto which hee is tyed by the decree of the Councell of Trent reading fides quae per charitatem operatur faith that worketh by charity as our English Rhemists also translate the words And to seeke no further in the very beginning of the next chapter where hee confuteth the erroneous opinion of Osiander who held that the righteousnesse of Christ whereby wee are justified is the essentiall righteousnesse of the Deity dwelling in us saith that this errour is manifestly refuted by the Apostle Rom. 4. proving the righteousnesse by which wee are justified to bee faith vivam viz. per dilectionem operantem to wit a lively faith and working by love and likewise Gal. 5. 5 6. we by faith expect the hope of righteousnesse for in Christ Iesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love Whereupon hee inferreth quòd si fides per dilectionem operans c. but if faith working by charity be that righteousnesse c. But here for a poore shift and to serve his present turne hee interpreteth the Greeke Participle of the middle voice as if it were passive fides quae agitur faith which is acted moved formed and as it were animated by love And therupon inferreth that charity isthe forme of faith and that faith justifieth formally as it is formed by charity and not otherwise and consequently that charity justifieth much more and hereupon also he buildeth afterwards that distinction of faith that it is either formata when it is acted by charity or informis when it is severed from it where also to helpe out the matter hee saith that the Latine word operatur is passively understood whereof as I suppose no example can bee given thereby making the translation barbarous and understanding it as never any before him understood iâ—… § IV. But to begin with the last it were a strange speech if a man signifie that the matter is acted by the form or that the body is acted by the soule should say corpus per animam operatur And no doubt if the old interpreter had meant so he would have said agitur and not operatur As for the Gâ—…eeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifieth effectuall or effectually working and so both the Verbe and the Participle which are used nine times at the least in the new Testament are or ought to be effectuall namely in it selfe or effectuall to worke according to the twofold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or act whereof the Philosophers and Schoolemen use to speake to wit the first and the second c. which distinction may be applied to habits of grace or gracious habits The first act which is the forme of faith or of any other grace is that Tushijah that essence or entity whereof Salomon speaketh wherby any grace is that which it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed and in truth which is the integrity of it and so saith Thomas actus primus est forma integritas rei in respect whereof faith and so every other grace is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unfained This is that principium agendi that inward act or efficacie whereby faith or any other grace is effectuall in it selfe lively active operative apt to produce operations according to their severall kinds without which faith or any other grace is dead and counterfeit and not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeede and in truth whereof it beareth the name but aequivocè even as the counterfeit of any man is called by his name The second act of faith or of any other grace is the actuall working thereof actus secundus saith Thomas est operatio And these acts are either immediate and eliciti as the Schoolemen speak or mediate and imperati As for example the immediate or elicite acts of justifying faith are first to beleeve truly and effectually and by a lively assent that Iesus the Sonne of the blessed Virgin is the eternall Sonne of God the Messias and the Saviour of all that beleeve in him Secondly because I so beleeve in Christ to beleeve that hee is my Saviour Thirdly by these acts faith receiving Christ who is our righteousnesse doth justifie The mediate acts which are called imperati are these acts which the immediate acts doe produce mediantibus aliis virtutibus by the mediation of other vertues For if I beleeve that Iesus is the Sonne of God and the Saviour of all that beleeve in him and consequently that hee is my Saviour hereupon I shall be moved to trust in him as my Saviour which is the act of affiance but commanded by faith and to expect salvation from him which is the act of hope but commanded by faith and likewise to love him and by love to obey him which are the acts of charity but commanded by faith as here it is said faith working by love § V. Now those graces by which faith worketh as namely charity have not the respect of the formall cause unto faith but rather of the instrumentall Neither doth faith worke by them as its forme but as its instruments as the soule by the body and the members thereof But that charity is not indeed the forme of faith whereby it is acted and formed it may appeare evidently by these reasons First because those which hold it to be the forme of faith deny it to bee the inward and intrinsecall forme whereby faith is that which it is which onely is the formall cause and as it were the soule of faith but extrinsecall whereby as they imagine the acts of faith are informed and so they make it by a strange kinde of Logicke the forme of all vertues as well as of faith Secondly because one habit disparated from another as the three Theologicall vertues faith hope and charity being also as themselves say seated in diverse subjects as the seat of faith is the mind of love the heart cannot possibly be the forme of the other Thirdly that habit which proceedeth from another as the fruit and effect thereof cannot bee the forme of that other But charity which is the fulfilling of the Law proceedeth from faith unfained 1 Tim. 1. 5. For therefore doe wee love God and our neighbour for his sake because by faith wee are peâ—…swaded of his love towards us and therefore doe wee love him because hee loved us first 1 Ioh. 4. 19 Fourthly if charity be the forme of faith then faith is the matter
being certaine that he is faithfull râ—…joyce where observe that those are faithfull not that are baptized but that keep their vow of Baptism and that those that live wickedly are falsi fideles falsly called faithfull Againe qâ—…antum crediâ—…s tantum amamus Ansâ—…lm fides quâ—… non habet charitaâ—… opera bona fidâ—…s Dâ—…monum est non Christianorum Faith which hath not charity and good workeâ—… is the faith of Divels not of Christians And againe fides sine operibus noâ—… est vera fides Bernard faith maketh a true Catholike not that which iâ—… common to Devils and men but that which is common to men and Angelicall Spirits and which is that that which worketh by love CHAP. III. Bellarmines proofes that true faith may bee severed from Charity first from the Scriptures and then from Fathers § I. NOw let us examine Bellarmines proofes And first out of the Scriptures 1. Ioh. 12. 42 43. Many of the princes or rulers beleeved in Christ but they did not confessâ—… for they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God Herâ—… saith â—…ee the Evangelist testifieth that in these Princes there was Faith without Charity His reason is thus to be framed The Princes which did not confesse Christ were void of Charity The same Princes beleeve in Christ. Therefore some that beleeve in Christ are void of Charity The proposition is proved because they loved the glory or praise of men more than of God Answ. If they did absolutely and altogether preferre the glory of men before the glory of God then hâ—…d they neither love of God nor faith in Christ see Ioh. 5. 42 44. But if by force of temptation or by humane frailty as feâ—…refulnesse and too much love of the World which are corruptions incident to the best they were for a time hindered from professing Christ I dare not say they were void of Charity For Saint Peter when he both loved Christ and beleeved in him did deny him which was worse than not confessing him And it may be that among those rulers were reckoned Nicodemus and Ioseph of Arimathâ—…a who though they had not for â—… time openly professed Christ yet when there was greatest cause of feare and of doubt and least encouragement to professe him they expressâ—… their love towards him Ioh. 19. 31 39. To the assumption I aâ—…swere those princes who being void of Charity loved the glory of men more than the glory of God by the testimony of Christ neither did nor could beleeve Ioh. 5. 42 44. Neither did all they truely beleeve in Christ who in the Scriptures are said after a sort to have beleeved in him For Ioh. 2. 23. many are said to have belâ—…ved in his name to whom our Saviour would not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concredit himselfe because hee knew what was in them vers 24. 25. § II. His second proofe is out of 1 Cor. 13. 2. If I had all faith so that I could remove mountaines and have not charity I am nothing therefore faith may bee severed from Charity Answ. This place is either generally understood of all faith or particularly of the whole faith of working miracles but in neither sense doth it favour the popish sancie If generally then the Apostle must bee understood as speaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of supposition and not as positively affirming that either he or any other having all faith wanted Charity therefore this supposition quâ—… nihil ponit proveth nothing Yea in suppositions and fained comparisons a man may suppose things incredible and impossible and much more improbable as in this place it selfe if I should speake with the tongues of men and Angels and have not love if I had all faith so that I could remove mountaines and have not love and though I bestow all my goods as it were by morsels to free the poore and though I gave my body to be burnt and have not Charity and yet those suppositions whether improbable or incredible are of no lesse force in arguing than if they were absolutely true Indeed if the adversary could from this hypotheticall proposition truly assume the antecedent as he cannot then might hee urge this place to some purpose but if it may more truely be denied or taken away as for example if I or any other had all faith and yet had not love as nâ—…ver man yet had then is this allegation to no purpose To this Bellarmine replyeth that the Apostle doth not argue from a condition impossible but usâ—…th an hyperbolt when notwithstanding it is most evident that the Apostle speaketh not in a simple hyperbolicall speech as Bellarmine maketh him but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if I had which I have not but this supposall or fiction of a condition incredible doth no lesse prove the necessity of Charity than if it were absolutely true If the place be understood particularly of the faith of miracles the particle all being not universall but integrall as if it had beene said the whole faith including all the degrees of it which is very probable not onely in respect of the authority of the Fathers heretofore mentioned but also by the words themselves first because he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as speaking of a particular secondly because hee doth instance in a high degree of that particular so that I could remove mountaines then this alegation is impertinent For the question is not of the faith of miracles whether it may be severed from Charity which we confesse but of the true justifying faith which not all they have who have the faith of miracles For that hath beene bestowed upon Iudas and other reprobates Matth. 10. 1. 7. 22 23. which plainely overthroweth Bellarmines conceit that the faith of miracles is the same with jâ—…stifying faith but excelling which is false in two respects for first it would then follow that all they who have had this faith should have beene endued with justifying faith and that all who have excelled in the greatest measure and degree of justifying faith should have beene adorned with the faith of miracles Both which are untrue Secondly the Schoole men when they distinguish grace into gratia grâ—…tum 〈◊〉 which is the justifying and sanctifying grace tending to the good and Salvation of the party who hath it and gratia gratis data tending to the good of others the faith of working miracles is reckoned in the later ranke 1 Corinthians 12. 8 9 10. § III. Yea but it is promised Mark 16. 17. that signes should follow them that beleeve namely by a justifying faith whereof is mention vers 16. But not say I that all beleevers should be workers of miracles but some for all From whence nothing can be proved but that to some which did beleeve the gift of working miracles should bee granted for the confirmation of the faith Yea but by saith in forâ—…r times the faithfull stopped the mouths of Lyons quenched the
proposition because a third thing may be added and that is this or because the spirit of grace or regeneration who is the author and efficient of both hath unseparably united them in one and the same subject wherein working the one that is faith with it and by it he worketh the other As touching the Assumption the former part that the one is not of the nature of the other it is denied by the Roman-Catholike the latter that the one doth not necessarily spring from the other by the true Catholikes For the Papists hold that charitie is the forme of justifying faith without which it neither doth nor can justifie And therefore they of all men ought to hold that justifying faith cannot be severed from charitie For whereas Bellarmine saith that charitie is but the outward forme of faith by which it worketh I acknowledge no outward forme but of artificiall bodies As for that which is principium motus by which any thing worketh it is the very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the actus primus the proper forme whereby any thing as it is that which it is so it worketh and produceth his proper and naturall effects And such is the unseparable coexistence of the forme and the thing formed that posita forma res ipsa ponatur sublata forma res ipsa 〈◊〉 The Papists therefore hold things repugnant and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when they teach that charitie is the forme of justifying faith and yet that justifying faith may be severed from it The second that the one doth not necessarily spring from the other we deny For true faith doth necessarily and infallibly encline the beleever to love God and his neighbour for Gods sake For that faith whereby we are perswaded of Gods love to us in Christ cannot but move and encline us to love God neither can we love God as good if we doe not first beleeve that hee is good And such as is the measure of our faith concerning Gods goodnesse to us such is the measure of our love to him Bellarmine consesseth that saith enclineth and disposeth a man to love but saith a disposition and inclination non cogit doth not compell a man but leaveth him free As though there were no necessitie but of coaction or constraint § VIII That charitie doth necessarily follow faith as an unseparable companion he saith we have no sound proofes and therefore are faine to illustrate it by certaine similitudes which he calleth examples Answ. Whether we have any sound proofes or not I referre the Christian reader to the fifteene arguments which Bellarmine tooke no notice of besides those sixe I vindicated from his cavils As for similitudes they were not brought to prove the point but to illustrate and to make it more plaine As if I should compare a regenerate soule to fire as Christ did Iohn Baptist to a burning and shining lampe I might say which was Luthers similitude as in fire or rather if you please in the Sunne-beames two things concurre light and heate and neither is without the other the beames of the Sunne alwaies by their light producing heat so in the regenerate soule there are faith as the light and charitie as the heate and neither is without other because the spirit of regeneration as it were the Sunne by shedding abroad the beames of Gods love into our hearts that is by working in us faith by which we are perswaded of Gods love towards us in Christ inflameth our hearts with the love of God the beames of Gods love reflecting from our soules some warmth of love towards God To this Bellarminâ—… answereth that charitie in the Scriptures is compared to fire c. Answ. So it may in respect of the heate as faith also may in respect of the light as therefore in the fire concurreth both light and heate which cannot be severed so in the regenerate soule faith and love Bucers similitude was of a sicke man who being desperately sicke if a Physician shall assure him of health and much more if hee shall cure him by forgoing something that is most deare unto him cannot if hee beleeve so much but affect and love him so wee being desperately sicke of sinne and neare to death and damnation if the Lord shall by giving his owne Sonne not onely redeeme us from death but also entitle us to the kingdome of Heaven wee cannot if wee bee truly perswaded hereof by faith but love God againe who hath so loved us For we love God because he first loved us To this Bellarmine answereth that hee which beleeveth is inclined to love him in whom hee beleeveth but is not forced thereunto which no man averreth § IX A third similitude he would seeme to produce out of Calvins Institutions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ and his spirit cannot be separated so faith and charitie cannot be severed but though both the parts of this comparison are true yet there is no such similitude propounded by Calvin But in that place he proveth that true faith cannot bee severed from a godly affection because true faith embraceth Christ as he is offered unto us of his Father now of his Father hee is made unto us not onely righteousnesse to bee received by faith unto justification but holinesse also to bee applied by his spirit unto sanctification And therefore those that receive Christ receive also his spirit Bellarmine answereth that it is true indeed that he which receiveth Christ receiveth him with his spirit sed credendo recipit i. credit illum habere spiritum sanctificationis but he receiveth by beleeving that is he beleeveth that Christ hath aspirit of sanctification but from hence it doth not follow that the spirit of sanctification is alwaies with faith in a man unlesse it be objectively even as health is in a sicke man that hath it not when he thinketh of it and desireth it Thus in popish divinitie to receive the spirit of Christ is to beleeve that Christ hath a spirit of sanctification but not to be partaker thereof or to have the communion of the holy Ghost which notwithstanding all those have who truely beleeve in Christ. For all that truely beleeve are the sonnes of God as I have shewed and to so many as be his sonnes God doth send the spirit of his sonne into their hearts his spirit dwelleth in them and he by his spirit And if any man have not the spirit of Christ hee is none of his If therefore all that receive Christ receive also his spirit then all that truely beleeve are also endued with charitie as I have proved before § X. His sixth argument is taken from an absurditie which he saith followeth upon our doctrine For saith he they doe therefore contend that a man is justified by faith onely because if justification depended upon the condition of works or our obedience of the Law no man could be certaine of his justification to which effect the Apostle argueth
according to the perfection of it and as it is in it selfe considered in the abstract Otherwise we acknowledge degrees of assurance And if any of our Divines have held the speciall faith to be the onely justifying faith they are to be understood as speaking of justification in the court of conscience and as judging them onely to be justified and to have remission of sinnes who are in their owne consciences perswaded and in some measure assured thereof But besides and before the speciall faith whereby wee are justified in our owne conscience applying the promise of the Gospell to our selves a formall degree of faith is to bee acknowledged being the condition of the Evangelicall promises by which we aprehend receive and embrace Christ as hath been shewed and by which we are justified before God This degree of faith in order of nature goeth before repentance though in time repentance seemeth to goe before faith as being sooner discerned But in order of nature as well as of time repentance goeth before speciall faith Because no man can be assured of Gods favour in remitting his sinnes who hath not repented thereof CAP. XII Of foure other dispositions viz. love penitencie a purpose and desire to receive the Sacrament the purpose of a new life § I. HIs fourth disposition is Love for so soone as a man doth hope for a benefit from another as namely justificacation from God hee beginneth to love him from whom hee doth expect it In which words there is some shew that hope disposeth to love but that love doth dispose to justification not so much as a shew But that some love goeth before justification and disposeth thereto he endeavoureth to prove which if he could performe were to little purpose â—…or so long as this love doth not justifie his assertion doth not disprove justification by faith alone but indeed he proveth it not though to that purpose hee produceth besides foure testimonies of Scripture the authority of the Councell of Aurenge His first testimony is a supposititious senrence of an Apocryphall Booke For neither is the sentence in the originall Greeke nor the Booke canonicall neither is the sentence it selfe to the purpose Yee that feare the Lord love him and your hearts shall be he doth not say justified but enlightened that is as Iansenius expoundeth comforted For they that feare God and love him are already justified by faith from which both feare and love doe spring § II. His second testimony Luk. 7. 47. Many sinnes are forgiven her because she loved much therefore love is the cause of forgivenesse I answer by denying the consequence For here in the Papists are many times grossely mistaken who thinke that in every aetiologie the reason which is rendred is a cause so properly called when as indeed it may be any other argument or reason as well as the cause For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the cause in a large sense doth not onely fignifie that which causeth the effect which properly is called the cause of a thing or action but also any reason which proveth the thing propounded which is a cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not of the action or thing it selfe but of the reasoning or conclusion or as wee use to say consâ—…quentiae non consequentis of the consequence not of the consequent Thus it is called the fallacie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non causa pro causa when that is brought for any argument which it is not So the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is traÌ„slated redditio causae is the rendring of any reason from any argument whatsoever For in any syllogism that which is the medium though it bee the effect of the thing is the cause of the conclusion because it is the reason which proveth it and in this sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for which cause and wherefore is all one Thus the Papists prove Christs humiliation to have beene the cause of his exaltation as wee heard before because â—…he Apostle saith therefore God exalted him c thus they prove the workes of mercie to bee the cause of salvation because our Saiour saith for I was hungry c so here that love is the cause of forgivenesse because it is said for she loved much when indeed our Saviour argueth not from the cause to the effect but from the effect to the cause as is most evident First by the parable of a creditour who having two debtors whereof the one owed him five hundred pence the other fiftie and neither of them having any thing to pay he freely forgave them both their debt Our Saviour therâ—…fore demanding of the Pharisee who had invited him which of these debtours would love the creditour most the Pharisee truely answered I suppose he to whom he forgave most which answer approved by our Saviour plainely proveth that love was not the cause of forgivenesse but forgivenesse of love and the forgiveing of more the cause of greater love and the forgivenesse of lesse the cause of lesse love and consequently that the greater love was not the cause of greater forgivenesse but the effect of it This parable our Saviour applying to the Pharisee that invited him as the lesse debtour and to the woman which had been a notorious sinner as the greater debtor to both which he had forgiven their debts they having nothing to pay sheweth that her greaâ—…er love was an evidence of her greater debt forgiven Secondly by the antithesis in the same verse but to whom little is forgiven hee loveth but a little It is therefore plaine that the forgivenesse is the cause of love and the forgiving of more of more love and the forgiving of lesse of lesse love And as lesse love is a token of the lesse debt forgiven so greater love of more forgiven hee speaketh therefore of her love not as the cause going before but as the effect following after justification § III. And such is Bellarmines argument out of 1 Ioh. 3. 14. we are translated from death to life that is we are justified because we love the brethren therefore the love of the brethren is the cause of justification I deny the consequence the love of the brethren is not the cause but the fruit of our justification whereby it may be knowne And this appeareth manifestly out of these words which Bellarmine hath fraudulently omitted Nos scimus quia translati sumus c. wee know that wee are translated from death to life because wee love the brethren Our loue then is not the cause of justification but a manifest signe and evidence whereby it is knowne that we are already justified for so he saith speaking in the time past 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we are already passed or translated from death to life And to the like effect our Saviour speaketh Luk. 7. 47. as if hee had said hereby it appeareth that many sinnes are forgiven her because shee loved much But that it was not her love
The second thing is that in the word the Lord revealeth his purpose concerning those that live well or ill Thou thinkest because thou hast a conceit that thou art elected thou canst not be damned though thou live never so wickedly But be not deceived for God hath revealed his purpose concerning impenitent sinners who live and dye in sinne unrepented of that there is no inheritance for them in the kingdome of God As for example thou art a drunkard and wilt not be reclaimed from this sinne and yet presumest that thou shalt be saved because thou hast a conceit that thou art elected But be not deceived no drunkards shall inherit the kingdome of God On the other side thou hast a conceit that because thou art not elected thou canst not be saved though thou shouldest live never so godly But the Scripture is plaine that whosoever truely beleeveth in Christ whosoever unfainedly repenteth him of his sinnes whosoever walketh uprightly before God making Conscience of his wayes hee shall bee saved Therefore whatsoever thy concâ—…it may bee concerning thine election or not election if thou doest truely beleeve in Christ and repenting of thy sinnes doest endevour to lead a good life as sure as God is true thou shalt be saved § IV. Secondly in respect of Gods Word which is infallibly true Now the word plainely testifieth that whosoever is in Christ is a new creature that those who are in Christ live not after the flesh but after the Spirit that they who are Christs doe crucifie the flesh with â—…he lusts thereof that Christ was made unto us not onely righteousnesse and redemption but also sanctification that Christ came not with water alone or bloud alone but with water and blood the bloud of redemption to cleanse us from the guilt of sinne and the water of ablution to purge us from the pollution of sinne that in whom Christ dwelleth by faith hee dwelleth in them by his Spirit and that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his that faith being a fruit of the Spirit and a grace of regeneration it cannot bee where the Spirit of grace and regeneration is not and that unlesse men bee regenerate and borne a-new they cannot see the Kingdome of God § V. Thirdly in respect of Gods Oath in which it is impossible that he should lye Now God hath sworne that whom he redeemeth from the hand of their spirituall enimies he will give them to worship him in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of their life For redemption is as well from the dominion of sinne as from the guilt of it As for those who commit sinne that is in whom sinne raigneth they are the servants of sinne and therefore not actually redeemed by Christ for whom the Sonne freeth they are free indeed Those that are freed from sinne become the servants of righteousnesse Those that are delivered from the hand that is the power of their spirituall enemies are ipso facto made the servants of God whose service is true freedome Thus much of the necessity of infallibility § VI. Secondly they are necessary necessitate pracepti imposing a necessity of duety towards God Our Neighbour Our Selves Towards God that wee may bee not onely obedient obsequious and well pleasing unto him but also which ought to be the chiefe respect of all our actions that wee may shew our selves thankefull unto him who hath been so gracious unto us First by loving him againe who hath lovedus first For when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by his spirit that is when by faith wrought in us by his spirit we are perswaded of Gods infinite and unspeakable love towards us it cannot be but that our hearts should reflect some love towards him which is to be shewed in a willing observation of his Commandements Secondly in bringing forth those fruits which God expecteth and in atchieving that end which God propoundeth to himselfe in all his benefits bestowed upon us This is the will of God even our sanctification that fruit which he expecteth that end whâ—…ch hee aimeth at in all his blessings This is the end of our elâ—…ction that we may bee holy of our vocation 1 Thess. 4. 7. of our redemption 1 Pet. 2. 24. Tit. 2. 14. Ephes. 5. 26 27. Of our reconciliation Col. 1. 21 22. Of our regeneration Ephes. 2. 10. Of all his temporall benefits Psal. 105. 45 Thirdly by adorning the doctrine of God our Saviour Tit. 2. 10. Fourthly and principally by glorifying God who hath been so good unto us and propounding his glory unto us in all things For herein God is glorified if we bring forth much fruit Ioh. 15. 8. § VII Secondly towards our Neighbour first for avoiding of offence 1 Cor. 10. 32 Phil. 1. 10. making straight pathes unto our feet that others treading in our steppes need not stumble or fall providing things honest in the sight of all men labouring and endevouring to have a good conâ—…cience void of offence towards God and towards men Secondly that wee may edifie our neighbours by a godly example and provoke them to good workes and winne them unto Christ 1 Pet. 3. 1. Thirdly that wee may stoppe the mouthes of the adversaries which otherwise would bee open to blasphemâ—… the truth Tit. 2. 5. Fourthly that wee may cause them also to glorifie God Matth. 5. 16. Fifthly that wee may doe them good in exercising judgment and in practising the dueties of charity and mercie towards them Thirdly towards our Selves First that wee may avoid those judgements which are threatned against all sinnes both of omission and commission Deut. 28. 15 c. Matth. 3. 10 25. 41 42. Secondly that wee may be made partakers of those blessings which are promised to those who aâ—…e obedient to the will of God Psal. 84. 11. § VIII Thirdly they are necessary necessitate signi as necessary signes and evidences whereby wee are to gather assurance to our selves of our justification whereby our faith is to bee demonstrated whereby wee are to make our calling and our election sure Our election can not bee knowne à priori by any foregoing thiâ—…gs but à posteriori and namely by the fruits of sanctification which are also the fruits of our election For by a godly life our faith and justification is manifested 1 Ioh. 3. 7. â—…n respect wherof the faithfull are said to be justified by their workes Iam. 2. 21 25. being justified it is certaine that they are called according to his purpose and iâ—… so called then elected are they elected then undoubtedly they shall bee saved They are the cognizances of them that are to bee saved for by faith wee receive the inheritance among them that are sanctified They are the evidences by
a prayer for the justification or sanctification of the wicked that his sinne may bee no more as Bellarmine absurdly expoundeth it dicet peccatum fuisse non esse but is a propheticall imprecation against the wicked that God would break their arme that is their power and strength and that when he as a judge should inquire into their wickednesse they should not be found according to that Prov. 10. 25. he shall be no more that is as Augustine expoundeth it that the wicked when he is judged shall perish for his sinne And so Vatabius make inquiry into his sinne thou shalt not finde him neither doth the Psalmist say non invenietur ipsum scil peccatum sed non invenietur ipse scilicet peccator not it but he shall not be found § VI. For the perfection of righteousnesse hee alleageth three places two out of Ephes. 5. vers 8. Yee were sometimes darkenesse but now light in the Lord where the abstract Light is put for the concrete Lightsome as being inlightned as the Children of Light not that they are that light in which there is no darkenesse Neither is it said that we are in our selves Light but notwithstanding that darkenesse which remaineth in us wee are Light in the Lord. The second place is Ephes. 5. 26 27. where it is said that Christ did give himselfe for his Church that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that hee might present it to himselfe a glorious Church not having spot or wrinckle or any such thing but that it should be Holy and without blemish In which words there is no mention of justification but of sanctification which in this life is begun and increased by the worke of the Spirit in the Ministery of the Word and Sacraments that at the Marriage of the Lambe it may bee presented unto him a glorious Church not having spot or wrinckle c. Wherefore Augustine That which I said saith he that God hath chosen unto himselfe a glorious Church I did not therefore speake it because now it is altogether such though no doubt she was chosen that she might be such when Christ who is her life shall appeare for â—…en she also with him shall appeare in glory for which glory she is called a glorious Church And againe wheresoever I mentioned the Church not having spot or wrinckle it is not so to bee taken as though now it were but because it is prepared to be such when she also shall appeare glorious And the same answer will serve for the third place cited out of the Canticles 4. 7. Tota pulchraes macula non est in te thou are all faire there is no spot in thee unlesse perhaps he speake of the beauty of the Spouse adorned in her justification with the perfect righteousnesse of Christ for of her Sanctification which is but begun in this life it is not true But the Papists are without shame who apply such texts of Scripture to the now Church of Rome § VII Besides these places of Scripture Bellarmine saith many other very weighty arguments might bee brought but hee hath already produced them in his first booke De Baptismo cap. 13. which when they shall call come to bee weighed will be found light enough For those places which speake of the efficacie of Baptisme in washing cleansing and taking away our sinnes prove not that in justification sinnes are utterly abolished For in Baptisme is sealed to them that are Baptized yea and conferred to the faithfull the benefits not onely of justification but also of sanctification And therefore as it is the Sacrament of remission of sinne and the seale of that righteousnesse which is by faith so it is called the Laver of regeneration wherein we are Baptized into the similitude of Christ his death and resurrection And therefore though in Baptisme sinne were wholly taken away as well in respect of the corruption as of the guilt yet it would not follow that in justification there is a Totall deletion of sinne But neither in Baptisme is there a totall abolition of sin seeing it is manifest that originall sinne which is called the flesh the old man and evill concupiscence remaineth in all the faithfull though in some measure mortified yet never fully and altogether extinguished in this life And although the Papists for maintenance of their severall errors viz. of justification by inherent righteousnesse of the perfect fulfilling of the Law of merit of works of supererogation doe maintaine that concupiscence remaining in the faithfull after Baptisme is not a sinne and the Councell of Trent hath denounced Anathemà against them that shall say it is a sinne yet it is manifest not onely by the testimony of antiquity and evident reasons which I could produce if I would runne into another controversie but also by the doctrine of the Apostle who doth not onely in many places expressely call it a sinne and describeth it as a sinne but also setteth it forth as the mother of sinne the sinning sinne which because it taketh occasion by the Commandement forbidding lust to worke in men all manner of evill concupiscence is not only convinced to be a sinne but also to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exceedingly sinnefull § VIII And not only habituall concupiscence in generall which is the body of sinne and the body of death in respect of which sinne the body of the faithfull is said to be dead Rom. 8. 10. is sinne but also the severall members and branches thereof which remaine even in the best are so many habituall sinnes as a spice at the least of pride self-selfe-love carnall security infidelity hypocrisie envy worldly and carnall love of pleasure profit preferment and glory in this world c. Which though they bee not imputed to the faithfull yet in themselves are sins as being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 swervings from the Law of God not onely as defects of righteousnesse which were enough to make them sinnes but as positive vices Neither is it to be doubted but that as the acts of pride and other habituall vices remaining even in the best are sinnes so much more the vices themselves from which they proceed are sinnes and are by the same Commandement of the Law forbidden Now whatsoever is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sinne For as every sinne is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a sin that being a perfect definition of sinne as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth Non potuit rectius brevius definiri peccatum quà m ut à S. Ioanne fuit definitum illis verbis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But all evill concupiscence both habituall and actuall both in generall the body of sinne and in particular the severall branches being so many habituall sinnes in whomsoever they are found even in the most regenerate are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aberrations from the
ought not too much to discourage us knowing that his grace is sufficient for us and that his strength is made perfect in our weakenesse § VIII His seventh testimony is taken from those places which teach that the workes of the righteous doe please God Mat. 3. 4. Sap. 9. 1. 2 Act. 10. 35. 1 Pet. 2. 5. Phil. 4. 18. But nothing can please God but that which is truly good and pure from all vice as Calvin himselfe confesseth Iust. l. 3. c. 12. § 1. Answ. As God hath made two covenants with men the one of works the other of grace so himselfe may bee considered either as a severe judge judging according to the Law which is the covenant of workes beholding men as they are in themselves or as a mercifull father in Christ dealing with us according to the covenant of Grace â—…eholding us in his beloved As he is a Iudge judging according to the Law no obedience can satisfie or please him but that which is pure and perfect as Calvin truely saith As hee is the father of the faithfull in Christ judging according to the covenant of Grace he dealeth with us as a loving father with his children Malach. 3. 17. Psalm 103. 13. accepting the upright though weake and unperfect endevours of his children in lieu of perfect performance Hence in the Scriptures to be upright or to walke with God is to please God Gen. 5. 24 cum Heb. 11. 5. and they who are upright are his delight Pro. 11. 20. Not that either they or their actions are perfect or accepted of God in and for themselves as being pure from sinne but that being covered with the righteousnesse of Christ they are accepted in him and not onely accepted but also graciously rewarded Then belike saith Bellarmine the righteousnesse of Christ is imputed not onely to the sinners themselves but to their sinnes also making them an acceptable sacrifice to God Answ. Wee speake not of the sinnes of the faithfull as hee maliciously cavilleth as if we made no difference betwixt their good workes and their sinnes but of their good workes which though unperfect and stained with the flesh the Lord accepteth in Christ as truly good not imputing to the faithfull their wants but covering them with the perfect obedience of Christ. § IX His eighth testimony is from those places which absolutely call the workes of the righteous good workes as Mat. 5. 16. 1 Tim 6. 17. Tit. 3. 8. Eph. 2. 10. Answ. where he saith that the workes of the faithfull are called absolutely good workes there is an ambiguity to bee cleared For though the Scriptures absolutely call the works of the righteous good workes yet they doe not say that they are absolutely good All good workes and vertues being considered in the abstract as they are in themselves according to their kinde and as they are prescribed in the word of God are absolutely good but considered as it were in the concrete as they bee in us or performed by us mixed with imperfections and stained with the flesh they are not absolutely purely and perfectly good Prayer in it selfe and â—…s it is prescribed in the word of God is a worke absolutely good but as it is performed by us it may bee truely good if performed in truth and with an upright heart but it is not absolutely and purely good by reason of those imperfections which concurre there with So faith and love and all other graces considered in the abstract are absolutely good but considered as they bee in us they are truly but not purely and absolutely good by reason of the impersections and defects which alwayes accompany them But saith Bellarmine out of Dionysiâ—…s Areopagita that worke is to be called evill in which there is any defect but it is not to be called good unlesse it be entirely and wholly good which is true according to the rigour of the Law from which our Saviour Christ hath freed the faithfull and in that sence all the good workes of the Papists themselves even their prayers in which they so much trust are sins Or if they deny any defect to be in their prayers or other their supposed good works they speake lyes in hypocâ—…isie having cauterized consciences But here againe let the Reader observe the desperate doctrine of the Papists who as they account no man justified in whom there is any sinne so they teach all workes to bee absolutely sinnes in which is any defect whereupon the accusation which they falsly lay to our charge will bee verified of them viz. that all the best workes of the faithfull are sinnes For wee deny them to bee sinnes though they have some defects but they affirme them absolutely to bee sinnes if there be any defect in them as undoubtedly there alwayes is as I have alrâ—…ady proved § X. These were his testimonies of holy Scriptures in the next place hee produceth other witnesses viz. Ambrose Hierome Augâ—…stine Gregory and Bernard who testifie nothing against our assertion but against the malicious misconceit of the Papists who conceive or at least report of us that wee put no difference betwixt good workes and sins From which wee are so farre that wee willingly subscribe to that conclusion which hee would prove out of the fathers and is the title of his chapter Opera bona non esse peccata sed verè bona that good workes are not sinnes but truly good § XI Now follow his reasons which if they served to prove no more than the same question which againe is propounded to bee proved wee would not gaine say But his first reason is brought to prove that the good workes of the righteous are no way vitiated corrupted or defiled and consequently that they are not onely truely but also purely good For if they were contaminated saith hee that would arise either from our inbred concupiscence or from the defect of love towards God or from the mixture of veniall sinnes concurring with them But from none of these For neither is that concupiscence a sinne in the regeneratâ—… nor is the want of the love of God a sinne in them nor veniall sinnes such sinnes as are contrary to the Law of God or unto charity Thus for the confirmation of one error Bellarminâ—… broacheth three more But if concupiscence bee a sinne if the want of Gods love bee a sinne if those which the Papists call veniall sinnes bee sinnes indeede then must it bee confessed that the good workes which are stayned with the flesh which proceed from a defective love of God and our brethren that are mixed with divers imperfections and corruptions are notpurely good § XII As for concupiscence of the flesh which remaineth in the regenerate it hath possessed and defiled all the parts and faculties of the soule which as they are in the regenerate partly spirit so they are also partly flesh And these two are opposite one to the other the Spirit lusting against the
fiction of the hereticks of our time Nay we say more that by the preaching of the Word faith is not onely excited where it was before but that it is first wrought ordinarily and begotten by the ministry of the Gospell The Papists ascribe the begetting of faith to the Sacraments and the stirring of it up to the Word As if faith infused in Baptisme did ly a sleep untill it be excited and awakned by the word But the Scripture teacheth us that faith commeth by hearing the Word that Preachers are Ministers by whom you do beleeve that without a preacher men cannot ordinarily beleeve Rom. 10. 14. that men are begotten to God by the preaching of the Word 1 Cor. 4. 15. that therefore preachers are their Fathers in the faith that they justifie men Dan. 12. 3. because they are the instruments of the holy Ghost to beget faith in them whereby they are justified Why then doth Peter require them to whom he had preached to repent and to be baptized I answer that the holy Ghost by Peters sermon had wrought the grace of faith in the hearers before they were baptized Act. 2. 41. as by Pauls preaching Act. 13. 48. in so many of the hearers as were ordained unto life in Lydia Act. 16. 14 15. By Philips preaching in the Eunuch Act. 8. 38. by Peters preaching in Cornelius and his company Act. 10. 43. 44. and by this faith they were justified before God before they were baptized even as Abraham was before he was circumcised Rom. 4. 11. But that they might be justified also in the Court of their owne Conscience and much more that they might be saved many other things as repentance and a godly life with the use of the Sacraments and of all other good meanes are required besides that faith whereby alone they are justified before God And to this end did Peter require them to repent and to bee baptized not that Baptisme properly doth justifie and much lesse that it begetteth â—…aith for in all these faith was wrought before they were baptized but because it is a seale of that righteousnesse which is by faith to them that are baptized not onely at the time of Baptisme but whensoever or how long soever they beleeve And whereas he saith that remission of sinnes is preached to those that beleeve as they ought I confesse it is true that remission is not promised to an idle dead or counterfeit faith but to the true lively and effectuall faith which in some measure purifieth the heart and worketh by love causing a man though not to fulfill all things that are commanded as Bellarmine speaketh yet to will to desire and to endevour that hee may performe all things commanded according to the measure of grace received But though obedience bee a necessary consequent of faith yet it is very absurd to confound it with faith as Bellarmine here seemeth to doe § V. As for his similitude of the Physitian I answer the onely meanes to bee cured of the wounds of our soules which are our sinnes by our spirituall Physitian which is Christ is to beleeve in him and the onely plaisters to bee applied are his sufferings and merits for by his stripes we are healed Esa. 53. 5. and the onely meanes on our part to apply them is faith For even as Moses lifted up the brazen Serpent in the Wildernesse that those who were bitten by the fiery serpents might by looking upon that which was but a figure of Christ be healed even so our Saviour Christ was lifted up upon the Crosse that whosoever being stung as we all are by the old Serpent and made subject to eâ—…all death shall looke upon him with the eye of a true faith shall bee saved To which remedie alone all true physicians of mens soules do use to direct the wounded Conscience when the Iaylour Act. 16. 30 31. in great consternation of mind came trembling and falling downe before Paul and Silas demanded of them what he might doe that he might bee saved they said beleeve on the Lord Iesus Christ and thou shalt be saved And this remedy â—…in curing miraculously corporall discases was used sometimes with good successe Mat. 9. 21. 22. 14. 36. and was by our Saviour himself prescribed as the onely receipt Mar. 5. 36. Luk. 8. 50. § VI. Thirdly where the Apostle in this place nameth onely remission of sinnes hee saith it hindreth not but that justâ—…fication may bee understood to consist in remission of sinnes and infusion of righteousnesse For as we have not once shewed saith hee remission of sinnes is not onely the pardâ—…ning of the punishment but also the washing away and cleansing of the fault which is not done but by the cleannesse of grace and comelinesse of justice comming in the place which the name of justification pretendeth being named from justice Reply Not once but very oft hath hee said that remission of sinne is the utter deletion and extinction of sinne and that it is not a distinct act from infusion of righteousnesse because by infusion of justice sinne is expelled as by the accession of heat and light cold and darkenesse is expelled But as for condonation and pardon of the guilt and punishment that he hath utterly excluded from justification For the pardoning of the guilt and punishment is not done by infusion of righteousnesse which as hee teacheth is the onely act of justification whereof there is but one formall cause which is righteousnesse insuâ—…ed as the Councel of Trent hath defined but by imputation of the satisfaction of Christ. For righteousnesse infused as Bellarmine hath confessed doth not or cannot satisfie for our sinnes Now if there bee but one formall cause of justification as indeed there is but one and that one be not the imputation but the infusion of justice or as they rather use to speake the justice infused which expelleth sinne which expulsion or deletion they call the remission yea the true remission of sinne then the forgivenesse of the guilt and punishment belongeth not to justification But if the forgiving of the guilt and punishment be the not imputing of sinne which necessarily bringeth with it imputation of righteousnesse as Bellarmine confesseth and the Apostle proveth Rom. 4. viz. that the Lord imputeth righteousnesse without workes when hee imputeth not sinne then it will necessarily follow that imputation of Christs satisfaction or righteousnesse is the onely formall cause of justification whereby we being absolved from sinne are accepted as just yea constituted righteous in Christ. And that infusion of righteousnesse expelling sinne is another thing which the Scriptures call Sanctification And this I take to be a manifest truth which being granted we have obtained the whole cause § VII Fourthly againe saith he although there were mention made in this place of justification only from sinnes yet in many other places there is mention made of Sanctification of cleansing of washing and renewing which shew
is to say justified so also by infusion that is sanctified For the justifying faith being a lively and effectuall faith purifieth the heart and worketh by love and may be demonstrated by good works And where is not inherent righteousnesse concurring with faith there is no justifying faith at all But although sanctification doe alwaies accompany justification yet wee are not justified by the righteousnesse of sanctification which is inherent because it is unperfect and wee are sanctified but in part whiles we have the flesh that is the body of sinne remaining in us Neither was there ever any man since the fall absolute or perfect in respect of inherent righteousnesse Christ onely excepted § X. Yea but saith Bellarmine the Scripture acknowledgeth some men to have beene perfect Gen. 6. 9. immaculate Psal. 119. 1. just before God Luke 1. 6. I answere that this perfection is not legall as being a perfect conformity with the Law which is the perfect rule of righteousnesse but evangelical as being one of the properties of our new obedience which is not to bee measured by the perfect performance but by the sincere and upright desire and purpose of the heart For this uprightnesse goeth under the name of perfection and what is done with an upright heart is said to be done with a perfect heart and with the whole that is entire heart And likewise those men who were upright are said to have been perfect And yet notwithstanding all those men who are said in the Scriptures to have been perfect and to have walked before God with a perfect heart as Noah Iacob Iob David Ezâ—…kias c. had their imperfections Ezekias is said to have been a perfect man and to have served God with a perfect heart notwithstanding when God left him a little to try him he discovered his imperfections 2 Chr. 32. 25. 31. Of Asa it is said 2 Chron. 15. 17. that his heart was perfect all the dayes of his life and yet in the very next chapter there are three faults of his recorded where Zachary is said to have beene just before God and to have walked in all the Commandements and Ordinances of God blamelesse in the same chapter his incredulity is registred for which hee was stricken with dumbnesse and deafnesse for the space of tenne moneths So that all that are sincere and upright that is to say no hypocrits are notwithstanding their imperfections called perfect and so the word which is translated immaculate Psal. 119. 1. signifieth upright and to be righteous before God is all one with upright Thus the holy Ghost teacheth us to expound the word which is translated perfect viz. thamin and tham that to be upright is to walke before God is to walke before God and to walke before God is to be perfect Gen. 17. 1. Let perfection and uprightnesse preserve me Psal. 25. 21. Psal. 37. 37. Observe the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace § XI Yea but Bellarmine will prove that these men which are in the Scriptures called just were endued with inherent righteousnesse because they brought forth good workes which were the fruits and effects of their inward righteousnesse for he that doth righteousnesse is righteous whom doth he now confute wee doe not deny them who are commended in the Scriptures for righteous persons to have been endued with righteousnesse inherent but wee deny that they or any of them were justified before God thereby As for example Abraham who abounded with good workes was justified by faith without workes Rom. 4. 2 3. and as hee was justified so are all the faithfull Rom. 4. 23 24. David though a man according to Gods own heart walking before him in truth and righteousnes and uprightnesse of heart yet professeth that neither he nor any man living could be justified if God should enter into judgement with them and therefore placeth his happinesse and justification notin his vertues or good works but in the not imputing of sin and imputation of righteousnesse without workes Rom. 4. 6. Paul though hee knew nothing by himselfe yet professeth that hee was not thereby justified 1 Cor. 4. 4. Yea in the question of justification hee esteemeth his owne righteousnesse of no worth Phil. 3 8 9. But as wee doe not deny the faithfull to bee endued with inherent righteousnesse so we affirme that whosoever is justified by imputative righteousnesse is also sanctified in some measure with righteousnesse infused and inherent In respect whereof though they bee also sinnes in themselves by reason of their habituall corruptions and actuall transgressions being in part carnall and sold under sinne and by the Law which is in the members led captive to the Law of sinne yet they have their denomination from the better part Even as a wedge of metall wherein much drosse is mingled with Gold is called a wedge of Gold though not of pure Gold and an heape of Corne wherein is as much chaffe as Wheate is called an heape of Wheate though not of pure Wheate So the faithfull man in whom there is the flesh and body of sinne as well as the Spirit and regenerate part is called of the better part a righteous man though not perfectly absolutely purely just in respect of his righteousnesse inherent Indeed every true beleever so soone as he is indeed with a true justifying faith is perfectly just by righteousnesse imputed but at the best he is sanctified onely in part § XII His sixth testimony is taken out of Rom. 8. 29. and 1 Cor. 15. 49. where it is said that the just are conformable to the image of Christ and doe beare the image of the second Adam as they have borne the image of the first Adam from whence hee collecteth three reasons The first As Christ was just so are wee and as hee was not just so â—…re not we But Christ was just by inhâ—…rent rightâ—…ousnesse and not by imputatiâ—…n Therefore we are just by inherent righteâ—…usnesse and not by impâ—…tation The proposition he proveth by the places alleaged First I answer to the proofe of the proposition that the places alleaged are impertiâ—…ent For the question being of the righteousnesse of â—…ustification never any understood the Apostâ—…e in these places to speake thereof But either of filiation as Chrysostome and others understand the former plate because as Christ is the Sonne of God so also are wee or of afflictions because whom God hath predestinated to bee like his Sonne in glory they shall bee conformable to the image of his Sonne in bearing the Crosse which sence is given by our Writeâ—…s and is agreeable to the scope of the Apostle in that place to the Romans or of Glory that when he shall appeare wee shall bee like him in glory of which as Ambrose Sedulius and others understand Rom. 8. â—…9 fo the other place being read in the future as it ought to bee in
have true faith have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them by which Christ dwelleth in them and those which have not the Spirit of Christ are none of his Rom. 8. 9 Faith is the proper worke of the Spirit who is therefore called the Spâ—…rit of faith 2 Cor. 4. 13. And therfore those who are endued with true faith have the Spirit by both which Christ dwelleth in us Againe all that are the sonnes of â—…od have the Spirit of Christ Gal. 4. 6. all that truly beleeve are the sonnes of God as hath been shewed All that be Christs they have his Spirit for those that have not his Spirit are none of his Rom. 8. 9. All that truely beleeve are Christs 1 Cor. 3. 23. both because God hath given them unto him Iohn 6. 37. 17. 9 24. and because he hath bought them with a great price 1 Cor. 6. 19. and because by faith they are engrafted and united unto him as his members Therefore all that have true faith are endued with Charity and other graces § III. Thirdly all that are sanctified are endued with Charity and other graces for in them our sanctification doth consist All that have true faith are sanctified For first by faith the heart is purified Acts 15. 9. and true faith worketh by love Galathians 5. 6. Secondly because all that are justified are also sanctified All that have a true faith are justified therefore all that have a true faith are sanctified The proposition can in no sort be denied by the Papists who confound justification and sanctification But though they must necessarily be distinguished yet they may not they cannot be severed They are such unseparablecompanions that whosoever hath the one hath the other and whosoever hath not both hath neither whosoever is in Christ as all the faithfull are is a new creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. he liveth not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8. 1. He crucifieâ—…h the flesh with the lusts thereof Gal. 5. 24. This truth is confirmed by the oth of God whereby he hath promised in the covenant of grace that to all the faithfull the sonnes of Abraham he will give them redemption and justification and being redeemed hee will give them grace to worship him in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of their life Those therefore whom God doth justifie by faith he doth sanctifie by his Spirit But all that have a true justifying faith are justified and by their justification have right or are entituled to the Kingdome of heaven Act. 13. 38 39. yea the Gospell teacheth not onely that they which truely beleeve shall bee saved but also that they are translated from death to life and that they have eternall life Ioh. 5. 24. 6. 47. 1 Ioh. 5. 11. 13. § IV. Fourthly all true disciples of Christ are endued with charity Ioh. 13. 35. All that truly beleeve in Christ are his true disciples therefore c. Fifthly that which worketh by Charity is not without it True faith worketh by Charity Gal. 5. 6. Sixthly The formed faith is not severed from Charity as the Papists themselves teach True justifying faith is the formed faith for that which is without forme is neither atrue nor justifying but a dead and counterfeit faith Seventhly If faith without Charity doe not justifie then a true justifying faith is not without Charity But the former is true for that faith which is without Charity profiteth nothing 1 Cor. 13. 2. therefore the later Eighthly out of 1 Iohn 4. 8. hee that beleeveth knoweth God they that love not know not God ergo they that love not beleeve not § V. To these eight arguments wee will adde seven more out of the Epistle of S. Iames Chapter 2. beginning at the 14. verse where he doth not goe about to prove that a true justifying faith doth not justifie alone but that that faith which is alone without Charity without good workes doth neither justifie alone nor at all And that hee proveth by these reasons First verse 14. True faith doth justifie and save a man that faith which is in profession onely being void of Charity or as Saint Iames speaketh when a man saith he hatâ—… faith and hath not workes doth not justifie or save a man and therefore is not a true faith Secondly à pari verse 15 16 17. Charity which is onely in words and profession and not indeed and truth is unprofitable and vaine so pari ratione faith which is onely in profession being alone void of Charity and of good workes is dead Thirdly verse 18. True faith may be demonstrated by good workes but that faith which is in profession onely and void of Charity cannot be demonstrated by good workes therefore it is not a true faith Fourthly ver 19. that faith which is common to devils is no true justifying faith for they beleeve that which they abhorre whereupon Augustine saith Fides Christiani cum dilectione est daemonis autem sine dilectione Fifthly vers 20. the dead faith of a vaine man is not a justifying faith that faith which is without charity is the dead faith of a vaine man therefore not a justifying faith Sixthly ver 21. 22. 23. 24 25. True justifying faith is such a faith as was that of Abrâ—…ham or at least as was that of Rahab that is fruitfull of good workes but that which is without Charity and without good workes is not such a faith as that of Abraham or of Rahab Seventhly vers 26. â—… simili as the body without spirit is dead so that faith which is without good workes is dead Vpon these arguments of Saint Iames it doth inevitably follow that seeing that faith which is severed from Charity and destitute of good workes is not a true justifying faith therefore a true justifying faith is not severed from Charity nor destitute of good workes § VI. These fifteene Arguments are as I suppose without exception Those which Bellarmine thought he could best answere hee hath propounded as our best Arguments and cavilled with them they are in number six the first out of 1 Tim. 5. 8. That for want whereof a man declareth himselfe to be without true faith and to be worse than an infidell cannot be separated from a true faith For want of Charity yea for want of one branch thereof which is to provide for a mans owne especially those of his owne house whom the very insidels are wont to provide for a man declareth himselfe to be without true faith that is in Saint Paules phrase hath denyed the faith and is worse than an infidell in that particular therefore Charity cannot be separated from true faith To this Bellarmine frameth an answere against himselfe that as Chrysostome and other interpreters doe witnesse the Apostle speaketh of such who are said to deny the faith because they doe not live as faith doth teach men to live as none doe who have not Charity and therefore
Now to beleeve in Christ is to receive him Ioh. 1. 12. and not to receive him is not to beleeve in him vers 11. For to receive Christ being so farre removed from us is a spirituall action of the soule that is to say of the mind and of the heart whereby we first apprehend and after apply Christ unto our selves If therefore it bee asked quâ—…modo tenebo absentem quomodo in coelâ—…m manum mittam ut ibi sedentem teneam how should I lay hold upon him that is absent how should I send up my hand into heaven to lay hold on him sitting there Augustine answereth fidem mitte tenuisti Send up thy faith and thou hast laid hold on him But first wee receive Christ in our minde and judgement by assent which if it bee a bareâ—… and as it were a literall and uneffectuall assent wee receive him at the most as the Saviour of the World but not as our Saviour which is the faith of hypocrites yea and of Devils and is all that thâ—… Papists require as necessary to true faith But if it bee a spirituall lively and effectuall assent it worketh upon the heart that is both the affections and the will so that hee which in his judgement truely and effectually assenteth to the truth of the Gospell that Iesus the Sonne of the Blessed Virgin is the eternall Sonne of God the Messias and Saviour of all that truely beleeve in him doth also in his heart embrace him heartily desiring to bee made partaker of him and in his will unfainedly purposing and resolving to acknowledge him to bee our Lord and Saviour and to rest upon him alone for salvation By the former which is onely a bare assent we doe after a sort credere Christum acknowledging him to bee the Saviour of those that beleeve in him by the latter which is the lively and effectuall assent working upon the heart we doe credere in Christum and receive him to bee our Saviour whereupon necessarily followeth affiance in Christ and love of him as our Saviour Thus then by a true belief we receive and embrace Christ in our judgements by a lively assent in our hearts desiring earnestly to be partakers of him which desire wee expresse by hearty prayer and in our willâ—… resolving to acknowledge and professe him to be our only Saviour and to rest upon him alone for salvation So that a true lively and effectuâ—…ll faith is the worke of the whole soule that is to say as well of the heart as of the minde for which cause the Apostle saith corde creditur adjustitiam with the heart man beleeveth to righteousnesse Rom. 10. 10. and Saint Luke that the Lord opened the heart of Lydia to assent to the Gospell Act. 16. 14. And Philip requireth the Eunuch to beleeve with his whole heart Act. 8. 37. The former is common to the wicked yea to the Devils the later is proper to the children of God For those who so beleeve are born of God Ioh. â—… 12 13. 1 Ioh. 5. 1. The former is a literall a dead a counterfeit a not justifying faith the latter is a lively true and justifying faith This distinction Augustine maketh betweene Saint Peters faith and that of the Devils though their confessions were alike Thou art the Sonne of the living God Hoc dicebat Petrus ut Christum amplecteretur hoc dicebant Daemones ut Christus ab eis recederet This said Peter that hee might embrace Christ this spake the Devils that Christ might depart from them Oecumenius endeavouring to reconcile the seeming differences betweene the two Apostles Paul and Iames saith there are two significations of the word Faith the one as it signifieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a simple and bare assent in which sence the Devils are said to beleeve that there is one God the other as it importeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the accompanying of the disposition or affection with the firme assent Of the former Saint Iames speaketh and saith that the simple and bare assent is a dead faith but Paul of the latter which is not destitute of good workes which after hee calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is faith indeed § III. Of this faith whereby wee receive Christ to bee our Saviour there are two degrees the former of speciall apprehension whereby wee receive and embrace Christ consisting in a lively and effectuall beleefe whereby we truly receive Christ in our judgement by a willing assent in our affections by an earnest desire to bee made partakers of him and of his merits which is the desire of application in our will by a setled resolution to acknowledge him to bee our Saviour and to rest upon him for salvation which is the unfained purpose and endeavour of application So that in this first degree though we are not able actually to apply the promise of the Gospell unto our selves yet that application is both desired and intended The other is of actuall and speciall application of the promise to our selves as having the condition of the promise The former is fides principiorum being grounded on the expresse Word of God whosoever beleeveth in Christ shall bee saved The other is fides conclusionum necessarily deduced from the Word by application in a practicall syllogisme after this manner whosoever beleeveth in Christ shall be saved which generall is true in every particular as the Apostle teacheth Rom. 10. 9. 〈◊〉 therefore thou doest beleeve in Christ thou shalt bee saved but I saith the faithfull man doe beleeve in Christ therefore I shall be saved which conclusion cannot be false the premisses being true To the former all men are necessarily tied under paine of damnation Iohn 3. 18. Mark 16. 16. to the latter none are tied but they onely who have the former For the former is the condition of the promise which whosoever hath not he ought not to apply the promise to himselfe unlesse hee will perniciously deceive himselfe By the former wee are justified before God in the court of Heaven which is properly called justification by the latter we are justified in the court of our conscience which is not properly justification but the assurance of it The former goeth before remission of sinne the latter followes after The former is the worke of Gods Spirit as he doth regenerate us in our first effectuall calling the latter as hee is the spirit of adoption sealing us after wee have beleeved The former is ordinarily wrought by the hearing of the Word the holy Ghost opening the heart of the hearer to assent thereto and not by the ministry of the Sacraments which being the seales of that righteousnesse which is by faith were ordained to this purpose to confirme our faith in the application of the promise in particularunto our selves and in the particular assurance of our justification and salvation by Christ that those who have the first degree offaith may proceed to the second
For if thou doest truely beleeve that Christ is the Saviour thou art bound to beleeve that hee is thy Saviour otherwise thou makest God a lyar That therefore thou mayest learne to apply Christ unto thy selfe God by his minister delivereth to thee in particular the Sacrament as it were a pledge to assure thee in particular that as the Minister doth deliver unto thee the outward signe so the Lord doth communicate unto thee that beleevest according to the first degree of faith the thing signified that is to say Christ with all his merits to thy justification sanctification and salvation § IV. This distinction of the degrees of faith as it is most comfortable for hereby we are taught how to attaine to assurance of salvation as elsewhere I have shewed for having the first degree which is the condition of the promise thou maiest apply the promise to thy selfe and by application attaine to assurance so it is most true and most necessary to bee held And first as touching the former degree which is the speciall apprehension and embracing of Christ by a lively assent accompanyed with the desire of the heart and resolution of the will as I have said that it is that faith which is the condition of the promise and by which wee are justified before God I have proved by plaine testimonies of Scriptures and other pregnant proofes The places of Scripture which I alleaged were these Mat. 16. 16. 17. Ioh. 20. 31. Act. 8. 37. 38. Rom. 10. 9. 10. 1 Ioh. 5. 1. 5. Whereunto may bee added 1 Ioh. 4. 15. Among the manifold proofes which I produced this is one that if there bee no other justifying faith but the speciall faith whereby wee are assured of the remission of our sinnes then two absurdities will follow The one that wee must apply the promises to our selves before wee have the condition thereof which as wee ought not to doe lest wee play the hypocrites so wee cannot doe unlesse wee will perniciously deceive our selves The promise is whosoever beleeveth in Christ hath remission of sinne whosoever beleeveth in Christ shall bee saved c. This promise is made to none but to those who truely beleeve and are endued with a justifying faith which is the condition of the promise It is evident therefore that a man must bee endued with justifying faith before hee can apply the promise and hee must apply the promise before hee can have any assurance by speciall faith The second absurdity is that a man must bee assured that his sinnes be forgiven before they be forgiven and so must beleeve a lie yea that a man must bee assured that they are forgiven to the end that they may be forgiven which is a great absurdity This therefore is an undeniable truth that before we can either apply the promises or attaine to assurance of remission of sinne we must be endued with true justifying faith which is the condition of the promise and the meanes to obtaine remission I must beleeve therefore by a justifying faith before I can have remission of sinnes I must have remission of sinnes before I can have any assurance thereof and I must ascend by many degrees of assurance before I come to full assurance which yet in this life is never so full but that still more may and ought to be added to it § V. As touching the second which by some is called speciall faith not onely in respect of the object which is Christ for so the former is also speciall but in respect of the effect which is by actuall application of the Promises to a mans selfe to assure him in particular of his justification and salvation It is by some both protestant and popish writers called fiducia that is affiance Howbeit the most of our Writers by it meant assurance But unproperly howsoever for neither is faith affiance nor affiance assurance This speciall apprehension application of Christ though scorn'd by the Papists yet is it of all graces the most comfortable most profitable most necessary Most comfortable for the very life of this life is the assurance of a better life Most necessary because without this speciall receiving of Christ first by apprehension and then by application we can have no other saving grace How can we love God or our neighbour for Gods sake how can we hope and trust in him how can we rejoyce in him or be thankefull to him if we be not perswaded of his love and bounty towards us and so of the rest Most profitable because from it all other graces proceed and according to the measure of it is the measure of all other graces as I have elsewhere shewed For if the love of God bee shed abroad in thy heart by the Holy Ghost that is if by faith thou art perswaded of Gods love towards thee thou wilt be moved to love the Lord and thy neighbour for his sake then wilt thou hope and trust in him then wilt thou rejoyce in him and bee thankefull unto him and so forth And the greater thy perswasion is of his love and goodnesse towards thee so much the greater will be thy love thy hope thy trust thy thankefulnesse thy rejoycing in him c. When as therefore the Papists detest and scorne our Doctrine concerning speciall faith they doe plainely bewray themselves to have no saving grace nor any truth or power of Religion in them § VI. But that this speciall receiving and embracing of Christ by faith is necessary to justification and that faith doth not justifie without it it doth evidently appeare by the third and fourth points before handled in the fourth and fifth Bookes For if we be justified only by the righteousnesse of Christ which is out of us in him then are we not justified by faith as it is an habit or quality inherent in us but as it is the hand and instrument whereby we receive Christ his righteousnesse which as it is imputed to us by God so we apprehend it by faith And because faith alone doth receive Christ and all his merits therefore the same benefits which we receive from Christ and are properly to bee ascribed unto him as the Authour of them are in the Scriptures attributed also to faith because by faith we receive Christ. By Christ we live Ioh. 6. 57. We live by faith Gal. 2. 20. Hab. 2. 4. By Christ we have remission of sinnes Eph. 1. 7. Act. 13. 38. By faith wee have remission of sinnes Act. 8. 39. 26. 18. By Christ wee are justified Esai 53. 11. Wee are justified by faith Rom. 3. 28. Gal. 3. 24. By Christ we have peace with God Col. 1. 20. We have peace with God by faith Rom. 5. 2. We have free accesse to God by Christ Eph. 2. 18. 3. 12. Heb. 10. 19. We have free accesse to God by Faith Rom. 5. 2. Eph. 3. 12. We are sanctified by Christ 1 Cor. 1. 30. Heb. 10. 14. We are sanctified
faith of all the faithfull though unequall in degrees in some greater in some lesse is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a-like precious in the righteousnesse of God and our Saviour Iesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. 1. which is an evidence that faith doth not justifie in respect of its owne dignity or worthinesse but in respect of the object which it doth receive which being the most perfect righteousnesse of Christ unto which nothing can be added is one and the same to all that receive it Of this see more lib. 1. cap. 2. § 10. § IV. Here now the Papists because wee deny faith to justifie in respect of its owne worthinesse and merit take occasion to inveigh against us as if we made it Titulum sine re and as it were a matter of nothing Which is a malicious and yet but a frivolous cavill For first in respect of justification we acknowledge it to bee the onely instrument or hand to receive Christ to be the condition of the Covenant of Grace to which the Promises of remission of sinnes and of Salvation are made without which the promises of the Gospell doe not appertaine unto us and without which our blessed Saviour doth not save us Secondly in respect of Sanctification wee attribute all that and more which the Papists ascribe unto it in respect of their imaginary justification That it is the beginning the foundation and root of all inherent righteousnesse the mother of all other sanctifying Graces which purifieth the heart and worketh by love without which it is impossible to please God without which whatsoever is done is sinne § V. But howsoever here the Papists would seeme to plead for faith yet the truth is that as they have abolished the benefit of justification as it is taught in the holy Scriptures so with it they have taken away the justifying faith For though they retaine the name yet in their doctrine there is no such thing For first to faith they doe not ascribe the power to justifie but only to be a disposition one among seven even such a one as servile feare is of a man unto inherent righteousnesse or to the grace of Sanctification it selfe being not as yet a justifying or sanctifying grace Secondly that faith being infused becommeth the beginning and a part of formall inherent righteousnesse But so small a part they assigne unto it that they say that the habit of formall righteousnesse differeth not from the habit of charity so that in justification it hath no use at all and in sanctification charity is all in all which is a manifest evidence that the Church of Rome is fallen away from the ancient doctrine of the faith For both Scriptures and Fathers every where ascribe justification to faith and not to Charitie to faith and not to workes but the Papists ascribe the first justification to charitie which they make to be the onely formall cause of justification which as themselves teach is but one and the second justification they assigne to workes CHAP. VIII Whether we be justified by Faith alone The state of the Controversie and some reasons on our part § I. NOw I come to the third question which is the principall concerning faith whether we be justified by faith alone as wee with all antiquity doe hold or not by faith alone but also by other habits of grace as charitie and the rest and by the workes of grace which the Papists hold to concur in us to the act of justification as the causes thereof Where first we are to explaine our assertion and afterwards both to prove and to maintaine it And great reason there is that wee should explaine it because the Papists most wickedly against their owne knowledge calumniate our doctrine in this point I will therefore explaine all the three termes Fides justificat sola Faith doth justifie alone for by Faith wee doe not understand as I have shewed before neither the profession of faith or faith onely professed which S. Iames doth deny to justifie nor that faith which is a bare assent which is the faith of Papists and is common to them with the Divels and with other hypocrites and wicked men for such a faith we deny to justifie either alone or at all but a true lively and effectuall beleefe in Christ being a speciall apprehension or receiving and embracing of Christ and of the promises of the Gospell joyned with application or at least with a true desire will and endevour thereof The which faith also wee deny to be true if in some measure it doe not purifie the heart if it doe not worke by love if it cannot be demonstrated by good workes § II. Now for the word justifie shall I need to tell you that by justifying we doe not meane sanctifying And yet such is the blinded malice of the papists as that because they wickedly confound justification and sanctification which we carefully according to the Scriptures distinguish they beare the world in hand that our assertion is this in effect that faith alone doth sanctifie and that nothing concurreth to sanctification but faith onely and consequently that wee teach the people so they can perswade themselves that they have faith they need not take care either for other graces or for a godly life But howsoever we hold that faith doth justifie alone yet wee doe not hold that it doth sanctifie alone but that our sanctification is partly habituall unto which with faith concurre the habits of other sanctifying graces as hope charity c. and partly actuall which is our new obedience in the practice of good workes § III. But the word sela alone doth most displease the Papists who will needs part stakes with Christ in their justification This therefore is to be explaned And first when we say that faith alone doth justifie we doe not meane fidem solitariam that faith which is alone neither doe we in construction joyne sola with fides the subject but with justificat the predicate meaning that true faith though it bee not alone yet it doth justifie alone Even as the eye though in respect of being it is not alone or if it be it is not a true and a living but a dead eie which seeth neither alone nor at all yet in respect of seeing unto which no other member doth concurre with it it being the onely instrument of that faculty it is truely said to see alone so faith though in respect of the being thereof it is not alone or if it bee it is not a true and lively but a counterfeit and dead faith yet in respect of justifying unto which act no other grace doth concurre with it it being the onely instrument of apprehending and receiving Christ it is truely said to justifie alone wherefore as the brazen Serpent which was a figure of Christ was life up and set on high in the wildernesse that whosoever was bitten by the fiery serpents might by looking onely
God not that working righteousnesse is the cause to make a man Gods child but an evidence to declare that hee is the child of God For he that is borne of God committeth not sinne 1 Ioh. 3. 9. as a servant of sinne Ioh. 8. 34. and hereby we doe know that we are passed from death to life that is that wee are justified because wee love the brethren 1 Ioh. 3. 14. Hereby the sonnes of God are manifest and the sonnes of the Devill hee that worketh not righteousnesse is not of God nor hee that loveth not his brother vers 10. Hereby saith our Saviour shall men know you to be my disciples if you love one another Ioh. 13. 35. I conclude with Saint Paul Gal. 3. 26. By faith in Iesus Christ hee doth not say by love but by faith yee are hee doth not say yee may bee but yee are all that beleeve the Sonnes of God upon which words as I noted before Thomas Aquinas observeth Faith alone maketh men the adoptive Sonnes of God § X. To these places of Scripture Bellarmine addeth the testimonies of the Fathers who if they speake as Bellarmine citeth them they say nothing but what wee willingly confesse to wit that faith is as Clemens Alexandrinus speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first propension or inclination to salvation that it is as it were the eye of the soule and the Lampe to finde the way to salvation as Cyrill of Hierusalem that it is the light of the soule the dore of life the foundation of salvation as Eâ—…sebius Emissemus that it is the beginning of righteousnesse inherent as Chrysostome that it is the gate and the way unto life as Cyrill of Alexandria that it is the first grace in a Christian as Ambrose that it is the beginning and originall of asâ—…iance and accesse to God as Ierome that wee are made the sonnes of Wisedome the faith of the Mediatour preparing and working it that it is first given and by it the rest that to a Christian the true beginning is to beleeve in Christ that by faith wee obtaine grace and by grace the health of the soule that the house of God whereby is meant the whole oeconomy of our salvation in this life is founded on faith raised by hope and perfected by charity as Augustine That faith is the foundation of righteousnesse which no good workes precede and from which all proceede that it is the foundation of all vertues as Prosper That if faith bee not first begotten in the heart the rest cannot bee good as Gregory All this and more wee affirme concerning faith But although many other graces besides faith are required unto sanctification as forerunners fitting us unto salvation yet none concurre with it to the act of justification And although it be the beginning of sanctification and of all other graces yet it is not onely the beginner but the continuer also of sanctification purifying still the heart and working by love by which we stand by which wee live being by the power of God through faith preserved unto salvation And although it be termed by some the beginning as it is of inherent righteousnesse yet it alone as I shewed before by diuers testimonies of the Fathers sufficeth to justification And therefore by it wee have not a partiall or inchoated but a perfect and plenary justification § XI To these testimonies saith he naturall reason may be added and well may hee call it naturall for there is little art in it and although it bee very simple yet it is double containing two slender proofes The former because faith is the foundation of hope and charity but neither hope nor charity is the foundation of faith For a man may beleeve that which hee neither hopeth for nor loveth but hee cannot hope for or love that which hee doth not beleeve And what then therfore faith is the beginning of other graces And what then therefore it followeth that it doth not sanctifie alone for it is but one among many but it doth not follow that therfore it doth not justifie alone And where hee saith that faith is the foundation of hope and that a man cannot hope for that which he doth not beleeve this overthroweth a maine Doctrine of the Church of Rome maintained by Bellarmine in other places that a man may hope well for the remission of his fins and for his salvation but without speciall revelation he may not beleeve it His second reason hath no soundnesse in it In bodily diseases saith hee the beginning of health is for a man to beleeve that hee is sicke and to beleeve the Physitian that taketh upon him to cure him and yet not that faith alone is entire health Where Bellarmine compareth justification to health recovered from sicknesse to which not justification may bee compared but sanctification For the disease of the soule as well as of the body is not onely a privation or absence of health but also an evill disposition or habit which is cured by the contrary disposition or habit for as the whole body of sinne is cured in some measure by the grace of regeneration or sanctification so the severall members thereof as infidelity by faith despaire by hope hatred by charity pride by humility uncleannesse by chastitie drunkennesse by sobriety c. Secondly he compareth the beleefe of a sicke man beleeving that the Physitian will cure him which is no health at all nor meanes of health but in conceit for many times it proveth otherwise the promise of the Physitian being deceiveable and the event uncertaine to the faith of an humbled sinner grounded on the infallible promises of God which are alwayes performed to them that beleeve CAP. XI Of Feare and Hope being his second and third dispositions § I. HIs second disposition is feare which he proveth to dispose unto justification and to concurre thereuntn in the same manner almost as faith doth But first this discourse is impertinent For we deny and our deniall we have made good that justâ—…ying faith doth not justifie by way of disposing And therefore if it be proved that feare doth dispose a man to justification yet that doth not disprove justification by faith alone For we have confessed that ordinarily in adultis there are preparative dispositions going before faith and justification whereof feare is one But these preparatives doe not justifie and therefore for all them faith may and indeed doth justifie alone Secondly you are to understand that this feare which goeth before grace is no grace neither is it that sonne-like feare which is the daughter of faith and love but the servile feare as he confesseth which is an effect and fruit of the Law working on those who are under the Law and keeping them in some order for feare of the whippe Neither is it properly timor Dei the feare of God but metus supplicii the object whereof
that justified her but her faith our Saviour who had so highly commended her love doth in expresse termes testifie thy faith hath saved thee goe in peace upon which wordes of our Saviour shee who was formerly justified before God by a true justifying faith which our Saviour professeth and which shee testified by her love and by her repentance departed home justified in the Court of her owne conscience by speciall faith and being justified by faith had peace with God 4. As for his allegation out of Gal. 5. 6 that faith worketh by love it hath no colour of proofe that love disposeth unto justification but rather the contrary For he that is indued with faith working by love is already justified § IV. The Councell of Aurenge hee alleageth against himselfe For if God doe first inspire faith and love it speaketh of those who are adultâ—… that wee may faithfully require the sacrament of Baptisme then are we first justified by faith and afterwards receive the sacrament as Abraham did circumcision as the sacâ—…ament and sealâ—… of justification by faith And this is generally to be understood of Sacraments received by them who are come to yeares of discretion that they must be endued with justifying faith when they come to receive the Sacraments otherwise they receive no benefit by them For as touching Baptisme our Saviour saith hee that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved but hee that beleeveth not whether hee be baptized or not baptiâ—…ed he shall bee condemned And as touching the Eucharist it is certaine that no man can receive Christ therein without faith which is both the hand of the soule to receive him and as it were the mouth of the soule to eat his body and to drinke his bloud And further Sacraments are seales anneâ—…ed to the letters patents of Gods promises in the Gospell and therefore confirme or assure nothing but what is contained in the promise and upon the same conditions The condition is faith Obiect But you will say if a man must be justified before he receive the Sacrament to what end doth hee then receive it Answ. that hee who is justified before God by the former degree of faith may by speciall faith confirmed by the Sacrament bee justified in his owne conscience that is that hee may in some measure be assured thereof § V. Bellarmine having produced his owne arguments hee commeth now to answer such as he saith are ours The first out of 1 Ioh. 4. 19. wee love God because he first loved us Now God loveth no man actually whom hee doth not justifie and reconcile unto himselfe in Christ for untill then wee are in the state of enemies Neither doth any that is not justified nor reconciled to God in Christ love him or if hee doe then doth hee love God before God loveth him Gods love therefore goeth before our justification and our justification goeth before our love of God Neither is this onely true that God loveth us before wee love him but before wee can love him aright wee must bee perswaded of his love towards us which perswasion is faith from which love proceedeth 1 Tim. 1. 5. Bellarmine answereth that God indeed loveth men first and by loving them maketh them just but by little and little and by certaine meanes For whom hee loveth hee first calleth to faith then he inspireth into them hope and feare and love inchoated lastly he justifieth and infuseth perfect charity Reply First that which he speaketh of making just by little and little may agree to sanctification but to justification it agreeth not for thereof there are no degrees Secondly It would bee knowne whether this beginning of charity which he saith goeth before justification bee the same which in justification is infused differing only in degree If it be not the same how is it charitas inchoata and if it be not infused as well as that in the act of justification why doth he say it is inspired If it bee the same then gratia gratum faciens is inspired before regeneration before which wee are nothing but flesh and in our flesh there is no good thing And by this reason justification shall bee nothing else but the perfecting of that charity which before was begun neither can a man bee truely said to bee justified by charity who is not enduâ—…d with perfect charity perfectly and fully expelling all sin which in this life is never perfect much lesse in incipients nor ever doth so expell sinne but that allwayes whiles wee are in our mortall bodies sinne remaineth in us Wherefore the Papists doe never attaine to that which they call justification which indeed is not justification but the perfection of sanctification Or if they say they doe attaine unto it and that they have no sinne they are lyars and there is no truth in them § VI. Our second argument no man can love God in any acceptable measure unlesse hee have the Spirit of God dwelling in him for love is a fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. to this purpose hee citeth for us Rom. 5. 5. which allegation hee cannot answere because he understandeth the place of our love of God which is shed abroad into our harâ—…s by the holy Ghost Now no men have the Spirit of God but they who are regenerated and justified for the Spirit of truth the world cannot receive Ioh. 14. 27. Bellarmine saith this is true of perfect love but imperfect love and inchoated which even now out of the Counsel of Aureng he confessed to be inspired of the holy Spirit may be had without the Spirit but not without Gods speciall helpe Which words discover unto us one of the depthes of Satan in the mystery of iniquity For the Papists as they doe wonderfully extenuate originall sinne so doe they use to magnifie the strength of nature corrupted They doe not acknowledge that which the Scriptures plainely teach that by nature wee are dead in sinne onely they say that we are diseased with sinne and entangled and bound with the chaines of sinne so that if wee bee not holpen of God wee are not able to doe that which is good But if God doe afford uâ—… his speciall helpe then we can have faith and feare and hope and love and the other preparations And further the privative corruption which they cannot deny to be in originall sinne they confesse by the halves or not so much for the privation which is in originall sinne is not onely of the act which they doe not wholly confesse but of the power and the habit it selfe So that in us by nature there is a meere impotencie to that which is spiritually good in respect whereof wee have lost bonum possibilitatis as Augustine teacheth Wherefore that wee may bee enabled to beleeve to hope to love to feare God to purpose amendment of life c. it is necessary that wee should bee not holpen or loosed but renewed regenerated created a new and raised from the
and by beleeving to receive and embrace Christ. The acts of faith in sanctifying and producing morall dueties are immediate acts or imperati which faith produceth by meanes of other virtues commanded by faith such are sperare confidere amare timere obedire pati c Of justification the man indued with faith is not the efficient but the subject and the patient who receiving by faith which is his onely act the righteousnesse of Christ is thereby justified God imputing to the beleever the righteousnesse of his Sonne and therefore though to beleeve bee his owne act yet hee is not said in the active to justifie himselfe by faith but in the passive to bee justified by faith Rom. 3. 24. 28. 5. 1. But in the duties of sanctification and in all morall duties the faithfull man is the efficient of them and his faith as it is said of arts other habits is the principium agendi the principle wherby he worketh and of them faith under God is the prime cause and as some call that which is principium agendi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such actions are the most of those which Heb. 11. are so highly commended which though they were the fruits of justifying faith yet were the acts of faith not as it justifieth but as it sanctifieth fortifieth or otherwise qualifieth them who are endued with it and this efficiencie of faith in Greeke and Latine is oftner signified without the prepositions than with As Heb. 11. though the sence be the same Of justification therefore faith is but the instrumentall cause justifying relatively that is in respect of the object which it doth receive being the onely instrument to receive that object which alone doth justifie But of the dueties of sanctification and other morall actions such as for the most part are mentioned Heb. 11. whereof the faithfull man is the efficient justifying faith which purifieth the heart and worketh by love and other virtues as affiance c. is the prime cause working them not relatively by apprehending the object but effectually producing them as principium agendi wherby Bellarmines dispute out of Heb. 11. is confuted For there it is said saith hee that by faith the Saints overcame Kingdomes wrought righteousnesse obtained the promises stopped the mouths of Lyons c. Where the particle by doth not signifie apprehension but the true cause For faith was the cause of Abels religious offering of Noahs preparing the Arke of Abrahams obedience c. All this I confesse but that which he would inferre therupon that faith therefore doth not justifie relatively by way of apprehending the object I have already answered for that which hee spake before of apprehending relatively was idle and frivolus § VII The second part of his assumption was that saith is the beginning of justice and consequently the inchoated formall cause of justification So that now belike the seven dispositions shall be the inchoated formes of justification the entire forme being but one viz. charity and consequently the disposing faith and the disposing feare and so of the rest shall be inchoated charity which is ridiculous Bellarmine in this argument as allwayes by justification understandeth sanctification whereof and of all inherent righteousnesse wee acknowledge faith to bee the beginning and consequently the beginning of that righteousnesse by which we are formally just But of justification not the beginning only but the accomplishment and perfection is to be attributed unto faith because no sooner doe we by faith lay hold upon the righteousnesse of Christ which is most perfect but wee are perfectly justified thereby And therefore the Fathers as you heard before â—… acknowledge faith alone to suffice unto justification So Origen in Rom. 3. lib. 3. Hierome and Sedulius in Rom. 10. 10. in Gal. 3. 6. Chrysost. in Gal. 3. 6. in Tit. 1. 13. Augustin de tempore Serm. 68. Chrysâ—…log serâ—… 34. Primasius in Gal. 2. Oecumen in Col. 2. Theophylact in Gal. 3. Anselm in Rom. 4. If faith alone sufficeth unto justification then doth it not onely begin but also perfect and accomplish it For Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by faith wee have peace with God But Bellarmine endeavoureth to prove his assertion by authority of Scriptures and testimonies of Fathers His first testimony out of the Scriptures is Rom. 4. 5. to him that beleeveth in him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousnesse Where saith he faith it selfe is counted righteousnesse and consequently faith doth not apprehend the righteousnesse of Christ but faith in Christ is it selfe justice And if it be lively and perfected by Charity it shall be perfect justice if not it shall at the least be unperfect and inchoated justice Answ. If the question were concerning the approbation or justification of the act of faith or the habit I would acknowledge that the Lord doth accept the same though unperfect in it selfe as righteous As the zealous act of Phinehas was counted unto him for righteousnesse throughout all generations But the Apostle speaketh of the justification of the person who cannot by one habit and much lesse by one act of faith be formally just But forasmuch as by faith in Christ the beleever receiveth the perfect righteousnesse of Christ this faith in respect of the object doth fully justifie the beleever and is therefore counted to him for righteousnesse not that it selfe is his righteousnesse nor that he is righteous in himselfe who still in himselfe remaineth a sinner but in Christ. And such was the faith of Abraham and of all the faithfull that not in themselves but in the promised seed all that beleeve in him should be blessed that is justified The Greeke word used sometimes by the Septuagint as Gen. 18. 18. 28. 14. and retained by the Apostle Gal. 3. 8. is very significant viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie that not in themselves but in the promised seed they should be justified and blessed for so the Apostle Rom. 4. 5 6 7. useth these words promiscuously as also Gal. 3. 8. The Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the heathen through faith preached before the Gospell unto Abraham saying in thee that is in thy seed shall all nations be blessed This blessednesse therefore this justification is obtained by faith and therefore is faith counted righteousnesse because it receiveth it As for faith it selfe absolutely considered without relation to its object we according to the Popish doctrine are justified by it neither in the act of justification nor before Not before for untill it be as they speake formed with Charity it cannot justifie nor in the act for charity alone is the formall cause of justification and then only are we formally justified when Charity is infused or else there are more formall causes of justification than one which Bellarmine according to the doctrine of the Councill of Trent doth utterly deny § VIII His second testimony 1 Corinthians 3. 11. another foundation can
of sinnes and his obedience for the acceptation unto life of us who receiving him by faith desire to be made partakers of his merits to our justification For as in our mindes we receive Christ by a lively assent or beleefe as hath beene shewed so in our hearts we receive him by an earnest desire expressed in our prayers to be made partakers of him and his merits Neither doth it follow that if by faith we impâ—…trate or obtaine remission of sinnes that therefore faith is the meritorious cause of justification unlesse it bee understood relatively in respect of Christ who is the onely meritorious cause both of our justification and salvation whom faith as the instrument doth apprehend § XV. His fifth and last reason is out of Heb. 11. Where the Apostle by many examples teacheth that by faith men doe please God and consequently that faith is of great price and merit with God Answ. That faith doth please God and is of high account with God I meane a true lively justifying faith not the faith of Papists hypocrites and Devils wee freely acknowledge to the honour of God the giver of it and to the shame of the Papists who for all their saire pretences here doe much vilifie it Howbeit merit wee ascribe none to it unlesse it be relatively by apprehending Christs merits to our justification and salvation That Abel Henoch and others mentioned Heb. 11. did please God by faith doth not disprove our justification relatively but proves it For God is pleased with none but in Christ in whom he is well pleased He is pleased with none in Christ but with them only that by faith receive him § XVI To these places of Scripture Bellarmine addeth tenne testimonies out of Augustine nine whereof doe testifie that by faith righteousnesse is impetrated that is by request obtayned and the righteousnesse which hee speaketh of is not the righteousnesse of justification but of sanctification Neither doe they prove any thing in this point but what wee confesse that by faith which purifieth the heart and worketh by love wee obtaine for that Augustine meaneth by merits both the graces that is the habits and the fruits that is the acts of sanctification which we call good workes The testimonies are these fides inchoat meritum ut per munus Dei bene operâ—…tur where by merit he understandeth the grace of living well that faith doth merit that is obtaine the grace of working well Lex adducit ad fidem fides impetrat Spiritum largiorem diffundit Spiritus charitatem charitas implet legem Quod factorum lex minando imperat hoc fidei lex credendo impetrat Per legem cognitio peccati per fidem impetratio gratiae contra peccatum per gratiam sanatio animae Violentia fidei Spiritus sanctus impetratur per quem diffusa charitate in cordibus nostris lex non timore poenae sed justitiae a more completur In novâ—… testamento fides impetrat charitatem Ex fide ideo dicit Apostolus justificari hominem non ex operibus quia ipsa prima datur ex qua impetrentur caetera quae proprie opera nuncupantur in quibus justè vivitur Fidès non potita conceditur ut ei potenti alia concedantur His tenth testimony which in order is the second Nec ipsa remissio peccatorum sine aliquo merito est si fides hanc impetrat neither is the remission of sinnes it selfe without any merit if faith doe obtaine it Neither is there no merit of faith by which faith hee said O God bee mercifull to mee a sinner and worthily did that faithfull man being humbled goe home justified because hee that humbleth himselfe shall be exalted Where Augustine abusively useth as other Latine Fathers often doe the word merit in the sence of obtaining and that by request and that appeareth by Bellarmines owne confession that Augustine doth use to call merit any good worke in respect whereof we obtaine some other thing and by the place it selfe In which sence hee saith the Publican by his humble and faithfull prayer having obtained remission of sinnes went home justified For if merit properly so called did goe before remission of siune then men should merit before they bee in state of grace which Bellarmine denyeth then should wee not bee justified either gratis that is as all even Bellarmine himselfe expound it sine meritis or by the grace that is the gracious and undeserved favour of God when wee deserved the contrary Againe beâ—…ore remission of sinnes and justification all men bee sinners and unjust Now as Augustine saith in the very next words going before quid habere boni meriti possunt peccatores What good merit can sinners have and a little before that meritis impii non grattam sed poena debetur To the merits of a wicked man not grace but punishment is due Finally the Papists themselves ordinarily confesse that their first justification cannot be merited which is grace onely and not reward Though some of them sometimes doe talke of merits of congruity which properly are no merits or if they be Pelagius his maine errour must take place gratiam secundum merita dari that grace is given according to merits Bellarmine here saith that hee hath proved elsewhere that faith and contrition and other dispositions doe merit the grace of justification which the Councill of Trent expressely denieth § XVII His fifth principall argument to prove that faith alone doth not justifie consisteth of two arguments drawne from two principles which he will but point at now but hereafter demonstrate The one is from the formall cause of justification the other from the necessity of good workes unto salvation For if the formall cause of our justification bee a righteonsnessâ—… infused and really inherent in us and not the righteousnesse of Christ apprehended by faith then faith alone doth not justifie but the former is true therefore the latter The consequence of the proposition we grant for unto sanctification faith alone doth not suffice but there must be a concurrence not onely of other habituall graces thereunto but also of actuall obedience But justification is not to be confounded with sanctification Neither doe we say that the righteousnesse of Christ is the formall cause of justification but the matter by imputation whereof we are justified The assumption namely that we are justified by a righteousnesse infused and really inherent in us he saith hee will fully prove in the next booke But all his proofes I have already fully answered and confuted in the third and fourth controversies concerning the matter and forme of justification and have by necessary arguments both disproved the negative to wit that wee are not justified by any righteousnesse inherent in us or infused into us and proved the affirmative viz. that we are justified onely by the righteousnesse of Christ imputed unto us
whereby we are entitled or have right to his kingdome being saved in hope the other as the consequent and fruit of the former whereby we being entitled to Gods kingdome are prepared and fitted for it without which though none who are adulti are saved Heb. 12. 14. yet none are saved by it or for it it being the way to the kingdome but not the cause of it nor the title that we have unto it and therefore necessary as I have said necessitate presentiae as causa sine qua non but not necessitate efficientiae as any true or proper cause thereof § V. These things thus premised it will be easy to answere Bellarmines arguments taken from the difference betweene the Law and the Gospell to prove the necessity of good workes And they are two the former disproving the supposed false difference the other proving the pretended true As touching the former having first propounded an idle distinction of the divers acceptions of the word Gospell that it signifieth either the doctrine which Christ and his Apostles taught or the grace of the new Testament which is the quickning Spirit or the efficacie of the holy Ghost working in the hearts of the elect or the Law written in the heart which I therefore call idle because as soone as he hath propounded it he confesseth that the word Gospell in the Scripture doth never signifie any other but the Doctrine hee proveth that in the Gospell is contained the Doctrine of good workes and divers Laweâ—… divers comminations and divers promises made upon condition of good workes All which we doe confesse to be true as the word Gospell is taken in the larger sense But as those promises and Doctrine of grace contained in the Bookes of the old Testament did not belong to the Law properly which is the covenant of works but to the Gospell which is the covenant of grace so in the books of the new Testament divers precepts comminations and promises are contained which belong not properly to the Gospell which is the covenant of grace and Law of Faith but to the Law of works For even as the Preachers of the Gospell at this day doe in their preaching intermingle many things appertaining to the Law either for the preparing of their auditours who are not yet justified by the terrour of the Law or for directing those that doe beleeve to lead their life according to the rule of the Law Even so our Saviour Christ and his Apostles in their doctrine intermixed legall precepts legall promises and threatnings as the necessity of their auditours required But upon all this being granted what will he inferre he saith in the title of this Chapter though in the Chapter it selfe he doth not expresse it that from hence is proved the necessity of good works which we deny not So pertinent a disputer is this great Master of controversies § VI. And forasmuch as the promise of eternall life as of a reward made to our obedience is the principall ground whereon the Papists build their Antichristian doctrine of the efficiencie and merit of good workes I will endeavour to cleare this point We are therefore to understand that eternall life is vouchsafed to the faithfull in three respects First as the free gift of God without respect of any worthinesse in us Secondly as our inheritance purchased by Christ. Thirdly as a free reward promised and given to our obedience In the first respect our salvation and all the degrees thereof is wholy to be ascribed to the gracious favor of God in Christ. In the second to the mercy of God and merit of Christ. In the third to the mercies of God redoubled and multiplied upon us and not to any desert of ours For as touching the first God before the foundation of the world was laid of his free grace Elected us in Christ graciously accepting of us in his beloved without respect of any goodnesse in us whom when he foresaw fallen into the state of perdition ex massa perdita humani generis did chuse us in Christ in him and by him to be justified and saved And as out of his undeserved love he did chuse us so by the same grace whom he hath elected he hath called whom hee hath called he hath justified whom hee hath justified hee hath sanctified and whom hee hath called justified and sanctified he hath glorified according to the purpose of his grace given unto us in Christ before the world began As therfore all the degrees of salvation are wholly to be ascribed to the grace that is the gracious favour of God in Christ for by his grace we were elected called justified regenerated and sanctified so also by his grace wee are saved and not of works For although eternall death be the wages deserved by sin yet eternall life is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the free gift of God through Iesus Christ our Lord no way deserved by us Rom. 6. 23. This his purpose of grace God revealed by his gracious promise to our first parents and aâ—…ter to Abraham and others viz. that in the promised seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed § VII Now that this his purpose of grace might be put in execution and this his gracious promise concerning â—…he promised â—…eed might be performed to the illustration of the glory both of his mercie and also of his justice God in the fulnesse of time out of his infinite goodnesse and love to mankind sent his owne and his only begotten Sonne into the world that hee taking our nature upon him might not onely in the state of humiliation by his sufferings redeeme us from hell and by his meritorious obedience purchase heaven for us but also that in the state of exaltation he having conquered all the enemies of our salvation in and before his resurrection might by his ascension take possession for us of that kingdome which he had by his merits procured for us and by his sitting at the right hand of his Father might make us to sit together with him in heavenly places and by his comming from thence againe might put us both in body and soule in possession oâ—… that heavenly inheritance which he had purchased for us And to the end that the benefit of our blessed redeemer and Saviour might be applyed and communicated unto us the â—…ord according to the purpose of his grace givâ—…n unto us in Christ before all secular times doth in his good time call those whom hee hath elected by miniâ—…tery of the Gospell maâ—…e effectuall by the gracious operation of his hâ—…ly Spirit working the grace of faith in us whereby wee receiving Christ with all his merits are actually made partakers of redemption and are actually reconciled unto God justified and adopted and by our justification entituled to the Kingdome of heaven and by our adoption made heires thereof and coheires with Christ insomuch that being justified by faith wee
freely professe that by how much wee have received the greater favours from God in redeeming us and bringing us into the liberty of his children in freeing us from sinne and from the yoake of the Law by so much the more are we bound to obedience not to be justified or saved by it but to testifie our thankefulnesse and to glorifie God who hath beene so gracious unto us c. Much more might be said concerning Christian liberty but this is as much as is pertinent to the question in hand If any desire to bee better informed in this point I referre them to my treatise of Christian liberty which I published many yeaâ—…es agoe CAP. V. That good Workes are not necessary by necessity of Efficacie § I. ALL this while Bellarmine as we have seene hath wandred from the question but now he saith he will come neerer unto it For now hee will prove the necessity of good workes not onely by way of presence but by wâ—…y of efficacie But to what will he prove them necéssary to justification no such matter But yet that is the question which hee ought to prove if hee will disprove justification by faith alone that good workes doe concurre to justification as causes thereof For though they were as they are not causes of Salvation yet it is manifest that they are consequents and therefore no causes of justification So that Bellarmine though hee be come neerer the question yet he is not come home to it But perhaps it will be said that Bellarmine prevented this objection when he first propounded this as his fifth principall argument to prove that faith doth not justifie alone because good workes are necessary to Salvation His argument may thus be frarned If faith did justifie alone then it would save alone but faith doth not save alone without good workes which are necessary to Salvation in those that are come to yeares Therefore faith doth not justifie alone without good workes which are so necessary to Salvation etiam hominibus justificatis even to them that are justified that without them faith alone doth not save Answ. The proposition is denied first by Bellarmine himselfe who teacheth though falsely that not all who are justified shall bee saved when notwithstanding the Apostle saith â—…hom the Lord hath justified he also hath glorified And further he holdeth that they who are justified may utterly and finally lose their justification though they lose not their faith and farther that they may also lose their faith which as he absurdly teacheth is lost by any act of infidelity and consequently both their justification and Salvation Yea but saith Bellarmine their justice cannot be lost nor their Salvation whiles they have faith if they be justified by faith onely But Bellarmine himselfe saith though falsely that the faith of them who are justified may be lost and with it their Salvation and therefore by his doctrine a man bee justified by faith and yet not be saved by it Secondly it is denied by some of the Fathers who though they teach that faith alone sufficeth to justification as you have heard yet deny that it alone sufficeth to Salvation because some other things as namely good workes are thereunto required To the assumption that saith alone doth not save If such a faith be meant as is alone severed from Charity and void of workes I doe confesse that it neither saveth nor yet justifieth I doe not say alone but not at all But if he speake of a true lively faith in Christ which purifieth the heart and worketh by love of which onely we speake and understand it relatively as we doe then I constantly affirme that faith in Christ alone that is Christ alone received by faith is the onely meritorious cause of our Salvation and that neither workes nor any other graces are causes of salvation unlesse hee meane caussas sine quibus non which are no causes § II. But for the further proofe of his consequences Bellarmine saith that we cannot deny them because Luther teacheth that a Christian man cannot lose his salvation unlesse he will not beleeve and that the Lâ—…therans affirme that salvation as well as justification is to bee ascribed to faith alone Answ. Wee can deny what either Luther or those that are called Lutherans doe affirme without warrant of Gods word therefore this was but a slender proofe Howbeit we doe not deny that assertion of Luther nor the like which though full of true comfort yet are most maliciously calumniated by the Papists as if hee taught men not to care what sinnes they commit so that they can say they have faith Whereas Luther delivereth speeches of that kinde to comfort the distressed consciences labouring under the burden of sinne assuring them that although their sinnes bee many and great yet they ought not to despaire if they can finde in their heart to beleeve in Christ. Which is most true For though our sinnes be many the mercies of God are more though great yet the merrits of Christ are greater And though the Lutherans doe say that salvation as well as justification is to bee ascribed to faith alone yet that is no proofe of Bellarmines consequence but a flat deniall of his assumption which it behoveth him to prove Upon these things thus premised Bellarmine inferreth that all the testimonies which afterwards namely in his fourth Booke he was to alleage out of Scriptures and Fathers to prove that good workes are so necessary to salvation even to men that are justified that without them faith alone doth not save them doe also prove that faith alone doth not justifie which is the thing saith hee which wee have undertaken to prove which notwithstanding wee doe constantly deny protesting against this inference of Bellâ—…mine and affirming that although good workes be so necessary to salvation as that that faith which is without them doth not save a man yet that doth not hinder our assertion that faith doth justifie alone because they doe not concurre to the act of justification at all and much lesse as the causes thereof for they follow justification though ordinarily they goe before salvation and howsoever that faith which is alone severed from charity and destitute of good workes doth neither justifie as I have shewed heretofore nor save yet notwithstanding faith relatively understood that is Christ received by faith doth save alone § III. But to returne to his fourth Booke though Bellarmine still doe wander yet I must be content to follow him To prove therefore that good workes are necessary to salvation by necessity of efficiency as causes thereof hee useth three kindes of proofes testimonies of Scriptures sentences of Fathers and reason Out of the Scriptures hoe produceth tenne testimonies besides some whole Epistles The first testimony Heb. 10. 30. For patience is necessary for you that doing the will of God ye may receive the promise Here first saith he wee have the terme necessary and
the necessity of good workes though they bee impertinent to the maine Question because they prove not that which is in controversie betwixt us yet are not impertinent to his purpose which was to calumniate us and to beare the world in hand that wee are such as deny the necessity of good workes But if the question were tryed by voices of the Fathers innumerable testimonies might bee produced out of their writings wherein they teach that wee are justified by faith and not by workes yea in direct termes affirming that which is the question betweene us that we are justified by faith alone But that workes are necessary as causes either to salvation or which is the question to justification not any one pregnant testimony out of the ancient Fathers is or as I suppose can bee produced But to prove the necessity of good workes by way of presence I shall not need to recite the severall testimonies seeing I have my selfe delivered more to prove and to urge the necessity of good workes than can be gathered out of all these testimonies put together § XV. In the third and last place he bringeth a reason like to that which he framed l. 1. cap. 14. that faith alone doth not justifie But doth he not dispute the same question here did he not propound five principall arguments to prove that faith doth not justifie alone the fifth and last wherof was from the necessity of good works the handling whereof hee put off to this place Should he not then from the necessity of good workes prove that faith doth not justifie alone But in stead of proving that hee endevoureth to prove that faith doth not save alone Thus craftily hee glydeth from one question to another for his owne advantage because hee knew that more is required to salvation than was required to justification For sanctification commeth betwixt justification and salvation And although we are justified without works going before justification yet we are not saved without workes going before salvation they being the way which God hath prepared for them that are justified to walke in towards their glorification I might therefore according to the Lawes of disputation hold him to the question or refuse to give him answere But he is so farre from proving that faith doth not justifie alone that hee is not able to prove that it doth not save alone disputing in that sence according to which we doe hold that faith doth justifie alone Now for the understanding of our sence and meaning certaine distinctions heretofore propounded must for avoiding of calumniations bee here repeated First that wee doe not meane that faith is the onely grace which doth sanctifie as the Papists will needes misunderstand us but that to sanctification not only other graces doe concurre with faith but good workes also And consequently that besides faith the said graces and good workes be forerunners of our salvation Secondly when wee say faith alone wee doe not meane that faith which is alone being a solitary an idle a counterfeit and dead faith severed from charity and other graces and destitute of goodworks but we meane a true and lively â—…aith which purifieth the heart and worketh by love which cannot be severed from charity and other graces as I have heretofore proved And therefore wee hold that although in respect of the act of justifying or saving it alone yet in respect of the being thereof it never is nor if it be a true justifying and savingfaith can be alone Thirdly when we doe say that faith alone justifieth and saveth wee speake with relation to the object or relatively meaning that the object which faith alone receiveth doth justifie and save us when wee say therefore that we are justified or saved by faith alone our meaning is that we are justified only by the righteousnesse of Christ which is apprehended by faith alone and not by our owne righteousnesse and that wee are saved by the merits of Christ alone received by faith and not by our owne workes or merits and consequently that Christ received by faith is the onely meritorious cause of our salvation § XVI Now let us heare Bellarmines dispute Iffaith alone did save and that workes were not otherwise â—…ecessary than in respect of presence as the fruits and signes of faith then it would follow that faith could save though it wanted all maner of good workes and were joyned with all maner of vices and sinnes but the consequent is false therfore saith hee faith alone doth not save and good workes are necessary not onely in regard of presence but also of some efficiencie To the proposition I answere first that it is senselesse and implyeth a contradiction For if good workes must necessarily be present with saving faith which hee confesseth wee doe hold how can it be supposed without implying a contradiction that it can save being not onely destitute of all good workes but also accompanied with all maner of sinne this is sufficient to overthrowe his whole dispute Secondly I deny the consequence of his proposition For justifieing and saving faith though it justifie and save alone yet it never is nor can be alone Even as the eye in respect of his being cannot if it be a true living eye be alone severed from other parts of the body yet in respect of the act of seeing unto which no other part doth concurre it seeth alone Even so faith which is the spirituall eye of the soule in respect of its being cannot if it be a true lively faith be alone severed from the other graces which are with it fellow members of sanctification but yet in respect of the Act of justifying and saving unto which no other graces concurre with it as any causes therof it justifyeth and saveth alone because it alone and no other grace doth receive Christ unto justification and salvation Thirdly we do not say that the presence of good workes is necessary to salvation onely as they are the fruits and signes of faith but also as necessary forerunners as causa sine qua non as the way to salvation and as the evidence according to which the sentence shall be pronounced Which consideration disproveth the proofe of his consequence which is that according to our doctrine good workes are required to the act of saving onely by accident whose presence addeth nothing to the virtue of faith in justifying and saving and so their absence detracteth nothing from it and therefore being taken away faith never the lesse saveth Answ. Things whose presence is necessary cannot be said to bee present by accident For such may be present or absent but that which is necessary cannot be otherwise the thing being safe But we hold the presence of workes not to be contingent but necessary both in respect of salvation as the way to it and as Causa sine qua non and of faith as the unseparable fruits of it without which it is said to be dead
obedience by that which wee suffer David therefore professeth that it was good for him that hee had been afflicted that hee might learne the statutes of the Lord and confesseth that before hee was afflicted hee went astray but now saith hee I have kept thy word This also is a yoke which Ieremy saith it is good for a man to beare even in or from his youth Lam. 3. 27. For to the Godly it is made an easy yoke and light burden First In comparison of that superexcellent eternall weight of glory wherewith the Lord doth recompence our momentany and light afflictions which are no way comparable to the glory which shall be revealed Secondly because affliction worketh patience and patience probation and probation hope and hope of eternall glory makethus to swallow all the difficulties of this life and with patience and comfort to beare afflictions yea to rejoyce and to triumph in them Rom. 5. 3. 8. 37. Looking unto IESVS the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the crosse despising the shame and is set downe at the right hand of the throne of God Wherefore Saint Iames and Saint Peter in their Epistles doe teach it to be a matter of joy to the faithfull when they are afflicted Thirdly because the nature of afflictions to the faithfull is changed being not evill not punishments to them but rather blessings as being either fatherly chastisements or tryals for their good which proceeding from Gods love are so moderated by his mercy that they doe not exceed their strength 1 Cor. 10. 13. and are through Gods providence made to worke for their good Rom. 8. 28. and profit that they may be partakers of his holinesse Heb. 12. 10. Affliction therefore to the faithfull is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a commodious or easie yoake Fourthly because Christ by his Spirit doth minister such comfort to the faithfull in their afflictions that as their sufferings increase so their consolation aboundeth by Christ 2 Cor. 1. 4 5. § VIII So much of his first Testimony In the second place 1 Ioh. 5. 3. The Holy Ghost setteth downe two notes whereby wee may know that we love God For this saith he is the Love of God first that we keepe his commandements for this in other places also is made the proper note of his Love viz. to keepe his Commandements Exod. 20. 6. Iohn 14. 15. the second that his Commandements are not grievous for nihil difficile amanti Nothing is difficult to him that loveth And so Augustine answereth the Pelagian urging this place quis nesciat non esse grave quod diligendo fit non timendo So that if we truely love God we will out of love and not out of servile feare and constraint yeeld willing obedience to the Commandements of God So that this is the meaning to him that loveth God the Commandements of God are not grievous but he delighteth in them according to the inner Man yeelding voluntary and cheerefull obedience thereto not in perfection but according to the measure of grace received For when the Love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Spirit of God assuring us in some measure of Gods love towards us then are our hearts enlarged to love God againe and being enlarged we doe not onely walke but runne also in the way of Gods commandments that is willingly and cheerefully according to the measure of our faith and love wee obey them But though the faithfull doe willingly obey Gods commandements so according to their ability yet they cannot perfectly fulfill them § IX His second sort of testimonies is of such as teach that the Law is kept by them that Love Of this sort he citeth three testimonies the first concerning the Love of God Ioh. 14. 23. If a man love me he will keepe my word The other 2. concerning the love of our neighbor Rom. 13. 8. he that loveth his neighbour hath fulfilled the Law Gal. 5. 14. all the Law is fulfilled in one word thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy selfe From hence he argueth thus They that are able to love God and their neighbour are also able to fulfill the Law the faithfull are able to love God and their neighbour therefore they are able to fulfill the Law The proposition hee proveth by these three testimonies of Scripture The assumption thus If we cannot love God and our neighbour then can wee not be the disciples or friends of Christ but it is absurd to say that none can be the disciples or friends of Christ therefore we are able to love God and our neighbour The proposition of this prosyllogisme he proveth out of Ioh. 15. 35. Hereby shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one to another and Iohn 15. 14. you shall be my friends if you doe the things that I command you Now the thing which he did command was that they should love one another To this long discourse a short answere may suffice we doe confesse that all they who love God and their neighbour doe keepe Gods commandements according to the measure of their love but wee deny that any can fulfill the Law of God who have not a full and perfect love and that to the perfection of love such as the Law requireth none can attaine in this life For our knowledge is but in part therefore our love our regeneration is but in part wee being but partly spirituall and partly carnall and therefore our love The Law is impossible by reason of the flesh therefore whiles the flesh remaineth in us the Law is not possible unto us § X. Bellarmine confesseth that our charity in this life is unperfect because it may be increased and because it shall bee greater in our country Notwithstanding he holdeth that it is so perfect as may suffice for the fulfilling of the Law But David saith that the Law of God is perfect and so perfect as nothing may be added thereto and therefore requireth perfect righteousnesse not onely in respect of the parts but also of the degrees unto which nothing can be added For if any thing can bee added to it then something is wanting which is required to perfection and what is wanting is a fault Peccatum est saith Augustine cum vel non est charitas quâ—… esse debet vel minor est quà m debet It is a sin either when there is not Charity which ought to be or when it is lesse than it ought to be And no doubt but it is lesse than it ought to be when it is not so great as the Law requireth and it is not so great as the Law requireth whiles it may be increased For as Augustine saith quamdiâ—… augeri potest charitas profectò illud quod minus est quam debet ex vitio est Whiles Charity may be increased assuredly
workes Saint Iames having to deale with carnall Gospellers vaine men turning the grace of God into wantonnesse who having heard that faith doth justifie without workes did cast off all care of good workes thinking it sufficient to professe themselves to beleeve though their life were dissolute Against these Saint Iames proveth that vaine is the profession of faith without good works â—… that the faith which is without works is not a true liuely justifying faith but a dead and counterfeit faith that whosoever is justified before God by faith must also be justified that is declared and approved to bee just not onely by profession of his faith but also by the practise of good workes Wherefore in this respect there is no more difference betweene the two Apostles Paul and Iames than betweene Lâ—…ther and us who are Preachers of the Gospell at this day For as Luther having to deale with Popish justitiaâ—…ies who taught justification by workes urgeth most zelously justification by faith alone and in the question of justification after the example of Saint Paul speaketh contemptuously of workes so we having to dâ—…le with Libertines and carnall gospellers insisting in the steppes of Saint Iames urge the necessity of good workes § XVII Secondly wee are to consider the divers acceptions of the words faith workes justifie in the writings of the two Apostles Paul speaking of a true lively faith which worketh by love saith in effect that faith alone doth justifie Iames speaking of the faith of hypocrits which is in profession only sâ—…vered from the grace of sanctification and destitute of good workes â—…aith that such a faith doth neither justifie alone nor at all as being not a true but a dead and counterfeit faith Paul speaking of the câ—…uses of justification before God denyeth workes to concurre to the act of justification as any cause thereof Iames speaking of the effects and â—…ignes of justificatiâ—…n whereby it may beâ—… knowne affirmeth that workes must concurre in the parties justified that by them our faith may be demonstrated â—…nd our justification manifested Paul therefore rejecteth workes obtruded as causes of justification Iames urgeth thâ—…m as effects and signes thereof Paul speaking of Iustification in the proper sense as it signifieth that gracioâ—…s action of God whereby wee are made or constituted just affirmeth that wee are justified by faith without workes Iames speaking of thâ—…t justificâ—…tion whereby we are not mâ—…de just before God but declared and 〈◊〉 to God our 〈◊〉 and our conscience to bee just and indued with a true faith 〈◊〉 that we are so justified not onely by the profession of faith but also by good workes Now these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very well stand together For although it be most true which Saint Paul affirmeth that true faith doth just fie alone yet it is 〈◊〉 true which Saint Iames faith that the faith which is alone doth not justifie neither â—…lone nor at all because it is not 〈◊〉 true and a lively but a 〈◊〉 and dead faith For 〈◊〉 the living eye though it see alone yet is not alone so a liuely fâ—…ith though it justifie alone yet never iâ—… alone though it justifie without workes yet it is not without workâ—…s Though good workes doe not 〈◊〉 to the act of justification aâ—… any cause therâ—…of according to Saint Pauls doctrinâ—… yet they must concurre in the same subject that is the party justified as necessary fruitâ—… and 〈◊〉 of â—… true justifying â—…aith 〈◊〉 Saint Iaâ—…esâ—…cheth â—…cheth Though we be justified before God that is both absolved from our 〈◊〉 and accepted in Christ as righteous by faith alone without respect of workâ—… as Saint Paul teacheth yet according to the doctrine of â—…aint Iames weâ—… are to bee justified that is declared and approved to be just not onely by faith professed but also by good workes Finally though good workes nâ—…n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet 〈◊〉 justificaâ—… as Augustinâ—… useth to speake or as he also saith non prâ—…edunt iustifiâ—…andum sed justificatâ—… 〈◊〉 though they doe not goâ—… before justification as causâ—…s 〈◊〉 Pâ—…l teacheth yet they must follow in the parties justified as effects according to Saint Iames his doctrine § XVIII But the assertions of the 2. Apostles not only may wel stand togeâ—…her but also according to our doctrine they must necessarily goe together For if we shall be altogether conversant in setting forth the commendation of good works and in urging the necessity thereof not informing the people in the doctrine of justification by faith alone they will be ready to place the matter of their justification and the merit of their salvation in themselves as the Papists doe And so being ignorant of Gods righteousnesse and seeking to establish their owne righteousnesse they doe not submit themselves to the righteousnes of God But wee must so urge the necessity of good workes in the doctrine of sanctification that wee remember that in the question of justification they are of no value On the other side if wee shall be wholly taken up in the doctrine of justification by faith alone teaching that in the question of justification they are of no worth and doe not withall informe the people of the profit and necessity of good works in other respects how ready will they bee to cast off all care of good workes and content themselves with a bare profession of faith But wee joyne these assertions together after the doctrine and practise of the Apostles in their Epistles Wee teach that justification and sanctification are unseparable companions And theresore as they who are sanctified may bee assured of their justification so without sanctification none can bee assured of their justification It is true that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus but who are they that live not after the flesh but after the Spirit Râ—… 8. 1. that are new creatures 2 Cor. 5. 17. that crucifie the flesh with the lusts thereof Gal. 5. 24. It is true that a true lively faith doth justifie alone but what manner of saith is that that purifieth the heart Act. 15. 9. and worketh by love Gal. 5. 6. and may be demonstrated by good workes Iam. 2. 18. It is true that wee are not justified by our workes nor saved for them yet those are neither justified nor saved that are without them for as they are necessary consequents of justification so they are necessary antecedents of salvation For though they be not the cause of our salvation yet they are the way by which we are to come to salvation though they be not causa regâ—…andi as Bernard saith yet they are via regni Though they bee not the merit of salvation yet they are the evidence according to which God will judge us By faith wee have our inheritance and our title to Gods Kingdome but it is to be inherited among those that are sanctified A godly conversation though it be not properly a cause of our glorification yet it is causa
Lord who freelygiveth what he had freely promised Thirdly when a superaboundant reward is promised to a small worke and the party to whom it is promised is no way able either to doe or so much as to will the performance of it but receiveth wholly his will and ability to performe it from his Lord the thing promised cannot be ascribed to his merit but to the gracious bounty of his Lord. § V. The seventh and last condition is that a meritorious work must proceed from charity which we acknowledg to be required in every good worke But in the proofe hereof he falleth into a nice dispute proving against Guihielmus 〈◊〉 that the vertue of meriting is to be ascribed more principally to Charity than to faith And although this bee but an idle dispute seeing neither faith nor charity doth truely and properly merit yet I durst be bold to affirme that if to either merit were to be ascribed that it were rather to bee attributed to faith For by faith the merits of Christ are applyed unto us and not by charity By faith we are entitled to Gods Kingdome by 〈◊〉 wee are not By faith wee obtaine the inheritance which by charity we doe not By faith we are saved and not by charity Faith is the condition of the covenant of grace upon which and no other grace salvaâ—…ion is promised Those that truly love are also saved it being the proper cognizance and as Basiâ—… speaketh the character of the faithfull and none are saved without it but yet they are not saved by it nor for it but onely by the merits of Christ which are apprehended by faith alone Salvation which is purchased by the merits of Christ is promised to faith as that whereby we are made partakers of Christs merits and are therefore said to be justified and saved by faith alone but charity and the fruits thereof are the evidence according to which God will save us Christ is the foundation of our happinesse yea he is eternall life Faith is the onely instrument wherby wee are made partakers of Christ all other graces are but notes and signes of our union which we have with Christ and of happinesse by him By faith we have this inheritance but it is had among those that are sanctified When it is said happy is shee that beleeved there the cause of happinesse is noted but when it is said happy is he that loved orfeared not the cause of happinesse is signified but a note or signe of it Both faith and charity must concurre to every good act for as a worke without charity is not good so without faith it is sin But if you compare the graces together it is certaine that charity proceedeth from faith 1 Tim. 1. 5. and according to the measure of our faith such is the measure of our love for faith is the Mother-grace from which charity and all other graces as from the root and fountaine doe spring and flow It may seeme indeed that sanctification and inherent righteousnesse doth more principally consist in love because charity is the fulfilling of the Law yet sanctification it selfe doth flow from faith which purifieth the heart and worketh by love But as for the grace of justification whereunto merit if wee had any ought to bee referred for justification is the entitling of us to the kingdome of heaven neither charity nor any other grace in us doth concurre unto it but faith is all in all I will not follow him in his idle dispute I confesse the point that to every rewardable or as he calleth it meritorious worke charity is required § VI. Now let us recapitulate his seven conditions And because he shall not finde me refractary I doe confesse that all and every of these conditions are required to every rewardable worke For first it must be good Secondly it must be done in obeysance to God Thirdly it must be done by men in this world Fourthly it must bee voluntary and not forced Fifthly it must bee performed by a man who is in the state of grace Sixthly the expectation of the reward is to bee grounded on Gods promise And lastly it must proceed from charity But now say I that not any one of these conditions nor all of them put together can make a worke meritorious of eternall life before God They are common notes and markes of all good workes whatsoever but the proper notes of merits are such as I set downe in the beginning of this discourse concerning merits For workes are not therefore meritorious because they are materially good nor because they are in obeysance to God for that is our duty and debt which wee owe to God nor for that they are performed by such as are viatores and pilgrims in this world nor because they are wrought by men in state of grace nor because the expectation of the reward is grounded on Gods promise which is of a free reward and not of wages merited by us nor lastly because they proceed from charity For our charity by reason of the imperfection thereof cannot stand in judgement to satisfie the justice of God and much lesse to merit And whatsoever or how great soever it is it is not only a duety which we owe to God but the onely debt which wee owe or ought to owe to our brethren and that for Gods sake to omit that we receive it as a free gift from God and therefore by it we cannot merit of him CHAP. IX Bellarmines dispute that good workes are meritorious ex condigno not onely ratione pacti but also ratione operis examined § I. IN the fourth place Bellarmine discourfeth how farre forth good workes are either meritorious or are rewarded Meritorious whether ex condigno and if so whether ratione pacti solum or ratione operis also That good workes are meritorious ex condigno which is the matter that hitherto hee hath proved hee now maintaineth against Durandus affirming that his Assertion as it is refuted by the common consent of all almost Divines so also by all the arguments which formerly hee hath used against us to prove that the workes of the godly are truely and properly meritorious which I desire the Reader to take notice of because some draw-backs who notwithstanding would seeme stiffe defenders of merits doe beare the simple in hand that it is but a Schoole-point to say that workes are meritorious either ex condigno or ex congruo When as in very trueth it is the received Doctrine of that Church that the good workes of the godly are truely and properly meritorious of everlasting life Now it is evident that meritum ex congruo is not truely and properly meritorious § II. In the next place Bellarmiâ—…e now taking it for granted that good workes are meritorious ex condigno hee disputeth whether they bee so ratione pacti tantum or ratione operis tantum or ratione utriusque whereunto I answere that
3. 5. Bellarmines preamble to his answere in which he noteth three things first what is meant by the Law of workes and by the Law of faith Gal. 1. 6 8 9. e Luk. 1. 74. Jer. 31. 33. Heb. 8. 10. Bellarmines exposition f De spir lit g Râ—…m 10. 8. h De jusâ—…is l. 4. cap. 2. i In Rom. 3 27. homil 7. Iustice Of the Law In by the law k Lib. 4. cap. 8. §. 2 3 4. Thirdly what is meant by workes l De gratia lib. arb c. 7. Some of the Papists understand the ceremoniall Law onely m Deut. 11. 1. n Rom. 7. 7. o Rom. 3. 10 c. o De justis l. 1. cap. 19. Bellarmine and others understand also the workes of the morall law but yet such onely as goe before 〈◊〉 p Esponc in 1 Tim. 1. the end that is the fulfilling and consummation of the Commandement that is by 〈◊〉 doche of the law is â—…ove both of God and our neighbour out of a pure heart that is purisied by faith Salmero the end that is the complement or fulfilling of the precept that is of the law is the love of God and our neighbour proceeding from faith unfained wherby a man beleeveth in Christ from his heart q Gal. 2. 16. r Psal. 143. 2. s Lib. 4. c. 8. §. 15. t Heb. 11. 8 9. â—…7 u In Rom. 4. 1. hom 8. * Rom. 1. 16 17. 3. 21. x Rom. 3. 21. y Rom. 3. 24. z Rom. 4. 3 4 5. 16. Rom. 11. 6. De iustif l. 1. c. 19. §. Ex his His answere to Rom. 3. 27. His answer to the second testimony Rom. 4. 2. from the example of Abraham Bellarmines first answere refuâ—…ed Bellarmine confounded in two respects The first The second respect Bellarmines second answere refuted a Nehem. 9. 7. b Ios. 24. 2. c 1 Cor. 4. 7. d §. excludi Merit confuted c Act. 15. 5. * See l. ib. 6. c. 8. §. 7. n. 2. Bâ—…llarmines argument from the consequences in the epistle to the Galatians f 1 Tim. 1. 5. That the consequences make against justification by works of grace g Heb. 11. h Gen. 4. 9. i Rom. 4. 11. k 1 Cor. 5. 8. l Ioh. 3. 14 15. m De justis l. 4. c. 4 diâ—…fer 6. Lex Mosis non erat data ut justificaret sed ut moâ—… bum ostenderet ad quâ—…rendum medicum excitaâ—…et All the consequences alleaged by Bellarmine are strong against justification by works of grace n Gal. 3. 17 18. o Gal. 3. 10. Christ hath not merited for us that we should be justified by our owne righteousnesse or saved by our owne merits His answere to Ephes. 2. 8 9. p Tit. 3. 7. His answere to Phil. 3. 8 9. p In locum q Esa. â—…4 6. r Exam. concil Trid. part 1. de jusâ—…if pag. 135. s Advers Pelag. l. 2. omnia pro Christâ—… ducit quisquilias t I. Scapula u Hesycâ—…ius * Gillâ—…lim Deut. 29. 17. Ezek. 22. 3. His answere to Rom. 3. 24. x Lib. 3 de gratia y De justif l. 1. cap. 21. z Sess. 6. cap. 8. Bellarm. de iuâ—…tif l. 4. Bellarmines Method He proveth workes necessaâ—…y not to iustiâ—…ication but to salvâ—…tion a Rom. 10. 10. b Heb. 12. 14. c Heâ—… 10. 36. d Matth. 10. 22. 24. 13. e De justif l. 4. cap. 2. Of the difference between the Law and the Gospell The acceptions of the words Law and Gospell either in a large or strict sense f Psalm 1. 2. 19. 7. Psalm 119. 18 72 142. Mic. 4. 2. Esai 2. 3. h Psal. 119. 57 104. i De iustif l 4. c. 2. § probator quartò k Gen. 22. 18. The strict signification of the Law and the Gospell l Luk. 2. 10. Rom. 10. 15. m 2 Tim. 19. n Rom. 6. 22. His disproofe of the difference which we assigne Whether the promise of Salvation made to our obedience doe prove the merit of good workes Eternall life three waies promised first as a free g ft. o Epbes. 1. 6. p Rom. 8. 30. 10. 13 14. 2 Thes. 2. 13 14. q 2 Tim. 1. 9. r Ephes. 2. 8 9. s Gen. 22. 18. 2. As our inheâ—…itance t Eph 2. 6. u 2 Tim. 1. 9. * Act. 26. 18. Tâ—…t 3. 7. 3. As a reward x Apâ—…c 21. 27 y Luk. 1 73 74 75. Ier. 3 33 34. Heb. 8. 10 11 12. z De verbis Domini serm 3. O magna bonitas Dei cui cum pro conditione reddere debeamus obsequia utpote servi Domino famuli Deo subjecti potenti mancipâ—…a Redemptori amicitiarum nobis prae 〈◊〉 ut nobiâ—… obsequiâ—… debita servitutiâ—… extâ—…rqueat c. The example of Gods dealing with Abraham a Gen. 22. 16 18. Objection if eternall life bee the reward of our obedience then our obedience doth merit it Rom. 6. 23. b Psalm 62. 12. Ephes. 2. 7. c De gratia lib. arbitr Places whâ—…ch the papists understand of causes to be understood of notes d Phil. 1. 29. e In Rom. 8. Or of evidences Three other answeres to the foresaid objection f Ad annal eccles Baronii exercit 15. n. 17. g In Gen. 22. Bellarmines allegations de justis l. 4. c. 2. §. Ve niamuâ—… first Mat. 5. 20. His second testimony h Rom. 9. 32. i Auâ—…tor operis imperâ—…ecti in Matth. hom 33. Mat. 19 17. k Vers. 20. l Stapleton in promptuar cathol Dominica 1â—… post pentecost quaerebat quid sacâ—…endo id est peâ—… quâ—… 〈◊〉 opera it maeternam 〈◊〉 His other testimonies answered m Supra §. â—… n 1 Ioh. 5. 11 12 20. o Heb. 5. 9. His argument from Ezek. 18. 2â—… p Iam. 5. 20. q Rom. 6. 23. His fifth argument from the condition of faith Bellarmines proofe from his pretended true differences De justif l. 4. cap. 3. The first diffeâ—…ence confuted by the last r Mat. 11. 29. s Gal. 3. 17. t Gal. 3. 13. u 1 Cor. 1. 30. * Ier. 23. 6. x De justif l. 4. cap. 4. The second difference y Rom. 8. 23. The other 6. differences 3 4 5 6 7 8 Of Christian liberty z De justif l. 4. â—…ap 5. a Rom. 6. 18. De iusâ—…if l. 4. c. 7. a Deiustif l. 1. c. 18. §. Simile b Rom. 8. 30. Bellarmines proofe of his consequence Bellarm. proofes sor necessity of efficiency De Iustif. Lib. â—… Cap. 7. His first testimony Heb. 10. 36. c Heb. 12. 1. His second testimony 1 Tim. 2. 14 15. d Matth. 7. 14. e Act. 14. 22. f De Sacrament matrim cap. 2. §. confirmatur His third testimony Phil. 2. 12. g Ephes. 2. 10. h Psal. 100. 2. i Esay 26. 12. k 2 Cor. 3. 5. l Phil. 2. 13. m Phil. 1. 1 6 n Phil. 1. 6. o 2 Cor. 7. 1. His fourth testimony 2 Cor. 7. 10. His fifth testimony 2 Cor. 4. 17. p 1 Cor. 11. 19. His seventh testimony Rom. 8. 17 18. p Lib.