which is the main difference that runs through the whole Controversie For hereupon the Church of Rome pursuing it 's own notion makes the beginning of Justification to be the answer to God's call and the following his exciting grace to the belief of God's promises thence hoping in him for pardon and thereupon beginning to love him and hate sin purposing a new life which disposition is followed with Justification of which it sets up different causes particularly making the only formal cause of it to be Justice or Righteousness given by God whereby we are renewed in the spirit of our minds and not accounted only but rendred just every man receiving it according to his disposition The Church of England on the other side holding a quite different sense of Justification declares Christ the only meritorious cause of it by what he suffer'd for the expiation of our sins and Faith the only means of receiving and applying his merits for this purpose which Faith it declares to be a full trust in God's mercy through Christ for the remission of our sins supposing always Repentance as necessary to make this confidence lively and Christian not carnal and presumptive excluding nevertheless even Faith it self as well as all other graces and works from being any way meritorious of this remission of sins which is only wrought by Jesus Christ not that it does in the least deny that Christ merited grace as well as pardon or that God by his grace doth infuse into our hearts Faith Hope and Charity and all other graces whereby the renovation of the inner man is wrought but supposing always that this sanctification is wrought by God's spirit in all justified persons it denies any of these graces and all inherent righteousness to be deserving of this Remission of sins which God gives us freely out of meer grace upon the score of Christ's merits Now then upon a view of the whole we see the ground of the difference lies in the different apprehension of Justification and herein certainly the Church of Rome is mistaken whilst she confounds Justification with Sanctification Remission of Sins with the Renovation of our Minds and taking Justification for what it properly signifies Remission of Sins the Council of Trent has made that the formal cause of Justification which has nothing to do in the Remission of Sins which are not remitted by being extinguished by contrary dispositions but by the Merits of Christ purchasing their pardon Again By departing from the Scripture-language and the true meaning thereof in making Justification consist in the infusion of Righteousness which it does not properly signifie there is appearance of reason great enough to cause men that are jealous of the glory of God's grace and the merits of Christ to think they claim remission of sins as due to that infused righteousness by having whereof they say they are righteous before God But yet inasmuch as it makes Christ to be the meritorious cause of Justication and says in the place M. Condom quotes that it is necessary to believe that our sins are not remitted but by the free mercy of God through Christ I dare not charge it as destroying his Merits by this Doctrine but wherein I do charge them with this will appear in the next Section But however it has gone beyond its power in making that matter of Faith which before was only a position of the Schools and which in it self is not true especially since it has proceeded further to declare that Doctrine of Justification which it has thus Vid. Preface to the Canons set down to be so necessary to be received that without believing it a man cannot be justified and has thereupon proceeded to make Canons whereby they condemn him that says 1 Can. 10. We are formally justified by the merits of Christ 2 Can. 11. That we are justified only by the imputation of Christs righteousness or only by remission of sins without inherent grace and charity 3 Can. 12. That justifying Faith is nothing but confidence in the mercy of God who remitteth sins for Christ 4 Can. 24. That Justification is not increased by good works but that they are fruits only and signs of it All which Propositions though condemned by them are true taking Justification in its proper notion for the forgiveness of sins for what is a man justified by but only the justice of Christ and by remission of sins if Justification be only the Remission of sins and that effected only by Christ and supposing the same what are we formally justified by but his merits and what is justifying Faith else supposing the same but a confidence in the mercy of God who remitteth sins for Christ's sake and how is Justification increased by works if it be the free remission of sins through Christ without consideration of them To come therefore at length to M. Condom who says That seeing the Scripture explicates Remission of sins sometimes by God's covering them sometimes by his blotting them out by his grace that makes us new creatures to form a perfect Idea of Justification both these are to be joined together Could he have shewn any one place of Scripture wherein Remission of sins signifies their being blotted out by making us new creatures I might allow his Idea reasonable But the place he cites in the Margin Tit. 3. v. 5 6 7. is not of that clearness as to make much for him when the Scriptures every where distinguish the Remission of our sins from our being turned from them the pardon of them from our having sin destroyed within us and consequently our Justification from our Sanctification and though both are wrought by Christ yet it speaks of them as things distinct ascribing the benefit of the one to the sufferings and satisfaction of Christ and God's mercy the other to the effect of his grace and holy spirit The words in that passage of the Epistle to Titus are these But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour that being justified by his grace we should be made heirs of eternal life Now it 's true the Apostle here setting forth our salvation effected through the mercy of God in Christ for the manner of it sets down no more than the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost but though the laver of Regeneration effects both the remission of our sins by the death and merits of Christ and the renovation of our minds by the Holy Ghost which is shed on us we are not therefore to think of them as if both were the same thing because both are conferred by the same Sacrament when it 's apparent that they are different mercies one the effect of Christ's death and
the Justification of a Sinner Decrees as follows THat all Men are lapsed with Adam cap. 1. That Concil Trid. Ses 6. hereupon cap. 2. God sent his Son Christ whom he doth propose a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood for the Sins of the whole World But though he died for all c. 3. yet those only receive the Benefit to whom the Merit of his Passion is communicated That we are to conceive of Justification c. 4. as of the Translation of Man from the State wherein he was born as a Child of Adam to the State of Grace and Adoption through Christ which Change is not wrought without our being washed in the Laver of Regeneration or desire so to be That the beginning of Justification c. 5. in persons adult is the preventing Grace of God i. e. his free Calling whereby Man consenting and co-operating with his exciting and assisting Grace is disposed to prepare himself for Justification which he does willingly and might refuse Which Disposition is wrought after this excitement of Grace c. 6. by believihg willingly the divine Revelations and Promises particularly that God justifieth the Sinner through Grace and then out of a Sense of Sin turning from God's Justice to his Mercy hoping in him for Pardon and thereupon beginning to love him and hate Sin purposing to be Baptized and to begin a new Life That Justification followeth this Disposition c. 7 which is not only the Remission of Sins but the Renovation of the inner Man and hath five Causes the Final the Glory of God and Eternal Life the Efficient God who washeth away Sin and sanctifieth the Meritorious Christ who by his Passion hath merited Justification for us and satisfied his Father the Instrumental the Sacrament of Baptism the only Formal Cause Justice given by God whereby we are renewed in the Spirit of our Minds and not accounted only but made truly just every man receiving it according to the good pleasure of the Holy Ghost and according to his own proper Disposition receiving together with Remission of Sins Faith Hope and Charity That when it is said We are justified by Faith and freely c. 8. it ought to be understood because Faith is the beginning of Justification and the things that precede it are not meritorious of Grace That although it be necessary to believe c. 9. that Sins are not remitted to us but by the free Mercy of God through Christ yet we are not to believe they are remitted to him that vaunteth and reposeth himself only in the confidence and certainty of their Remission neither ought it to be said that Justification is perfected only by Faith excluding all doubt That those who are thus justified c. 10. by bringing forth good Works are more justified By taking the like View of the Doctrine of the Church of England in this Point we shall easily discern the things in difference She then declares 1. THat we are accounted righteous before God only for the Merit Articles of the Church of England Arti. 11. of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith and not for our own Works and Deservings wherefore that we are justified by Faith only is a most wholesom Doctrine and full of Comfort 2. That by Justification She means the Forgiveness of our Sins 2. Hom. of Justification part 1. and Trespasses That this being received of God's Mercy and Christ's Merits embraced by Faith is taken and allowed of God for our perfect and full Justification That nothing on the behalf of Man does contribute to this Justification but only a true and lively Faith which Faith is also the gift of God But this Faith does not shut out Repentance Hope Love Dread and the Fear of God from being joyned with Faith in every man that is justified but it shutteth them out from the Office or justifying nor does it shut out the Justice of good Works necessarily to be done afterwards of Duty to God but only excludes them from deserving our Justification which comes freely from the Mercy and Grace of God whereby he has provided that Ransom to be paid by Christ which all the World in any part was not able to pay of themselves 3. That this Saying that we are justified by Faith only is not 3. Ibid p. 2. meant as if justifying Faith were alone in any without Charity c. at any time or season nor the other that we are justified freely so as to imply that we may be idle or that nothing is required to be done on our parts neither that other of our being justified without Works that we should do nothing at all but thus to take away clearly all merit of our Works to deserve Justification at God's hands and also to express the Weakness of man and the Goodness of God the imperfection of our Works and the most abundant Grace of Christ and to ascribe the merit and deserving of our Justification to Christ alone That though we have and ought to have Faith within us with Hope Charity and other Graces and do never so many good Works thereunto we must renounce the Merit of all our said Virtues that are or may be in us as things too weak and insufficient and imperfect to deserve remission of Sins i. e. our Justification and must trust only in God's Mercy and the Sacrifice of Christ for the same 4. That therefore Christ himself is the only meritorious Cause of 4. Ibid. pa. 3. it That our own Works do not justifie us to speak properly of Justification i. e. to say our Works do not merit or deserve Remission of Sins but God of his own Mercy gives it us through the Deservings of his Son Nevertheless because Faith doth send us to Christ for this Remission and by it we embrace the Promise of God's Mercy and of the Remission of our Sins which thing none other of our works properly do therefore it is said that Faith without Works doth justifie us 5. But this Faith that justifies is not a dead or carnal but a 5. Hom. of Faith part 1. living Faith and this living Faith is a full Trust in God through Christ which upon the consideration of the greatness of his Mercy which it apprehends and relies upon is at the same time moved through the assistance of the Spirit to serve and please him out of this pure and only Principle the Love of God Now he that will consider and compare these Doctrines with each other will find that they both agree in the lapsed State of Mankind and the necessity of God's sending his Son whom he hath set forth to be our Propitiation and that though he died for all yet those only are benefited to whom his merit is communicated but when they come to express the nature of Justification the Church of Rome conceives it to be not only the Remission of sins but likewise the Renovation of the Inward man the Church of England by Justification means only Forgiveness of sins
than so he still may glory in his works though not as wrought by himself What he adds out of another Session will come to be considered in its proper place but so far as it relates to the point in hand that they confess man has nothing to glory nor for which he may confide in himself is true but it is upon this ground they confess it that we can do nothing of our selves but all through Christ who strengthens us not upon any supposition that what a man has wrought through Christ that strengthened him may not be confided in as meritorious upon that score for though the Council says we merit and satisfie in Christ it can mean no more than through his assistance that enables us to do such works for it sticks not to say the fruits worthy of Repentance have a virtue in them though drawn from him as wrought by his grace Besides there is ground enough to conceive that they make some distinction between the satisfactory works of Penance which are spoken of in that Session and those good works which it speaks of here in the business of Justification so that what is spoken of the merit of them cannot be drawn into consequence to prove that they understand no greater merit in these which are works of a different nature and whose virtue is endeavoured to be set forth to a different purpose viz. of meriting eternal life whereas the other pretends only to the satisfaction of adebt of temporal punishment Now then to subjoin the Doctrine of the Church of England in this point which teaches 1 Hom. of good Works Part 2. That such Works only are good which are done in obedience to God's Commandments 2 Ib. Par. 1. That no Works done without Faith are pleasing to God in that the measures of them are not taken from the facts themselves but from the ends out of which they are done 3 Hom. of Justifie Par. 2. That though a man do never so many good Works yet we must renounce the merit of all our virtues and good deeds which we either have done shall door can do as things far too weak and insufficient to deserve at God's hands 4 Ib. Par. 3. our imperfection being so great through original sin that all is imperfect that is within us and therefore cannot merit 5 Art 12. That albeit good Works which are the fruits of Faith and follow after Justification cannot put away our sins and endure the severity of God's Judgment yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God 6 Hom. of Faith Par. 2. That true Faith is always productive of them and they are inseperable from it By this we may frame the comparison and find that both agree in this That good works are necessary to a Christian that they are pleasing and acceptable to God being done both in obedience to his will and out of the power of his grace that all Christian works proceed from grace that a man cannot glory in himself on this score but in Christ the Author and Finisher of them But then the difference lies First in that the Church of England says our good works though pleasing to God cannot bear the Tryal if examined by the rigour of his Justice They on the other side That a Christian by his works wrought in God does satisfie the Divine Law with respect to the present state We again disclaim all assiance in our works as things insufficient to deserve Remission of sins or merit for us eternal life They on the other side profess our works to have that intrinsick value in them upon the account of their being the effects of grace as that a Christian may be truly said to have merited by them that eternal life which he shall obtain in time if he depart this life in a state of grace These being the Two Points whereon depends the Dispute I am not moved by any thing said here by M. Condom in vindication of his Churches Sentiments to recede in the least what the Church of England has declared and professed concerning them For though the Precepts Exhortations Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel shew that we must work out our own Salvation by the grace of God assisting us yet they shew not that what is done by us does merit our Salvation or can in justice claim it of God Neither is it altogether so just that his Church should use the Word Merit to express the acceptableness of good Works with God since She limits it to a Sense different from what was anciently understood thereby Nor will I fear to maintain That those who will have the Works of Christians to merit Heaven of their own intrinsick value though supposing that value still arising from its being wrought by Grace do hold a Tenet prejudicial to the Faith whilst they hold not the Grace of God through Christ again necessary to accept of that to such a reward which the intrinsick worth of it does not deserve nor his free Mercy in bestowing Eternal Life according to his promise For though the first Principle producing such works the help granted through Christ be heavenly yet seeing that Grace does not immediately produce the work but by co-oporating with the Soul of man infected with Concupiscence it cannot be said either that such works are truly perfect or that they can demand a reward as if they had been the Effects of Grace alone without the Allay that Concupiscence and humane Weakness gives to abate their value Nor will I decline to say that he that shall maintain the Merit of our good works such as truly merit eternal Life is thereby injurious to the Merits of Christ for since the Scripture not only accounts Grace whereby good works are wrought to be given us of his Merits but likewise that Eternal Life is the Gift of God through Christ He that shall ascribe his Merits to the first Effect Rom. 6. alone and not acknowledge them to the second does not make that acknowledgment of the Merits of Christ which the Scriptures do oblige These Gentlemen may hence see by this upon what account we think them injurious to the Merits of Christ and his Grace notwithstanding their Confessions that they are not acceptable to God but by and in him because they think themselves acceptable for the value of their works which they may still say are acceptable in and by him because Effects of his Grace but we think require a further Grace still the Mercy of God through Christ accepting them to such effect as they are not worthy of Neither do the Three Points which M. Condom thinks so decisive as to this Matter shewn out of the Council give us any full satisfaction viz. That our Sins are pardoned us out of pure Mercy for the sake of Jesus Christ That we are indebted for that Justice which is in us by the Holy Ghost to a Liberality bestowed on us gratis That all the good works we
other ground in Christian Discipline than as means for the cure of sin which the Church being obliged to see to the performance of that Christianity men profest with good authority obliged those to undergo who had visibly fallen from that profession not as Punishments satisfactory to Gods Justice but as Medicines to work their cure and to recover them to the state of Grace and God's Favour which the Communion of the Church ought to suppose them in And therefore as they were debarred of that Communion when they were fallen from Grace the Church would not re-admit them to it 'till by submitting to such works of Humiliation as were likely to produce Repentance they had given reasonable Evidence to her of their having recovered the state of Grace and thereby a right to her Communion Now those Penitents indeed who shewed some extraordinary zeal and fervour in these works of Humiliation or by some other eminent acts of Piety shewed themselves to have truly repented and that the love of God had taken place in their hearts were many times admitted to the Communion before their performance of all those acts that had been enjoyned them and loosed from the further severities of that Discipline that cure of sin appearing to be wrought in them which the Discipline intended But for Penances imposed to make satisfaction to the Divine Justice and relaxations from them by the application of a stock of Merits in the Church there is not the least appearance After this laying open the foundation we must likewise examine the building and enquire what their Doctrine is in these points In that of satisfaction it 's evident they hold those Penitential Works to be satisfactory and that to God's Justice inasmuch as they design them for payments of a Debt of Temporal Punishment but then after what nature they satisfie is not so fully exprest The Council of Trent uses the words cited by M. Condom in the former Section which I have shewn not clear for they say These Works of Penance have a vertue though drawn from Jesus Christ and we are still in doubt whether they count them satisfactions upon account of their intrinsick value being performed by the help of Grace if so they give them a worth which they ought not Their Catechism seems to confirm this sense saying That from Christ through our good actions we obtain two great benefits one that we merit the rewards of everlasting glory the other that we can satisfie for our sins And this it says illustrates the satisfaction of Christ whose Grace is herein more abundant that not only those things are communicated to us which himself alone but those also which as head over his Members he hath merited and pay'd for his Saints upon which account it 's evident that the good actions of the Pious are of great weight and dignity And this also their very accounting them satisfactions to the Divine Justice requiring this Temporal Punishment does most strongly imply And if so then all M. Condom's Maxims will not clear them from depending on these works for that which is not in them But if we must take his word that after all what they call satisfaction is only the application of the infinite satisfaction of Christ we hope to find nothing inconsistent with it But here we meet with another Doctrine that one man may satisfie for another thus their Catechism tells us That those Cat. Trid. sub Titulo Quae ad verum satisfact who are endued with Divine Grace may in another's stead pay that which is owing to God so that after a sort we bear one anothers burthens And these works by which men satisfie for others are commonly called works of Supererogation which the Church of England declares cannot be taught without arrogancy Art 14. of the the Church of England and impiety inasmuch as by them men declare that they not only render to God as much as they are bound but that they do more for his sake than of bounden duty is required whereas Christ saith plainly When ye have done all that ye can say that you are unprofitable servants She likewise deplores that gross Superstition that had crept into the World by which men were lead Hom. of good Works Part 3. to place righteousness in Vows Meats Drinks c. out of which the People were told of a stock of merits in the Church of which others made their Markets And herein I shall not fear to maintain what is said by her upon the reasons given and more namely that this conceit of one man's satisfying for another and that thereby there is a stock of merits which the Church by Indulgences may allow to the account of those to whom it grants them is not only without warrant from Scripture or the practice of the Primitive Church but is also prejudicial to the faith and injurious to the merits of Christ whose merits are the only consideration of all Pardon and Mercy Nor will it avail to say the merits of the Saints are not such but through him for then it would be enough to apply his only to that effect but whilst his are infinite those who shall pretend to joyn others with them when God has only proposed his both as the consideration of his giving mercy and the foundation of our hope do plainly derogate from Christ and delude the People who hearing of other merits than those of Christ vainly purchase them as a new means to place themselves in God's favour But M. Condom speaks here very sparingly of Indulgences telling us The Council of Trent proposes nothing else to be believed concerning them but that there is a power in the Church from Jesus Christ to grant them and that the use of them is beneficial to salvation and does withall intimate that these principally regard Discipline which it seeks to prevent from being reassumed by an over-great facility in granting them But still it teaches all this without warrant no power of Indulgences to such purposes as they pretend to grant them being ever given to the Church by Jesus Christ nor any such beneficial use of them to be learnt from him upon this score Nor is it material to observe that the Council intimates them to regard Discipline unless we knew how far their Ecclesiastical Discipline does extend If it reach to the imposing Punishments for the satisfaction of Gods Justice for the debt of Temporal Punishment Concil Trid. Sess 14. c. 8. which is mentioned as the ground of their exacting these satisfactions and which the Priest is to have regard to and to enjoyn them ad vindictam castigationem it 's a Discipline the Church never had All the World knows that Luther in the first breach about Indulgences did not deny them as to the relaxing of Canonical Penances but inveighed against the pretences of those that advanced them to a further purpose and that one of his greatest objections against them was That the Pope
us And I conceive my supposition is not groundless for if God out of the abundance of his love sent his Son into the World that through him we might have everlasting life and that the World through him might be saved as the Apostle tells us John 3. 16. and his flesh in the Sacrament be given us only that we may live thereby John 6. 51. who shall deny but that when Christ is tendred to the same effect of giving us life these several tenders are only different as a general tender from a particular application especially when we consider again that both take effect only in them that believe as is plain by comparing Joh. 3. 16. with Chapter 6. 35. and shall it not then from hence follow that our receiving him as first tendred by God to the whole World and our eating him in the holy Sacrament are of the same nature preserving only that difference I have premised if believing be that which makes him ours in both offers undoubtedly receiving in one respect and eating in the other are no more than believing in both still maintaining the difference between Faith grounded upon a general Promise and a particular Application He that shall consider what belief of him was then required viz. 1 Joh. 17. 3. To know the only true God and his Son Jesus Christ whom he has sent 2 Joh. 5. 24. To hear the Word of Christ and believe on him that sent him 3 Rom. 10. 9. To confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in the heart that God hath raised him from the dead 4 Rom. 3. 25. To rely on him whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through faith in his blood may easily resolve what it is to eat and drink the body and blood of Christ in the Sacrament namely that a man does then partake of Christ when he considers the death of Christ i. e. the crucifying of his flesh and the pouring out of his blood with that faith that supposes all this to be true and the ends of it to be such as God has declared him to be given for and by a further consideration of the particular tender of Christ that is in this Sacrament made to him for all those ends and effects if Christ who is thus particularly tendred be received by him as he ought to be is induced to resolve and undertake all which that belief does oblige him to and with faith grounded upon that resolution lays hold on and firmly relies on Christ for those effects for which he was first given to the World and is now peculiarly tendred unto him Then I say it is that a man truly eats the flesh and drinks the blood of Christ and certainly there cannot be found a more exact analogy than is between that nourishment of the body in the strength whereof it moves and those reasons whereupon the mind frames its resolutions to direct our conversation and then God having further promised to communicate his holy spirit to all that out of a true faith resolve upon the doing his will and as many as have the holy Ghost having thereby an union with Christ from whom this spirit is derived have also an assurance that by the holy Ghost that dwelleth in them their bodies shall be raised to life everlasting Rom. 8. 11. whereby they that eat the body and blood of Christ are united and incorporated into one body with him and shall not die but have everlasting life What then have I fully express'd hereby all that the spiritual eating of Christ by faith implies no certainly it is not possible to express by words that infinite love of God wherewith he tenders his Son unto us in this holy Mystery nor the mysterious supernatural but efficacious application of him unto us nor on the other side the strength the vigor the resolution the confidence of that faith wherewith the pious soul transported with that abundant love of God that infinite and peculiar mercy which it sensiblâ— feels in this Sacred Action receives embraces and lays hoâ—… in Christ nor is it possible to express the eagerness and impatience of those appetites wherewith it hungers and thirsts after him panting as the Hart after the water-brooks till it be satisfied with him or those transcendent gusts which are tasted in receiving this divine immortal Food But by what I have been able to express I cannot but think any man may apprehend my conceptions and how I clearly distinguish the participation of Christ from the partaking of his benefits the latter not being to be obtained but by first partaking of the former although all these benefits are indeed obtained so soon as we can conceive a man to have partaken of Christ And that the Church of England does fully preserve this distinction appears more evidently by her Thanksgiving after the Communion which begins thus Almighty and everliving God we most heartily thank thee for that thou dost vouchsafe to feed us who have duly received these holy Mysteries with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of thy Son and dost assure us thereby of thy favour and goodness toward us and that we are very members incorporate into his mystical body c. And hereupon I conceive I am enabled to determinate upon what ground he that eats this bread and drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord and eats and drinks his own damnation although he does not therein eat or drink the body and blood of Christ for he discerns not the Lords body For if this was the condemnation when God first sent his Son into the World that men believed not in the Name of the only begotten Son of God John 3. 18. who can deny but that this shall be the greater condemnation to all that come to this Sacrament wherein Christ is pleased to make a peculiar tender of himself requiring every one to receive him that they have not believed on nor received the blessed Son of God who is herein so peculiarly and particularly so graciously and so mercifully tendred to their reception I foresee an Objection levelled against the Doctrine that I have thus explained which must be here answered it is this That if Christ be only here eaten spiritually by faith we have many times faith and the spirit of God before and so might eat him without coming to this Sacrament To which I answer The spirit is received in divers measures and faith bestowed upon us in different degrees upon which account our conjunction with Christ may every day be made straiter and our hold firmer To receive the spirit not by measure is the priviledge of our Head we that receive it out of his fulness must daily look for it to be 1 Phil. 1. 19. supplied unto us 2 Rom. 1. 17. So also the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith i. e. from one degree and