Church which they by a false Name boast to be Catholick which broaches amongst the common People these so great monsters of errours and tares of Opinions defends them in Schools Preaches them in Churches which sends forth into the midst of us such Dogmatists and Artificers of deceits who not only corrupt the small Veins and Rivulets of sincere Doctrine but also proceed to the Fountains themselves and Invalidate the Foundations of Apostolick Institution and cut and tear the very sinews of the simple verity For what greater injury can be done to the Scriptures of God What more cruel against the Grace of Christ what more Hostile against the mind of Paul and more gross against the soundness of the Christian Faith can be said or devised than what those Roman Potters have contributed by their commentitious deceits to the plague and ruine of the Christian Common-wealth For what may we judge should be hoped for concerning the common Religion the Sins of every one and the state of the Christian Common-wealth if the matter come to this that this largeness of Evangelical mercy being taken away or contracted we must be called back again to the account of good Works Concerning the Vertue and Efficacy of Divine Grace a more enlarged dispute against the Adversaries Answering their Objections BUT Those Men will deny that they detract any thing from the Grace of God yea they say that this is the common Sin of the Lutherans not theirs because all that they drive at is to maintain the mercy of God and to celebrate it with due praises Why so I pray for what say they Do not the Pious Works of the Saints please God Well and what next Should not the same Works having proceeded from God himself the Author be referred to his bounty and mercy Why not Now then Catholick Reader receive a conclusion Roman Catholick enough as I suppose Therefore he 〈◊〉 detracts from good works wrought by Christ 〈◊〉 from the Grace and Mercy of God Well said but pray who detracts from those Who denies good Works which Christ living and dwelling in us Works to be good Works Does any Man take away due praise and dignity from those Now Hosius talks Osorius pleads Andradius crys out that the Lutherans do it eagerly Why so I beseech you Because they do not attribute unto the performance of good Works the Salvation that is due to them but translate it to Faith only What then such as do not attribute Salvation to good Works should they be therefore supposed to attribute nothing to Works or to cast reproach upon the grace of God On the contrary they that detract the promise of Eternal Life from the Christian Faith Shall they be accounted Friends to Grace By the same reason we may turn Light into Darkness and Darkness into Light Let Christ remain in his Sepulcher let Moses rise again to be Iudge of the Living and the Dead But now what Arguments do they rely upon in disputing thus Because say they Works of Righteousness flow from the Fountain of Divine Grace But what Is not Faith in Christ the Mediatour as singular a gift of God and does it not proceed from the Election of Divine Grace But now let us hear an Argument more than Catholick Argument Ma. We are justified by the Grace of God only Mi. Our good Works have their rise from the Grace of God only Con. Therefore all our Iustification consists in good Works The deceit of this Paralogism must be drawn forth And again the word Grace must be explained Which is taken one way in the major and another way in the minor for there it is taken for mercy and the free good will of God whereby he hath redeemed us freely whereby he loves us in Christ Iesus and forgives us our Sins and whereby also he imparts his Spirit and Life Eternal to us And this is peculiarly called Grace of forgiveness of which the writings of the Apostles speak aloud in many places It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy And again Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace And what the same Apostle cites out of a Psalm Blessed are they whose Iniquities are forgiven and whose Sins are covered c. And also that which elsewhere he testified very evidently They are justified freely by his Grace moreover that none should be uncertain what is understood by the word Grace presently subjoining and as it were explaining himself he infers next By the Redemption which is in Christ Iesus But what other thing does this adding of Redemption signifie but the Remission of all Sins That this may be the Argument We are justified by that Grace whereby we are redeemed But Grace by renewing us doth not redeem us Therefore we are not justified by Grace renewing us I come now to the minor in which the word grace is taken otherways than in the major For there it is put for remission or redemption here for renovation That is for the effectual energy of the Divine Inspiration in communicating Gifts and Endowments wherewith he afterwards adorns those whom first he hath justified Whence arises a twofold manner of distinguishing Grace according to the twofold diversity of effects on this side and on that side of which one consists in the remission of evil Works the other in the operation of good Works And that is called pardoning Grace and this is called renewing Grace From the one whereof proceeds the Salvation and the Iustification of the Ungodly and from the other come the good Works of the Godly and yet those are not full nor perfect Therefore I answer the Argument proposed which hath more errours than one Moreover it is made up of mere particulars Also in the minor contrary to the manner of Disputants the case is changed whereas the same case should be kept that goes before in the major and the minor should follow thus But our good Works are by the grace of God only or at least in the major the same case of the minor should have been kept after this manner Our Iustification arises twice from the grace of God Therefore all our Iustification flows from good Works So that the true nature of this Pseudosyllogism belongs not to the first but the second figure simply concluding both affirmatively and also most absurdly just as if a Man should argue thus Our corporeal Nature was made of the slime of the Earth Earthen-Pots are made of the slime of the Earth therefore our corporeal Nature was made of Earthen-Pots What need is there of words Whatsoever way these Men form their Argument or reform it they shall never be able to prove that the works of the Law whether such as we our selves have wrought or such as the Divine Grace works in us do contain in themselves any cause of Salvation For
Osor. lib. 5. The Papists err from the scope of the Question Osor. lib. 3. p. 68 69. Osor. lib. 4. nu 103 104. Tit. 3. Hosius Osor. lib. 4. Nu. 104. Ex Hosio confut lib. 5. pag. 451. Hosius ibid. Ex Hosio lib. 5. Nu. 452. Andra. lib. 6. pa. ibi Orthod Explic. An Answer to the Adversaries The Roman Church is a Pseudocatholick Enemies of Faith and Grace under the Vizard of Religion Osor. lib. 6. p. 151. A pseudosyllogism An Answer to the Argument Pardoning Grace or Grace of Remission Rom. 9. 6 4. Coloss. 1. Rom. 3. Renewing Grace Grace is divided into Two parts The Syllogism is redundant with four Termini Aparalogism in the second figure concluding affirmatively A twofold sort of Works Rom. 14. Aug. of Nature and Grace The reparation of the Grace of Christ though it is begun in respect of the mind it is not yet perfected in respect of the Flesh Which shall be in the Countrey where Man shall not only be able to persevere but shall not be able to Sin An Argument from like Comparison Levit. 22. Deut. 15. Christ fulfilled all the Law not for himself but for us if for us then we also fulfil it by him Tho. 12. 109. pag. 259. The Roman Catholicks falsly so called obtrude another Gospel upon us The sum of all our Salvation and Religion is chiefly discerned in two things Faith and Renovation by Grace Grace Faith Wherein Beatitude consists according to the Shcolastick Doctors Divines disputing about the chief good Pelagians Adversaries of Grace Augustine a defender of Grace against the Pelagians The Papists Semipelagians Wherein the Papists agree with the Pelagians How Thomas Aquin. and the Thomists define grace Tho. 129. 109. Art 6. That the will may be prepared to work well and to enjoy God there is required an habitual gift of Grace which is the principle of a meritorious work Guillerm in sentent lib. 2. qu. 26. Art 1. a common definition among the Schoolmen Albert. in sentent lib. 2. dist 26. Art 2. Grace is a habit in the essence of the Soul which according to infused Vertues make perfect for act makes the possessor good A vulgar and usual defini-nition of Grace in the Schools The Schoolmen disagree with one another in the manner of Grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Osor. lib. 5. p. 26. Dost thou deny Grace to be a Vertue what then is Grace if it is not a Veatue Thomas against Osorius Faith excluded from Iustification by the Thomists Thom. 12. q. 109. Art 5. why the holy Spitit is given Thom. 12. qu. 114. Art 4. The motion of humane mind to the fruition of divine good is a proper act of Charity by which all acts of other Vertues are appointed for this end according to which other Vertues are commanded by chariey and therefore the merit of Eternal Life belongs chiefly to charity c. Censura Gololoniens fol. 148 149. christ by his Death hath merited this that Believers are endued with charity and other Vertues which qualities being now received by the Merit of christ man himself by Inherent Righteousuess merits a greater Righteousness Reconciliation and at length Life Eternal c. And fol. 170 Faith is only the preparatory Cause and way to Iustification that afterwards we may by another thing be righteous before God not by Faith apprehending Christ c. Iustification is divided into two parts Iacob Pava Orthod Exp. 6. p. 470. Then the Spirit is communicated when at the coming of Righteousness we are made righteous when all our sins being extinguished we are renewed by charity spread abroad in our hearts by the Spirit which Charity because it informs the mind with the Love of the Divine Law is called Righteousness Of how large an extent the fruit of the Lord's passion is Ephes Christ only by his Personal Office is a Saviour and the Holy Spirit by his Office is a Helper and Comforter of them that are saved Answers Aug. Epist. 65. Righteousness receives not its vertue from Merits but Merits receive vertue from the Iustified The Dignity of 〈◊〉 is valued by the Person of the believer not the Person by the Deeds How the Reward of the Saints is appointed in the Scriptures Heaven is not a reward to the Saints but in the Heavens Ro. 6. An Objection concerning the rewards proposed Answer That which is due upon the account of Obedience deserves no grace Lu. 17. Ro. 8. August praefatione in Psal 31. Grace is often signified in the Scripture under the name of reward Whatsoever we are or shall be we are in debt to the Grace of God sor it A wonderful and secret operation of the Grace of God is shewed by Examples Trident. Concil Sess. 6. Can. 11. Free Will Isa. 53. 1 Cor. 9. 2 Tim. 2. The promise is not therefore made because we run But we do therefore run because the promise is made 1 Cor. 15. 2 Tim. 4. Difference between Gift and Merit Rom. 6. Ephes. 2. Council of Trent Sess. 6. Canon 11. The Tridentines deny that we are justified by favour only Glossa ordinaria in cap. 6. ad Rom. The ridiculouscomment of the Glosse of theSchoolmen Tho. Aqui. lib. 2. sent dist 26. q. 6. Glos. 9. Ro. 6. Orbelius lib. 2. Sent. dist 2. Bonaventure Alex. Halensis Salvation is promised to them that Work not for the sake of the Works themselves Rom. 11. In what thing chiefly the Efficacy of Divine Grace appears Examples of Divine Grace are produced out of the Scriptures AdamGen 3. Abraham Gen. 12. Isaac Gen. 27. Ioseph Gen. 65. The Israelites delivered fromthe Bondage of Pharaoh Exod. 12. The Law was promulgatedbyGod after the deliverance of the People The Land of promise the Victory of the People of Israel Deut. 9. 1 Cor. 7. The Land of promise is a Type of the promised Kingdom Thomas Aquinas with the ordinary Gloss. The Hebrews recover their Health by looking on the Serpent Ionas a Type of Christ saving the lives of his own by his Death The Pious Works of Believers are impured for Merits not according to Righteousriess but according to Grace Osor. de Iust. lib. 6. p. 150. Legal promimises Evangelical promises Romans 2. Imputation twofold 2 Cor. 5. Romans 4. Psalm 32. Andrad lib. 6. Orthod Explic. pag. 477. 454. Tiletanus in Apolog contra 〈◊〉 p. 226. By the Law it is reckoned that he did a thing who does it by another There is frequent mention of Imputation in Paul's Writings Faith without Works imputed for Righteousness Wherefore Worksare separated from Iustification Tho. Aquin. 〈◊〉 109. Ro. 7. Ro. 8. Wisd. 9. Deut. 27. Galat. 3. The manifold signification of Faith Errour and disturbauce among Divines proceeds chiefly from the wrong defining and misunderstanding of Faith Osorius Hosius Luther is falssy traduced Osor. li. 2. pa. 32. There is always joined with Faith a confidence of good hope Confidence and hope accompanies justifying Faith but doth not it self justifie It is requisite to see
also a faith that is often taken for hope and so defined As in the Epistle to the Hebrews Where Faith is called the substance of things not seen but hoped for and the evidence of things not appearing but future Moreover there are those that divide the use of this Word into many forms Andreas Vega reckons in the general Nine Significations of the word of Faith Put because in these which I have hitherto reckoned there is no mention made of that person from whom all the Vertue of Iustifying proceeds therefore I see not how it can be that Iustification should rightly agree to the same VVherefore this seems less strange to me in Osorius Hosius and others of that School if their Opinion is not so right about the Iustification of Faith for they seem not to have clearly enough discerned or at least not to have fitly defined that Faith which the Evangelical VVritings propose unto us But if this Faith that we profess contained no other thing in it but that which they pretend to in their Books I would be of the same Opinion which they Preach To wit That it avails little to the procuring of Righteousness That this may be the more evident I would have Pious Readers listen to what those Men teach concerning Faith and how they define it And so they define it that either through blindness they know not or by dissimulation they make as if they knew not what is the true Faith proposed to us in the Gospel for Righteousness And that we may begin first at the Tridentines they so define it That it is a firm assent unto those things that are revealed and made manifest by God And Osorius following these Men Collects the Universal Nature of Faith after a manner not much differing from them That it is a firm and constant assent of the mind stirred up by the Authority of the Speaker But what this Faith is which Osorius describes after this manner let him look to that Verily any Man may think it is not this Faith which Paul speaks of in disputing of Righteousness or to which we from the Authority of Paul affirm that Righteousness should be attributed properly Though in the mean while we deny not that this Faith is true which is asserted by Osorius and others whereby for the Authority of the Church teaching we believe whatsoever things belong to Religion which though they are not seen as Lombard says yet they are believed whether they are past or expected to come As he that gives credit to the things contained in the Articles of the Creed and that are expresly mentioned in the Scriptures He that believes and professes that the World was made by the Word of God and that God is and that he Created all things of no thing Moreover that he believes and professeth that he is powerful and very good That I may proceed in the very words of Osorius endued with boundless and infinite virtue and bounty watching over all parts of the World and passing through them beholding and taking notice of all things and looking well to every thingaccording as the dignity and condition of each thing requires and whatsoever else belonging to the profession of Faith is taught in the Writings of the Prophets Verily that Man is not at all mistaken in believing For the things that are seen by an Internal light of Faith are very true though they are very remote from the Senses But yet this is not the Faith though it be true that justifies us who are miserably defiled and wretched Sinners before God For what Circumcised Iew or hateful Turk is there but believes all these things which Osorius with a long multiplication of words Preaches of God and his Power and Iustice and Immensity For they together with us confess one God and rely on his promises with great hope call upon his Name observe his commands as well as we and also flatter themselves with the Title of the true Church Yea also they are not Ignorant that the Dead shall be restored to Life and promise Eternal Life to themselves Moreover many things which they see not with their Eyes they retain by Faith and pursue by hope Briefly they do no less believe God themselves and confess God But if the Christian Faith according to the Magisterial position of Lombard should be placed in nothing else but a solid apprehension of things to be hoped for and a sure expectation of those things which do not appear what hinders but that both Iews and Saracens may be reckoned faithful upon this account What then you will say Doth not Paul writing to the Hebrews expresly comprehend Faith in that same definition To wit That it is the substance of things hoped for c. Verily I neither reject Paul the Author of this Epistle nor disapprove the definition neither do I examin that nor do so much as enquire for it which is enquired for in Lombard Whether this description be more agreeable to Faith than Hope But this I answer That we may confess this Faith to be true which is here defin'd But surely that is not the Faith which properly justifies the wicked in the sight of the Lord. Why so Because there is wanting to the definition the Genus Property and difference which distinguishes Faith from Hope Also there is wanting the true and proper object of Faith which should by no means have been omitted To wit The person of him in whom only all the promises of God and the whole cause of our Iustification is contained Who unless he comes in in vain other things are either believed or hoped for by us neither will all that substance of things hoped for avail us any whit unto Salvation What then you will say Hath not the most gracious Father promised us his mercy Hath he not engaged himself by an inviolable Covenant that he would pardon our Sins Must we not give credit to those things which are promised by God He hath promised indeed I confess but how Only in Christ his Son To whom Only to them that believe in the Son I know and acknowledge that the promises of God are most sure in which he promises as Osorius rehearses Infinite Riches excellent Pleasure an immortal Kingdom great Dignity everlasting Glory But yet these good things are neither so promised or given by God that in the mean while he exacts nothing of us for the obtaining of these good things which he promises Therefore this is not the state of the question whether we should believe God promising which is common to us with the Iews themselves and Turks Neither do I ask that what the Lord hath promised For Salvation is promised Pardon of Sins is promised But this is it which properly comes in question here Upon what account and for what cause this Salvation and Pardon of Sins is promised whether there is no condition interposed Or whether there is