for Mercy and cast himself wholly upon Christ what would the Apostle Iames say in such a case Will not Faith only without Works justifie such a man as this The penitent Malefactor is an evident proof of the truth of this who had no other thing but Faith only to commend him to Christ and so to be admitted into Paradise Like unto which there are many Examples daily of them that die on Gibbets so that the Iudgments of God are very wonderful who hath mercy on whom he will have mercy But now let us return to what we were saying of Abraham If we look upon his Faith what was more sincere If we consider his Works what was more glorious and wonderful Therefore upon both accounts he was certainly an admirable man Now let us compare his Faith with his Works And because it is evident that he was justified before God let us enquire whether he was justified by Faith 〈◊〉 Works because he could not be justified upon both accounts as the Apostle witnesseth If it is of Faith then it is not of Works but if it is of Works then it is not of Faith What shall we say then to these things let the Scripture answer Abraham believed God when he promised and it was accounted to him for Righteousness And the same Abraham obeyed God when he commanded and why doth not the Scripture in like manner add That this was imputed to him for Righteousness Let us hear what the Apostle answers The Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Gentiles by Faith he first told the glad tydings to Abraham and what glad tydings was this That he and his Seed should be Heirs of the World A great Promise indeed But how did he obtain this Promise by Faith or by Works There is an answer ready made to our hand by the Apostle The Promise came not by the Law to Abraham or to his Seed that he should be Heir of the World but by the Righteousness of Faith Why so Paul why not by the Law and why by the Righteousness of Faith That he might be the Father of all the faithful who walking in the footsteps of the Faith which was in the Uncircumcision of our Father Abraham shall have Faith in like manner imputed unto them But here St. Iames is represented as fighting with all his might against this Doctrine For the Adversaries say thus Did not the Apostle Iames assert with great Authority That Abraham was justified by Works and will ye deny it God forbid that any man should undervalue the Authority of that holy Apostle And yet I suppose St. Iames would not have us to disbelieve the Scripture which teaches us far otherways attributing the Iustification of Abraham not to Works but to Faith For Abraham believed God and we read it was imputed unto him for Righteousness But God hath not said in his Word concerning Abraham's going to sacrifice his Son That it was imputed to him for Righteousness Or let us grant the assertion of St. Iames That Abraham was justified by Works But where and how was he thus justified before God St. Iames says not so Then it is before men And Paul himself denies not that So that there is no real disagreement between Paul and Iames. But this doth not satisfie some Sophisters who account it is not enough that the holy Patriarch is justified by Works before men as Paul teaches unless he be also thereby justified before God For though he was first justified by Faith as they say yet nothing hinders but that afterwards he might be yet more justified by Works and this they call a second Iustification But Reason shews that to be an utter impossibility for it implies a manifest contradiction for it is a contradiction not to be justified by Works and again to be justified by Works And seeing one of those is denied by the Apostle How can they maintain and plead for the other But hereunto may be added another Reason If there is a twofold Iustification one by Faith and another by Works it would follow that there is a twofold manner of Iustifying But there is one and the same manner of Iustifying as there is one God as hath been proved out of Ambrose Therefore it appears that there is not a twofold Iustification A third Reason is this seeing Iustification consists of the Remission of Sins and God forgives no Man his Sins to whom he doth not perfectly forgive them Therefore it follows that the Iustification of those that are justified is compleat and perfect and cannot be made more perfect than it is already Now in the next place let them prepare to answer this Argument of Paul Whosoever is justified by Works hath whereof he may Glory before God Rom. 4. Abraham hath not any thing whereof he may Glory before God Therefore Abraham is not justified by Works before God By these things which we have quoted out of Paul and other sacred writings I suppose it appears evident enough what we should judge of the Works of Abraham Which though they were excellent and worthy to be admired before men yet they found no place for glorying before God according to the Testimony and Interpretation of the Apostle We need not be at any great trouble to find out the cause thereof Tiletan and other Iesuits produce a cause thereof out of Augustin Because the Works of Abraham were not of the Law but of Faith not of the Flesh but of Grace which because they were not done by the Power of Free-will only but in the Faith and expectation of Christ therefore all Praise and Glory was due to Christ and none to them which Invention of theirs though it savours more of Wit than Solidity yet though we grant all this to them there is no inconvenience in it seeing both of us acknowledge with Paul that the Patriarch Abraham found neither matter of glorying nor Iustification before God by Works and therefore that he had no cause of glorying because he was not justified by Works for otherways if he had been justified by Works he should have had wherein to Glory as the Apostle Paul speaks But now he hath not any thing wherein he may Glory before God therefore he was not justified by Works And thus hitherto we have treated of the Arguments of the Adversaries as much as may suffice not only to discover but also confute their Sophistical Wiles and captious Deceits who fight with so great eagerness for their inherent Righteousness against the Testimony of the Holy Scripture and the Sacred Gospel of Iesus Christ and the bright shining Light of Grace yea and against their own Salvation It remains in the next place that we should hear what those Men on the other side answer and oppose to the Arguments and most approved Reasons manag'd not only by us but by St. Paul and with what Cavillings and fraudulent Devices they darken and baffle the clear meaning of the
God through the Redemption which is in Christ Iesus whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood Is not this evident in the writings of Paul c. And yet Vega not being contented with this Gospel nor deterred by the Curse which the Apostle denounced hath arrived at so great an impudence that he takes upon him to contradict what the Apostle hath confirmed with so great Authority The Apostle says freely without Works but he says freely but not without Works but how is it freely if not without Works Paul says the Righteousness of God by the Faith of Iesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe But what says Vega and Hosius the enemy of Paul This universal Term all saith he is not here by the Apostle applied to every one of the kind but to every kind of every one So that the meaning is this Righteousness is communicated to them that believe whether they are Iews or Gentiles Thus said Vega. O Saint Paul What Ignorance was this in thee or unskilfulness of Speech Thou mightst learn of Vega to speak more curiously and to polish thy Stile according to the elegancy of the Roman Court after this manner The Righteousness of God by the Faith of Iesus Christ unto all and not only all but also unto every one and upon every one present and to come that believe so that thereby you might comprehend not only the kinds of every one but also every species of the kinds and every individual of the Species But that I may answer seriously to the vain-glorious Spaniard It was your Duty O Vega to correct your Spirit of Errour by the divinely inspired Words of Paul and not to pride your self in such vain and empty Notions For who sees not the clear and perspicuous simplicity of this Speech of Paul whereby he proclaims a common Interest in Eternal Life and Righteousness not only to Iews and Gentiles in the general but to every one of them in particular whether they be Iews or Gentiles that believe in Christ Unless the Apostle had together with the universal Term set down the proper Mark of Distinction that is the peculiar Condition of attaining to Righteousness you might have some colour of Reason for what you pretend As for Example when the Scripture speaks thus They shall be all taught of God God would have all Men to be saved and come to the Knowledge of the Truth in such a Case a Man may interpret the universal Term. As Augustine did in such a manner as you speak of To wit that it is not every one of all but some particular Persons of all kind of Men and Nations that attain unto the Knowledge of the Truth but the Case is otherways in this Expression of Paul where the Apostle together with the universal Term adds also a peculiar and proper mark of Distinction So that he doth not only make the Righteousness of God common to all in the general but also expresly sets down a certain manner whereby all do attain unto it and to whom it peculiarly belongs in these Words By the Faith of Iesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe Whence of necessity it follows that every Mans Righteousness consists in his believing in Christ by Faith unfeigned and embracing of him according to the saying of the Prophet The just shall live by Faith But let us again hear what the Prating Sophister hath to say for himself But whereas saith he the Iust shall live by Faith and God is said to justifie Man by Faith it doth not therefore follow by consequence that Works are not necessary for it is one thing to live by Faith and another thing to live by Faith only One thing to be justified by Faith and another thing to be justified by Faith only and if these Words Faith only are sometimes found in the Books of Catholick Doctors by the Word only good Works are not excluded but all other Sects and Ways to Salvation except Faith only and the Christian Religion Thus said Vega. To whom that I may answer First whereas he inferrs that good Works are not necessary because the Iust live by Faith he may as reasonably gather Thistles from the Vine for this is no good consequence The Iust shall live by Faith therefore Works are not necessary Which we also with Paul do notwithstanding account to be necessary And in the next place whereas he says that it is one thing to be justified by Faith and another thing to be justified by Faith only Though we grant this to be true yet I see no great difference between these two Expressions To be justified by Faith without Works and to be justified by Faith only Thirdly Whereas he Cavils about the Word Only what it excludes and what it excludes not in the Books of the Catholicks we do not trouble our selves much about that but this is manifest in the Writings of Paul that Works themselves though otherways they are very excellent and also necessary upon other accounts yet in this free Gift of Evangelical Iustification they are excluded without all Controversie Though that also is an untruth which he asserts of the Books of the Catholicks For Basil that I may produce one of them instead of a great many expresses the same in manifest Words taking away from every Man all occasion of glorying in his own Righteousness and testifies that each one of us is justified by Faith in Christ only And therefore he presently produces the Example of Paul to confirm the same and Paul Glories saith he in the Contempt of his own Righteousness I may also add the VVords of the same Basil upon the 32. Psalm where giving a Description of a perfect Man he says he is such a one as puts no trust in his own good deeds but hath his whole hope and reliance on the Mercy of God alone I think it is not amiss to joyn unto Basil his intimate Friend Nazianzen who assents and subscribes to the words of Basil on this manner Faith only is our Righteousness But let us proceed unto the remaining Testimonies of Paul For as I have said before Vega with his Associates heaps together eight Assertions for Iustifying Faith out of Paul But the other five Assertions of the Apostle together with the Answers of the Adversaries do follow in this order 3 Assertion Rom. 4. If Abraham was justified by the Works of the Law he hath whereof to glory but not before God For what says the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness To him that worketh the Reward is not reckoned according to Grace but according to Debt But to him that worketh not but believeth in him that justifies the ungodly Faith is imputed unto him for Righteousness As David also declareth the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth Righteousness without Works And likewise Rom. 11. If it is
Christ invites unto himself Consciences that are afflicted and burdened with sin Isaiab calls all that are athirst to come without price or any exchange to the Fountains of Christ that they may be refreshed Osorius will bestow the Kingdom which God hath promised upon none but righteous men and eminent good works I beseech you Sir according to your righteousness what excellent good work brought that sinful Woman with her in the Gospel out of whom seven Devils were cast What righteousness appeared in the Thief on the Right Hand of Christ except faith only why he should after the commiting so many evil deeds enter in together with Christ on the same day into Paradise what other thing did the Woman of Canaan that was a stranger bring to Christ but an importunate cry of faith so that she carried home not Crumbs but whole Loaves of Divine Grace What deserved the miserable Woman with the bloody Issue or Iairus the Governour of the Synagogue or Zacchaeus of Matthew or other Publicans with them why they being perferred before the Pharisees who seemed so much more righteous should obtain the benefit of free favour being so obvious and exposed unto them There is almost an infinite number of others of the like condition that may be discoursed of after the same manner in whom you can find nothing worthy of so great bounty of Divine Grace but faith only Blind Bartimeus cried the Lepers cried Iesus Master thou Son of David have mercy on us and they were heard For nothing cries louder than faith nothing is more effectual to prevail Let Osorius also cry and let us all cry with the like noise of Faith and we shall be heard alike I speak of that faith which is in Christ Iesus besides which there is not any passage into Heaven nor access unto God nor way of prevailing with God Therefore that we may be heard let us come and knock but let us do it aright to wit by Faith and in the name of only begotten Otherways it is in vain to cry to God who hears not sinners but drives them away who regards not servants and guilty persons unless they come to the Son or in the name of the Son Now by what way we are heard by the same we are Iustified For the Divine reward is always joyned with righteousness Seeing then all of us mortal men are by nature sinners and servants of sin therefore we must see what that is which makes us of servants free men of guilty persons sons of sinners righteous For this is the whole subject matter of the debate this is the question on which the whole controversie depends which is not so difficult to be judged of if the authority of Sacred Scripture may prevail upon impartial judgments For the testimony of the Gospel remains sure and eternal which no mortal man can weaken at any time instructing our faith thus As many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God and that he may teach what it is to receive him he presently explains the same to them saith he that believe in his name c. Whereby it appears evidently what it is to which we are beholden for all that splendor and dignity wealth and riches yea and the possession of Heaven and Life I know that in those excellent offices of good works which you so much cry up in the exercise of charity and observance of Righteousness there is great weight and also great benefit as I consess also that the law it self hath great efficacy if a man use it lawfully Now the use of the law consists in this that it should bring us to Christ and be subservient to his glory But when you have heaped all these things together into one whatsoever were by God either prescribed to us in his Law or written within us they are far from restoring perfection to a mans deeds that are altogether imperfect or to a mans person that is wholly destroyed and ruinated They are far from making us of servants freemen of Slaves of Satan Sons of God heirs of his Kingdom co-heirs of Christ fellow Citizens of the Saints and Domesticks of the highest Father Verily that is not the Office of the Law but of Christ And it is not righteousness but grace that does this This is not the efficacy of works but of Faith which relying not upon works but being strengthned only by the promise of God brings us from bondage to liberty from death to life adopts us being reconciled unto God makes us Sons of the promise which is so far from being joyned with Charity and Works that it reconciles Charity it self and all works of life unto God and justifies them without which they could not have place in Heaven in the presence of the great God Upon what account and how Faith justifies Fallen Sinners NOW because I have demonstrated what the power of Faith is and what it performeth I must of necessity explain upon what account and for what cause Faith procureth unto it self so great efficacy and power of Iustifying how it is said to Iustifie alone without Works and what Men the same Iustifies whether the righteous or the wicked If the righteous what need is there now of Iustification or Faith when the Law is sufficient If the wicked whether those that are penitent and converted or the impenitent and rebellious If the Faith of Christ justifies the penitent frees them from guilt and makes them righteous of unrighteous which neither you your self can deny Why then do you inveigh against Luther so unmodestly and undeservedly Does Luther either say or teach any other thing Where does he at any time let loose the Reins to sin or promise liberty to the wicked or preach Iustification otherways than to those who being reformed by Repentance breathe after Christ and joyn themselves to him by Faith What Will you shut out those from all hope of pardon I trow not And what remedy then will you shew them Will you send us to the Faith of Christ or to the Sentence of the Law to heal our wounds What if the Law gives no help here and there is not any other thing in man that can help righteousness once violated except Faith only placed in Christ which neither you your self can deny And if this very Faith brings Salvation to none but those that deplore the sins they have committed which together with you Luther affirms to what purpose are those out-cries against Luther so Tragical and raised without any cause Wherefore then dost thou deceive us O Luther For when thou d'dst condemn pious tears and didst cast reproaches upon wise sorrowfulness and didst plead that all works were not only unprofitable but pernicious And presently going on in the same stile and waxing more violent For when say you thou didst put so much in faith that thou saidst there was help enough in that only the sense of thy
which new qualities being received for the Merit of Christ now man himself by that inherent Righteousness as their words express it merits a greater and fuller righteousness reconciliation and adoption and at length Life Eternal Moreover they proceed so far that they assert there is no Righteousness at all but that which is peculiar to every man and they so define it that in all the nature of Righteousness there is no place at all for faith and there appears not so much as any mention thereof For thus they define it the righteousness of God which is revealed in the Gospel is a vertue in God which distributes to every one according to their deserving Alphonsus adds Evangelical righteousness is an equal proportion of merits to rewards I beseech you Pious Reader those that profess such vile and absurd things will any man suppose that they have been exercised with serious meditation at any time in the holy Scriptures or that they have not rather bestowed their whole age and wits in Heathenish and Aristotelian trifles But now it will not 〈◊〉 amiss to take notice with what props of reason they confirm these their opinions Against the Iesuits and their Topick Arguments whereby they confirm Inherent Righteousness out of Aristotle WHAT say they have you not at any time read that form of reasoning in Aristotle He is righteous therefore he is endued with righteousness Such a man is learned therefore he hath learning We have read it Say they in the Topicks of Aristotle That is true indeed But have ye not also at any time read in the Epistles of Paul these forms of speaking Christ is our Righteousness We are made the righteousness of God by him faith is imputed unto righteousness the Iust shall live by faith What then Shall we believe Aristotle more than Paul We believe Fishermen Saith Ambrose not Logicians And should we translate our Faith which we owe to God with faithful Abraham unto men that are Sophisters But now lest those Iesuits should say that they are not answered let us look more nearly into the force of their argument and pierce them through with their own Dart. They deny that ever this external attribution was heard of since the World was that a thing should receive a name extrinsically from qualities that can be within so that they should be accounted righteous before God not by inherent qualities but the righteousness of another to wit Christs which is applyed to us by Faith c. And indeed this Reason taken out of Aristotle might perhaps be of some force if they had omitted these words before God But now seeing there is a twosold and divers righteousness the one which is called the righteousness of the Law the other which is called the righteousness of Faith and seeing the judgments of God and the judgments of men do differ they do foolishly and ridiculously argue from humane things to divine from the righteousness of the Law to the righteousness of Faith for men are not justified in the sight of God upon the same account that they are esteemed righteous before men Yea oft-times it happens otherways that those whom this World does most cry up and judges just by their inherent qualities God condemns the same men chiefly of unrighteousness out of those very same qualities and so on the contrary part This may easily appear evident by the Example of the Pharisee and the Publican either of which if they were to be valued according to the inherent merits of their life what cause was there I beseech you why the Publican should go home more righteous than the Pharisee Even as with a like diversity the Scripture sometimes names them dead whom humane Philosophy would judge to be alive and in perfect health Suffer ye Saith he the dead to bury their dead But pray how dead who unless they were alive they could not bury their dead What shall we then say that the Scripture lyes in calling them dead which were alive Or does that Iesuitical Rule rather lye which judges those alive by reason of their inherent qualities whom the Scripture calls dead How shall these things so contrary to one another agree together But that it is one thing to live to be dead and to be righteous before God and another thing before Men. The Books of Holy Scripture are full of such Examples and they have been often heard of and seen by Men and yet after all these things those pleasant Gymnosophists deny that this external attribution was ever heard of since the World was that a thing should receive a name extrinsecally from qualities whose nature is to be within Is it so indeed that this was not heard of since the beginning of the World what do I hear have ye not then good men read these words of the Apostle in the Holy Scriptures of God By the disobedience of one man many were made sinners and again by the obedience of one man many shall be made Righteous I pray you what is the meaning of these words by the disobedience of one many are sinners Again by the obedience of one many are righteous Does this attribution seem internal to you or rather external was that rebellion peculiar to Adam or was it ours If it was ours how was it ours but by external imputation What when you hear these words of the Apostle He made Christ to become sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God through him c. Did either of us receive from qualities that can be said to be within he that he was made sin or we that we are called and made righteousness through him Moreover what is that when the Publican in the Gospel is said to have gone to his house justified rather than the Pharisee what was the cause why the one went away justified and the other went away unjustified I think it came not so to pass by a habit of inherent righteousness but upon this account rather because the Publican confessed his own unrighteousness therefore of wicked he is made righteous the other because he seemed righteous to himself through a false opinion of his own righteousness was manifested to be unrighteous according to the testimony of Holy Scripture The Righteous Man no sooner speaks than he accuses himself and in another place confess thy sins that thou mayest be justified therefore that aying of Augustine seems worthy of Praise this is the true way to perfection if every man acknowledge in truth and confess in humility his own impersection And Bernard spake no less to the purpose who bids us consider the Pharisee praying he was no Robber said he nor unjust nor an Adulterer nor careless of Fastings nor unmindful of the poor nor unthankful to God what then was wanting This one thing was wanting that he took no care to know what was wanting to him but made the most of his own merit and therefore returned
condemnation due to Sinners I speak of those Sinners who being turned from their sins by serious Repentance fly to Christ by Faith But methinks I do already hear what your Divinity in this case will mutter against us you will not deny that Christ died for us and that our righteousness is placed in him but yet so that these benefits of his and rewards of justice come not to us by Faith nor by imputation but by the study of Works and Holiness which being given to the Merits of Christ we receive in this Life by the free gift of God Therefore that we who were of old shut up in darkness And even extinct by the strength of death now we do escape the tyranny of Death that we do now recover the gifts of divine righteousness formerly lost and slipt out of our hands and that we obtain the reward of life proposed to vertue all that consists in this that we should wholly abdicate and forsake whatsoever we have from our first Father and transfer our selves wholly to the similitude and imitation of our second Father and so it will come to pass that we shall purchase immortal and divine riches and eternal glory and true righteousness with everlasting praise not by our merits but only by the vertue of Christ Who works all these things in us Therefore according to this sort of Divinity the merits of Christ do nothing else in Heaven but that they obtain unto us Divine Grace whereby we may by way of imitation more easily resemble the most holy footsteps and similitude of Christ our second Father and lead our lives well in this World according to his Laws But now what if we cannot exactly follow the footsteps of his holiness What if imitation falter sometimes and stagger What if the servency of charity and the care of our most holy Religion and the observance of Iustice becomes too remiss Yea what if somewhere a defilement of sin creeps in as infirmity may occasion Or what if that I may use the words of Hierom he that rows a Boat against the stream slacken his hands a little doth he not presently slide back and is carried by the stream whither he would not and who is not remiss sometimes Seeing Paul also confesses that he is sometimes drawn thither whither he would not And then where is the righteousness which was hoped for by Works where is the immortality proposed to vertue Verily unless the greater mercy of our most gracious Father had so taken care for us that our whole Salvation should be laid up in the righteousness of his Son and if faith and imputation did not help us more than imitation of life our condition had stood on a miserable enough and too broken foundation But eternal thanks be to Almighty God the Father of all mercies who according to his unspeakable Wisdom which reaches from end to end strongly and disposes all things sweetly hath not settled our estate by any law of works but by faith that according to Grace the Promise may be sure to all the Seed that though we our selves are weak and void of all righteousness yet it is sufficient that there is one in our Nature which hath fulfilled all righteousness and that he only is righteous for all How say you for all Why not as well as the unrighteousness of one Adam of old was sufficient to bring ruine upon all Therefore let us behold Christ in Adam and compare the one with the other Who though they are very unlike to one another yet agree in this that both being First Fathers of Propagation by an equal similitude something came from both as Progenitors which hath spread abroad upon all Men. To wit Death and Life Sin and justice Therefore one Man destroyed all Men And in like manner one Man saves all Men neither do you your self deny this But let us see how the one destroys and how the other saves those that are destroyed Through his fault say you not our own we contracted the pollution of Sin in our Birth these are your very words Which as I entertain willingly so if they are true and if he in this respect was a Type of Christ which is shewed out of Paul what hinders but that we also in like manner in Regeneration may obtain the reward of Righteousness not for our own Obedience but his The one sinned and by his wickedness ruinated all Men the other obeyed and by his righteousness saves all You say it is true if so be we lead our Life well according to the Imitation and Example of him And where then is the agreement of similitude between Christ and Adam if the one destroyed us in our being Born as you your self confess but Christ cannot save us in our Regeneration except Imitation be joyned And where now is the Grace of Imputation and the Imputation of Faith unto Righteousness so oft repeated in the Scriptures taught by the Apostles testified by the most Ancient Fathers received and delivered by the Church Shall it be sufficient cause to inflict Death upon thy Body that thou wast propagated from Adam and shall it not have cause enough for the justification of thy Soul that thou art born again in Christ What say you Do none dye but they that Sin after the Example of Adam Are none saved but those that by a due imitation attain unto the most Holy Vertues of Christ And what then doth Baptism the Sacrament of Faith in Regeneration if Salvation is purchased by no other thing but by treading in the Footsteps of Christ The Objection of Osorius is Answered where the Imitation of Christ is discoursed of at large BUT you will say what is it not an excellent thing is it not a Pious thing is it not very necessary for every Man who counts his Life and Salvation dear to him who looks for Immortal Glory who seeks stable and eternal pleasures that he separate himself as much as he can from theImitation of the Earthly Father and frame himself wholly to the imitation of the Heavenly Who denies or is Ignorant of that O Osorius Who is so void of all Religion and Sense but is ready of his own accord and with his whole Heart to confess that very thing to you which that you may persuade you do not only explain but also draw forth all the force and efficacy of Speech that you can upon it with so much earnestness and vehemency First who is so Ignorant but knows what we received from both our Parents of which you dispute so prolixly The thing it self and the experience of all things does abundantly make it evident into what deceits and straits into what a gulf of miseries the former hath brought us into So on the contrary how many and how great good things have proceeded from the other Father I think it is unknown to no Man Whose acts for us if we consider what is more excellent If the
what manner of consequence is this Because habitual influences of Works which make us acceptable to God proceed no otherways but from cooperating Grace Therefore Faith without inherent Righteousness doth not justifie neither doth Salvation consist of any other thing but good Works But because there is a twofold sort of Works one of those which go before Faith another of those which follow Faith I would know of which of those rwo parts they understand it If of the preoedent they will not deny those to be Sins For that which is not of Faith is of Sin But if they understand it of Works subsequent to Faith they will say that those are either perfect or imperfect If perfect and of such a sort that they answer the things commanded in the Law not only according to the substance but also according to the manner of doing To what purpose then is that daily saying of the Church made mention of Forgive us our debts Or what will they answer to Augustine who evidently confutes what they maintain On the contrary if they are Imperfect Languid and Lame upon what account will they make us acceptable to God the Iudge which are of themselves defective and besprinkled with faults and spots and need another Grace by the commendation whereof they may be pleasing to God What if that infinite and Eternal purity for the most part in the Levitical Sacrifices did not endure whatever seemed any way defective or deformed or defiled with the least pollu on and which was not exquisitely entire and blameless in all respects if so great integrity of all parts was required in the Levites and Priests that it was not lawful to suffer any one to enter into the holy place of the Sanctuary who was wounded in any member of his body or deformed in any part or had a Wen Do you think that you can endure the presence of the most holy God with that half-torn and ragged Imperfection Wherefore seeing it must needs be perfect and unblameable upon all accounts which by Iustification indemnifies and frees us from all sin before the dreadful Tribunal of most perfect Righteousness surely no man can believe that it consists in our works but only in the works of the Son of God not those which his habitual grace works in us but those which he himself hath both graciously undertaken to do for us and also having undertaken them hath performed them to the full What Benesits come to us from Christ and what should be chiefly regarded in these Benefits NOW this is it in which chiefly the unspeakable amplitude of Divine Grace towards us doth evidently shine forth that God the Almighty Governour and Creatour of the World according to his fingular Mercy wherewith he hath loved the World having given his Son sent him to us and so sent him that he for us hath fulfilled all Righteousness for there was no need that he should fulfil it for himself and if he hath fulfilled it for us what hinders now but that may be ours which was done for us or to what purpose should he do that for us which he knew was necessary to be done by our selves for our Salvation But what if according to the saying of Thomas Whatsoever things we can do by Friends we our selves are said to be able to do it in some respect How much better then may we our selves be supposed both to be able to do and also to have done those things which a Friend is not only able to do for us but hath also done for us and this is that grace chiefly which every where the Evangelical Writings sound sorth unto us unto which all our both consolation salvation should be referred which Paul the Apostle having received from Christ did propagate it with so continued labour among the Gentiles and taught it with so great fervour of spirit and made it evident with so many Signs and Miracles and also confirmed it with so many Scriptures and most sure Testimonies Wherefore those Papists are the more worthy to be abhorred as being Enemies to Antiquity and Enemies to Paul who seem to be busied about nothing else but to abolish the Gospel of Christ and to overturn the Foundations of the Doctrine of the Apostles that have been long since very well laid by our first Fathers and to sow another Gospel in the minds of Christians For what else doth all their Doctrine drive at who disputing about Grace Faith and Righteousness do so handle the matter by their Philosophical Principles that he who observes their Collections Distinctions Corollaries and Opinions will perceive that they do not teach as Christians out of the Gospel out of Christ out of Paul but that the Antient Philosophers of the old Academy or the Thalmudists of the Law of Moses are again risen up and alive except that this only difference is between them and the Antient Philosophers that these do palliate with the name of Grace and Faith in words at least in some manner but in reality as touching the signification of the word Grace or the force of the word Faith they seem to be so very blind as if they had read Paul little or at least had not at all understood him I do not rail at the men themselves whom I rather account worthy of pity but it is not at all convenient to endure the Errours of men because they cast no small blot upon Religion and are injurious to Christ and do violence to Paul overthrow the simplicity of the Christian Faith moreover they adulterate all the sincerity of Evangelical Doctrine with their Niceties and after a certain manner subdue it unto humane Philosophy Which that it may appear the more evidently to the Minds and Eyes of beholders let it not be tedious to you to hearken a while first what Divine Truth and then what Humane Opinions teach us But because there are two things chiefly in which the whole sum both of our Salvation and Religion is contained Grace and Faith of which the one belongs to God towards men the other agrees to men towards God It very much concerns Christians that their Minds be very well instructed in both And Grace indeed is discerned in those good things that are given to us and promised by God Faith is exercised in those Offices which are chiefly due from us to God and are greatly requisite Therefore that we may rightly apprehend the nature of Grace we must see what and how great those gifts are which the bounty of God hath partly bestowed upon us and partly promised Concerning which thing it remains that we should examine what the Scriblers of Popish Divinity do hold Now what they teach about this matter is for the most part to this purpose They place the end of humane Life in blessedness and the School-Divines dispute about this very blessedness just after such a manner as the Philosophers of old did of their chiefest good unto
believed in Christ therefore she loved much Now if that be called the formal cause by Philosophers which furnishes matter with Life and Soul and if Divines account this the life whereby we live to God what then will they say to the Prophetical Scripture whereby the Iust is said to live not by Charity but by faith What also will they answer to the Words of Christ in which he teaches that life Eternal consists in this that we should know the Father the true God and Iesus Christ whom he hath sent And again where in very evident Speech he Attributes life to faith only and not to Charity He that believeth in the Son faith he hath Eternal Life Concerning the Meritorious cause of Iustification BUT in the mean while because these things have been already largely discoursed of there follows after this that which is next in this Series of causes that we should now examine with the like briefness the Meritorious cause of Iustification which those Men by the Authority of Trent comprehend only and wholly in Christ. And now what then will those Scribes and Disputers of this World answer here What do the Works of the Iust Merit nothing in the sight of God Do they help nothing towards the obtaining of Righteousness And where then is that Merit de Gongruo and condigno Where are the Works of Supererogation that are above due Where is that grace which the Sacraments confer upon us ex opere oper ato By what Argument now will Andrew Vega defend this Axiom of his Faith says he and other good Works whereby we are disposed unto grace that makes us acceptable and whereby we are formally justified and made acceptable to God are Meritorious by the way of agreeableness of such grace and of our Iustification c. Whence it is evident that either Christ is not the only Meritorious cause of such grace or that all the other helps of Merits are of no value Though in the mean while I do not deny that the death of Christ is truly Meritorious but let the adversaries consider diligently what it hath merited That the spiritual help say they of Divine Grace and Charity to perform the Law might be diffused into us What then Dyed Christ for no other cause but that he might obtain the gift of Charity for Mortal Men to perform the Law Did he not rather dye upon this account that he might blot out the Hand writing which was against us in the Law having nailed it to his 〈◊〉 that he might take away the Enmity and might destroy Death for ever might dispossess the Devil of his Kingdom that there might be food and sustenance for our hunger that he might make Principalities and Powers subject to his Triumpham Dominion that he might take possession of all Power in Heaven and in Earth What if the power of Charity to perform the Law is so great as they preach could not this Charity otherways get entrance unless the Son of God dyed Yea were not the Patriarchs Prophets and many others of the Saints adorned with the same supernatural gifts Moreover since the Death of Christ is there so great an influence of Grace present with any man that he is able to fulfil all Righteousness Because the Merit of Christ is perfect it is necessary that those things also should be perfect which he hath merited for us by his most perfect price But on the contrary my Opinion is that I think Christ to be indeed the meritorious cause of our Iustification and that he is not so much the meritorious as the efficient cause of our Renovation seeing it is he that baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with Fire Suppose we grant that this Charity flows in upon us by the Merit of Christ yet I do not therefore call this same infusion of Grace a cause of meriting Iustification nor any part of a cause thereof but it seems rather fit to be reckoned amongst the effects and fruits of Iustification which follow from thence neither doth it follow because the works of Grace and Charity come to us by the Merit of Christ that therefore the same do merit Iustification before God for it relies upon no condition of works at all but only the promise and that a free one also and so free that it implies no condition except one only And because in this place we enquire what is that only and peculiar condition the Doctrine of the Gospel will easily teach us if so be we are more willing to hearken to the Gospel than to the Opinions of Trent On what condition properly doth the Promise of Iustification rely BUT the condition whereby we are properly justified is this That we should believe in Christ and adhere to him by a constant confession In which Faith in the mean while a diligent Caution should be observed that this Faith should be directed unto a proper and legitimate Object which I wonder that it hath not yet been taken notice of by those School Doctors hitherto Of whom some place the Object of Faith in the first Truth Others take for its Object all things that are written in the holy Scriptures Others do esteem for the Object of Faith all things that are laid before us to be believed by the Authority of the Catholick Church And they say not amiss for I deny not that all these things are both truly and necessarily to be believed by every man For he that believes the whole Architecture of this World was framed by the handy-work of God in the space of six days he is indeed led by a right Faith as all Truths are to be believed with a most sure Faith whatsoever are mentioned in the Books of the Scripture which Faith of every particular Truth as I suppose doth not therefore justifie a man For the sense of our question is not what is truly believed by us but what Faith that is which justifies the wicked before God from his sins and that we should search by the Gospel what is the proper Object of this Faith In the mean while that is a very ridiculous thing and too barbarous that the Pope in his Decretals reduces the Object of Faith to the Keys and Succession of the Roman Chair and that as necessary to Salvation but away with this Deceiver and his Cheats Concerning Faith and Assurance and what is the proper Object of Faith NOW let us discourse of others who reasoning with more sound Iudgment about Faith do not fetch the proper and genuine Object of Faith whereby we are justified so far off from the very first Truth as Thomas nor reduce it to every particular Truth of Scripture as the Colonienses nor define it by the Decrees of the Church as the Duacene Doctor and Iesuits of that Place and Order nor place it in the Infallible Authority of the Roman Chair as Boniface but coming much nearer to Evangelical Truth do
be necessarily joyned with the Promise Now that we may set the thing more evidently before your eyes God promises Salvation to his own and that freely and for Christ's sake That indeed is most certain and beyond all controversie Go on And you put trust in the Promise of God You do very well in doing so and I commend the constancy of your confidence When Salvation is promised freely for Christ's sake shall therefore an absolute Promise save all men promiscuously for Christ's sake without any restriction of condition I suppose God will not save all promiscuously Now then this Promise belonging not to all but some certain persons only upon some certain condition I would know who those are to whom this Promise properly belongs You say Believers and in that you say well but how or believing in whom Are they not those that believe in Christ himself Is it not he only for whose sake only Salvation is promised to Believers Doth not this Faith only in the Person of the Son of God make us partakers of the promise Doth not this Faith only justifie before God Moreover is not this the only condition which every where the voice of Christ and the Apostles in the Gospel and the voice of the Prophets inculcate which the appointment of the Father especially requires that we should hear his beloved Son that we should receive Christ that we should believe in his Name that we should flie to him by Faith and betake our selves wholly to him that we should believe in him whom he hath sent whom the Father hath sealed that we should digest him inwardly in our minds that we should be ingrafted into him and should grow in him that we should know Iesus and him crucified only that we should behold him only as the Israelites of old beheld the Serpent in the Wilderness that we should put on Christ. Hence come these so frequently repeated Sermons in the Gospel concerning the Person of Christ He that believeth in me hath Life Eternal As many as received him They that believe in his Name He that believes in the Son of God That every one that seeth the Son and believes in him He that believeth in me shall never Die Do ye believe in God Believe also in in me We believe and know that thou art Christ the Son of the living God He that believes in him who justifies the Ungodly Iustifying him that is of the faith of Iesus Christ. If thou confess with thy Mouth the Lord Iesus c. That we may believe that 〈◊〉 is the Son of God and believing may have Eternal Life If thou believe with all thy Heart c. Believe in the Lord Iesus and thou shalt be saved and thy House The Righteousness which is of the Faith of Christ. We have access through the faith of him The promise of the faith of Iesus Christ. By faith which is in me By his Name all that believe in him If ye do not believe that I am he Except ye eat my flesh Except ye abide in me If ye abide in me Ibid. Ye are all the Sons of God by Faith in Iesus Christ. What is the True and Genuine Definition of Faith BY Which so many and so evident places of Scriptute there is no Man that cannot be most sure what is properly the Object of that Faith which justifies us To wit no other thing but the person of the Son of God As again the object of Confidence is the promise of God Which things being so it will not be difficult to gather from these Notions of Scripture what is the true and genuine definition of justifying Faith concerning which we are making enquiry which seems that it ought to be defined according to the right rule of the Gospel after this manner To wit That it is a right knowledge of the Son of God planted in our minds whereby we acknowledge a promised Christ and receive him being held forth and with our Mouth profess him to have dyed for us and rose again Worship him in Spirit and embrace him with all our mind together with all his benefits And this Faith as it is a singular gift of God so of all the gifts of God we believe this faith is that only which justifies believers in the sight of God To which though assurance and confidence of the grace of God is most nearly joyned which is it self also sometimes called by the name of Faith yet this confidence doth not properly infer the cause of Iustification but receives it being brought neither doth it cause Iustification but is rather caused by it and renders those assured who are justified by the Faith of Christ but doth not it self justifie For God doth not therefore forgive thee and receive thee for a Son because thou embracest the Mercy of God with a Holy confidence but because thou embracest his Christ with a right Faith and confessest and lovest him he loveth thee neither do we therefore believe in Christ because we are assured of Salvation and trust the promises but because we believe in Christ therefore we attain unto a certain hope of those things that are promised in Christ for Eternal Life is promised to him that believes in the Son And from hence arises that clear Distinction between Faith and Assurance for they differ in Subjects and Objects The Faith of Christ which brings forth Righteousness takes its place in the higher part of the Soul wherein the understanding is Assurance hath relation to those powers of the Soul in which hope and the like affections are placed As touching the Objects Assurance hath respect to the Mercy or the promise in Christ faith is directed to Christ himself because he obtains Mercy for Believers But perhaps too much hath been said of those things which being clear enough of themselves would not at this time need any Explication unless I were forced thereunto by the Calumnies of Hosius Osorius and such Others whose Opinion seems to me to be faulty upon a Twofold account First in that they think this Doctrine of Christian Assurance which we Establish in Christ should by no means be endured in the Church and which they call Confidence and Presumption than which they affirm that nothing is more hurtful and pernicious to the Salvation of the Godly Hosius adds his own Iudgment that to him no Abomination as he expresses himself seems greater in the sight of God than this so great presumption of the Hereticks Neither wants he here his Authorities wrested from the Scriptures What saith he doth not the command of the Gospel teach us to confess our selves to be unprofitable Servants in all respects yea when we have performed all that God commanded us From whence Hosius presently gathers that he who assures himself that he is in a State of Grace he doth as much as if contrary to the command of the Lord he called himself a profitable Servant O Wise Headpiece
the godly can will to sin because by a voluntary receiving of Grace they are endued with so pure Charity and Innocency that being polluted with no spot of unrighteousness they are not only accounted clean and undefiled by imputation and the remission of sins but are in reality righteous and unblameable by the true possession and exercise of Vertue But where will they find those righteous men that dare profess themselves free from all guilt of sin As I may speak it of all the other Apostles so here I would ask them particularly of Iohn whom they quote whether they think that he himself should be reckoned in the Catalogue of the righteous who are not tainted with the least spot of sin Let us then hear the Apostle confessing of himself If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us Now then if so great a Disciple of Christ and one so dearly beloved of him durst not plead a total and perfect freedom from sin nor could do so without a Lye dare those Tridentine Seducers attribute that unto themselves and do they suppose that the World can be so blinded by them that it doth not easily take notice of and detest their manifest Lyes Deceits and Impostures and so great an impudence in Lying and Deceiving Pious Reader what Testimonies of greater Authority dost thou look for That which the Tridentines affirm the Apostle denies If they say true the Canonical Truth is a Lye But if it be blasphemy to entertain such a thought must not they of Trent be Lyars What need is there to prove it I will express it in a word The Testimony of Scripture the Consent of Nature the Experience of all Ages the Iudgment of the Learned the Sayings of the Antient Fathers the Examples of all the Saints the general Opinion of all good men the guilty Conscience of evil doers the constant Prayers of the Church her Complaints and Tears the Rebellion of the Flesh the wicked Imaginations arising in the Heart the Deceit of Errours the Groans of troubled Spirits the Disturbances incident to a Mortal Life and Death it self common to all men Moreover the constant Confessions of the Papists and their often repeated Absolutions what is the meaning of these so many and weighty Arguments What is it that they declare but that the Righteousness attainable in this Life is either none at all or such as Augustin describes that consists more in the remission of sins than in the perfection of Vertues And lest any should flatter himself with hopes of perfection in this Life let us hear what the same Augustin commenting upon Iohn infers Let not sin reign in your mortal body He says not let it not be but let it not reign For as long as you live of necessity sin must be in your Members Yet let the dominion be taken from it let not that be done which it commands c. And again writing to Macedonius Who of us is without sin And presently again repeating the same But who in this Life is without some sin But him we call good whose goodness prevails and him we call best who sins least Therefore those whom the Lord himself calls good by reason of the participation of Divine Grace he calls the same also evil because oftheir infirmities until our whole man be thoroughly purged from all corruption by passing into that Life in which we shall sin no more c. Thus said Augustin Where then is that real infusion of Vertues as they call it where are these new Qualities and that Inherent Righteousness that hath no need of remission of sins for what need is there of remission there where there is nothing to be forgiven For what sin can remain there where the perfect purification as they speak of Body and Soul from all pollution of sin makes us holy and partakers of the Divine Nature Briefly that I may comprehend the matter in a few words lest this discourse should grow into too great a bulk I suppose I have sufficiently by what I have discoursed at large cleared these things following First what is the nature of true Faith which causeth Righteousness what is its proper Object from whence it receives power to justifie which we have proved by the Scriptures to proceed wholly from its object that is the person of him only in whom we believe Now because Faith only embraces the person of Christ therefore it is that Faith only upon the account of its Object and not for the sake of our Vertues justifies the sinners and ungodly What sinners are justified by Christ. BUT here there is another thing to be enquired into to wit who are these sinners to whom this Iustification belongs In which the difference must of necessity be observed For as it is not every Faith or act of believing that procures Iustification but that only which eyes the Mediatour So this very Faith doth not belong to all sinners promiscuously Though all men are sinners by nature and in many things we offend all yet all are not sinners alike They that have no sense of their sins no trouble in their Conscience nor shame for the Abominations they have committed but run on headlong and without fear into all wickedness though they prosess Christ and Faith in him with their mouth yet their heart is void of him neither doth this empty profession yield them any benefit Of which sort of men Christ Preaches in the Gospel Not every one that saith to me Lord Lord but he that doth the Will of my Father c. After the same manner the whole Epistle of Iames treats of these and such like men whom he denies to be justified by this counterfeit and hypocritical Faith But on the contrary those that sincerely repent and mourn for their sins and abhorring their own Wickedness return to Christ with all their Hearts and receive him by Faith these only are 〈◊〉 whom Faith alone Iustifies without Works according to that well known saying of Paul And by this means it will not be difficult to reconcile both the Apostles Paul and Iames to one another For as Iames a Servant of Iesus Christ cannot deny but Faith when it is found in a Penitent and Humbled sinner justifies him freely without Works and before all good Works So on the other side neither doth Paul an Apostle of Iesus Christ approve of that Faith which works not by love nor admits abominable wretches of profligate lives to have any fellowship with Christ. Which things being granted what can the Papists say against this Assertion concerning justifying Faith Or what valuble Author can they produce in defence of their Erroneus Doctrine Now if to justifie from sins is nothing else but to absolve from sins as we have demonstrated out of the Apostle Is there any that can absolveus but Christ only Or how should he absolve unless he be received Or after what
without any disadvantage to our Cause For suppose we grant that Faith is Dead which is not moved with a desire of doing good Works according to the saying of St. Iames yet it doth not therefore follow from hence that no Faith Iustifies without Works From which two things do follow worthy of consideration First That no Faith justifies that is not lively And next though it abounds in good Works and never is without them yet it only without Works Iustifies This will appear evident by the Example of St. Paul Who though he was not conscious to himself of any Wickedness yet he durst not affirm himself to be thereby Iustified I think nothing hinders but the whole Argument may be yielded unto if so be the terms are rightly placed The Adversaries gather out of the Apostle Iames that Faith is dead which is without Works and herein we do not much oppose them But what follows from hence Therefore as they say dead Faith without Works doth not justifie And I deny it not But what Conclusion flows from this manner of Arguing Therefore only Faith doth not justiste Why so If no Faith but that which is lively justifies and if it receives Life only from Works then this is the consequence that Faith justifies only upon the account of good Works I Answer First though we grant it is true that the Faith which justifies us in the sight of God is lively and always joyned with a Godly Life Yet that this Faith justifies and reconciles us no other ways but upon the account of good Works is most false For this is not a good consequence from the premises Because Faith is not alone in the Life of the Believer therefore Faith is not alone in the Office of justifying Or because the Faith that justifies is not a dead but a lively Faith therefore it doth not justifie alone without Works For herein is a fallacy of the Consequence But you may object Whence then is Faith said to be lively and not Dead but from Works Which if it be so of necessity it must draw all its Life and Vertue from Works Nay the matter is quite contrary For though in the sight of Men Faith is not discerned to be Lively and Vigorous but by Works yet Faith receives not Life from Works but rather Works from Faith As Fruits draw their Life and Sap from the Root of the Tree but not the Root from them Iust so external actions proceed from Faith as the Root which if they be good they evidence the Root to be sound and lively and this is all they do but they communicate no Life thereunto And this Life and Vertue of Faith is not one but Twofold And it acteth partly in Heaven and partly in Earth If you ask what it doth amongst Men upon Earth It does good to its Neighbour working by Love But before God in Heaven it justifies the Ungodly not by Love but by the Son of God whom it only lays hold of Therefore those Men seem not to have got a clear insight into the Vertue and Nature of the Grace of Faith that suppose the whole Life thereof to consist in Love as if Faith of it self could do nothing but as it receives Vertue and Efficacy from Charity Indeed both may seem to be true in the External Actions of Human Life in which Faith lyes like a dead thing unless it be enlivened by Charity to the exercise of good Works And hereunto belongs that saying of Paul whereby he so much commends Faith working by Love understanding such Works as Faith working by Love brings forth to the view of a Human Eye Yet with God Faith hath a far different operation for it only without any reliance upon Works or assistance of Charity but trusting to the naked promise of God and the dignity of the Mediatour climbs up to Heaven and gets access into the presence of God where it does great and wonderful things combating with the Iudgment to come fighting against the terrours of Death Satan and Hell pleads the cause of a Sinner obtains his pardon absolves and justifies him from the accusations of a guilty Conscience takes away all Iniquity reconciles God to the Sinner appeases his wrath subdues the power of Death and the Devil and procures Peace yea and Paradise it self with theThief that had led a wicked Life and yet at Death was justified by Faith in the Redeemer Who would desire more or greater things And now so many and great things being done by Faith let us enquire After what manner it does them Not as it lives and works by Love but as it lives only by Christ and relies on the promise for the Life of Faith which lives before God is not Charity but Christ not receiving Life from Charity but communicating life unto it and justifying Works that they may be acceptable to God which would otherways be abominable Unto the truth of this we have a sufficient Testimony given us by Paul When he says my Life is Christ and again the Life that I now live in the Flesh I live not by the Love but by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me And elsewhere speaking of himself he says That he was not conscious to himself of any VVickedness and yet he denies that he is thereby Iustified as the same Apostle discoursing about the works of Abraham though they were never so Eminent for Holiness yet he saw nothing in them which that Great Patriarch might make a matter of Glorying before God Hereunto may be added the Arguments of others that have been strangely wrested out of Scriptures There are six Reasons principally which they pretend the Evangelists furnish them with against the Righteousness of Faith First they draw an Argument from these words of Christ Come ye blessed of my Father to the Kingdom prepared for you For I was an hungred and ye gave me Meat Argument Da. That which is the cause of blessedness is also the cause of Iustification Whom he hath Iustified them he hath also Glorified c. Rom. 8. Ri. Works of Mercy are the cause of blessedness for I was an hungred and ye gave c. Mat. 25. I. Therefore Works of Mercy are the cause of Iustification Answer I deny the Minor For Works of Mercy as they are considered in themselves are not the cause of Iustification or blessedness but rather effects and furits of Iustification for they are no otherways pleasing to God but as they are performed by persons in a justified state and it is by the Faith of Christ that they become acceptable For unless Faith go before and justifie the person of him that worketh his works are not at all regarded by God because they do not satisfie the Law of God being tainted with the corruption of depraved Nature and come far short of that perfection which Divine Iustice requires Wherefore if we will Reason aright about
in so many dangers and compassed about with so many troubles and snares yet it continues firm notwithstanding all this opposition in spite of the very Gates of Hell Wherefore is it thus Is it for its own merits or should we account the Grace and Power of Christ to be the only procuring cause thereof and no strength nor merit of ours Now it is evident to every reasonable man that the same thing which is the cause of Preservation is also the cause of Salvation to the Church which consists not in our Works but only in the Faith of Christ and his free Bounty An Argument out of St. Iames. Not the hearers of the Law but the doers shall be justified Not the hearer of the Law but the doer shall be blessed Iames 1. Mat. He that heareth my words and doth them c. Therefore not Faith only but Deeds do justifie I answer The Argument may be granted if the Minor be rightly added with the Inference which we shall set down here that the Argument may appear in its perfect form He is righteous that by deeds fulfils the Law No man by deeds fulfils the Law in this life Therefore no man is justified by deeds in this life The Minor is evident by the Authority of the same Apostle Iames Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and offend in one thing is guilty of all There is none in the Land of the Living but fails in some thing Iames 2. Yea there is no man that offends not in many things Therefore no man in this life fulfils the Law of God no not Iames himself Let us now consider the words of Christ that are cited out of the Gospel He that heareth my words and doeth them c. Who doth not clearly apprehend the mind of Christ in these words for it is manifest that his design was to rebuke the counterfeit pretences of Hypocrites and thereby to stir up the minds of his own Disciples to the power of Godliness and sincerity in their profession which he doth in more than one place and not without weighty reasons For as nothing is more detestable so nothing is more usual than for false Hypocrites to be covered with a Vizard of Holiness who having no experimental knowledge of the things which they profess nor drawn unto God by Effectual Calling nor taught by his Spirit being ignorant of God and strangers to the practice of Holiness do make a great shew amongst all men outwardly pretending to that which they are not indeed but would seem to be who take little or no care at all to be any way instrumental for the Glory of God But their chief endeavours are to encrease their gain and satisfie their ambitious desires that they may be great in this World and get applause and renown amongst men Such a frame of spirit is in most Hypocrites But the great searcher of hearts who looks into every dark corner of the Soul and discerns all the most hidden imaginations is not unacquainted with their Hypocrisie and there is nothing more abominable unto him Therefore our Lord in giving Instructions of Piety to his Disciples strictly commands that such as take upon them the profession of Faith in his Name should not only make shew of it in words or account it enough to encline their Ears to his Doctrine but also practise it in their Lives and endeavour as much as in them lies to walk suitable to their profession By what I have said it may evidently appear that these words do not express the way how we are justified but they only declare what manner of men they ought to be who are Iustified and have obtained a right to the Heavenly Inheritance by Faith and free Grace Another Argument The Foolish Virgins were shut out of Heaven not because they wanted Faith but because they neglected taking Oyl in their Vessels Mat. 25. The same appears in the slothful Servant Therefore The Kingdom of Heaven is due to good Works and not to Faith Answer The Consequence must be denied For this is the true consequence thereof Therefore Men are justly shut out of Heaven for Evil deeds and Impiety For though a slothful and lazy Servant ought to be shut out of the House yet it doth not therefore follow that the Inheritance must needs be due to him that faithfully and diligently performs his duty The Kingdom of Heaven is given to faith not to duties by way of gift not by way of bargain not for merits but freely And though faith in the mean while is not idle but diligently exercises it self in the ways of Holiness yet the possession of this great benefit should not therefore be attributed unto Works suppose an adopted Son in managing well his Father's Goods shews himself a faithful Steward in his Father's House is not his Father's Inheritance bestowed upon him of free gift notwithstanding all this care and industry Moreover that is not true which is denied in the Antecedent that the foolish Virgins were not shut out for want of Faith For had they had true Faith they would not have wanted provision of Oyl For Faith that is lively cannot be slothful Therefore in Scripture these Epithets are given to Faith 1. That it is true and not feigned 2. It is sure and not wavering 3. One and not diverse 4. Lively and not dead 5. Great 6. Fervent and not luke warm 7. Laborious and not Idle 8. Strong 9. Couragious and not fearful 10. Stable and not unconstant Another Objection taken out of Iohn 5. They that have done good shall come forth unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation and again Rom. 2. Every Man shall be rewarded according to his Works The Argument of the Adversaries taken out of Ioh. 5. Rom. 2. Therefore the Salvation or Destruction of Men depend on their Works and not Faith only If any Man desires to see this Argument in a Syllogistical term he may take it thus There is no Iustification without Works where there is a reward given according to Works The Iudgment of God rewards according to VVorks Therefore there is no Iustification in the Iudgment of God without VVorks Answer As there is nothing more sure than the Words of Peter in which he affirms that Christ is appointed Iudge of the Living and the Dead so also that is a truth which is asserted by Paul That we must all appear before his Iudgment Seat who will render to every Man according to that which he hath done whether Good or Evil. Therefore you say Not Faith but Works do justifie which are the procuring cause either of Salvation or Destruction But this is not the consequence of the Words of the Apostle nor the sense of that Scripture But if we Reason according to the mind of the Holy Ghost in these places of Scripture we must rather draw
by grace then it is not of works and if it is of works then it is not of grace 4 Assertion Rom. 10. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and believest with thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved for with the heart man believeth unto Righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation For the Scripture saith Whoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed There is no difference between Iew and Greek For every one that calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved 5 Assertion Acts 13. Be it known unto you Brethren that through this Man remission of sins is preached unto you that through him every one that believes may be justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses 6 Assertion Acts 10. To him all the Prophets bear witness That all that believe in him do receive through his name remission of sins 7 Assertion 1 Cor. 3. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is already laid that is Christ Iesus But if any man build upon this foundation Gold or Silver c. If any man's work is burnt he shall suffer damage but himself shall be saved yet so as through fire c. 8 Assertion The eight Argument is gathered from many Examples of those who were justified by Faith only and admitted unto Baptism As three thousand of those that believed at the Preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost were baptized Acts 2. and the Eunuch whom Philip baptized Acts 2. The Iaylor and his family whom Paul baptized Acts 16. c. By which Examples it may be rationally proved that the Apostles judged Faith to be sufficient to qualifie a man for the receiving of Baptism and therefore also for receiving of Iustification By these proofs of Scripture this Doctrine is sufficiently confirmed which attributes the Iustification of the ungodly not to Works joyned with Faith but to Faith simply without Works But because I am not now dealing with men of moderate Principles but with cunning Sophisters let us for a while bring the Apostle out of the Church into the School that he may fight hand to hand against them with their own weapons and confute them with their own Arguments The Righteousness of the Law or of Works and the Righteousness of Faith are so contrary to one another that they cannot consist together but the one of necessity makes void the other But we look for Righteousness by Faith Therefore not by the Righteousness of Works Again If according to Grace then it is not according to Debt But according to Grace it is imputed to us for Righteousness Therefore not according to Debt Again That whereunto blessedness is ascribed to the same also is ascribed Iustification Our blessedness is attributed unto the remission of sins Therefore our Iustification also is attributed to the same Another Argument If Works are necessary to Salvation then Salvation would not consist in the belief of the heart and the confession of the mouth But our Salvation consists in confessing the Lord Iesus with the mouth and believing in him with the heart Therefore Works are not necessary unto Salvation Another If Works had been conducible to justifie Abraham before God then he should have had cause of glorying before God Rom. 4. But Abraham had nothing wherein he could glory before God Therefore Works do not avail to Iustification Another By the Law of Moses no man can be justified All Doctrine of Works belongs to the Law of Moses Therefore no Salvation comes by any Doctrine of our Morals or Works Another Whosoever builds upon Christ the Foundation Gold or Hay or Stubble shall be saved either without fire or through fire Therefore Faith only without Works procures Salvation An Induction from Examples The Scriptures tell us of many that were justified and baptized without making any mention of Works On the day of Pentecost three thousand were baptized Acts 2. The Eunuch was baptized by Philip Acts 8. The Iaylor with his family Acts 16. The sinful woman whom faith saved Luke 7. The prodigal Son Luke 18. The Thief on the right hand Luke 23. The Publican Luke 18. And a multitude of others obtained Salvation without any condition of Works Therefore only Faith in Christ justifies the humble and broken hearted sinner Unto these things so very evident and clear what do the Adversaries object with what subtilties and distinctions do they defend their Popish Errour of Inherent Righteousness Be pleased to hearken though what they say is fitter for laughter and derision than instruction And first as touching the distinction that Paul makes between him that worketh and him that worketh not between Mercenary works and Iustification imputed without Works between Debt and Grace between the Righteousness of the Law and the Righteousness of Faith let us observe how those Sophisters cloud and darken it with their vain janglings For whereas the Apostle argues on this manner from the Rule of contraries If it is of grace then it is not of works but if it be of works then it is not of grace c. If the Inheritance is by the Law then it is not of the Promise c. And again distinguishing between the Righteousness of the Law and the Righteousness of the Gospel he so divides the one from the other that difference appears evident Of the Righteousness that comes by the Law saith the Apostle the Law it self speaks on this manner He that doth these things shall live in them But what saith he of the Righteousness that is of Faith If thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and believe with thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved What is more evident than this distinction what words are more perspicuous But what is there that can be so well conceived in the mind or expressed in words but it may be wrested by the wrong Interpretations of such men as take delight to set themselves in opposition against the Truth for thus they speak Are not pious works the gifts of God Doth not Charity shed abroad in the hearts of the Saints by the Holy Ghost inflame the minds of Believers and provoke them to all things that are honest and agreeable to the Will of God Which Works of Charity when God crowns and rewards them in us they are not so much our works as his gifts for they are not our works or performed by any strength of our own but they are the works of God which we perform by his help and they should be wholly attributed to his Grace Whence also they oft-times are called in the Scriptures by the name of Divine Grace As Paul also bearing witness of himself says By the grace of God I am what I am for this grace of working not being attained unto by