all our actions should be directed therefore it is his opinion that it is not possible that he who puts away the rule it self from him and hates it should be joined to the same But what do you drive at in all these florid expressions it is this He then that asserts it to be possible that God should approve the wicked and join them to himself asserts it to be possible for God not to be God These things need no prolix answer For though we grant this to be very true which you mention from the Scriptures that the rule of Divine Iustice is perfect and that eternal light cannot endure any thing that is wicked or not agreeable to equity but you have not yet proved that those should be called wicked who flying to Christ by Faith receive from him the Pardon of their Sins who having their Sins blotted out and all Iniquity forgiven are written by the same Psalmist among the number of the blessed whom God himself purifying by faith and pouring his holy Spirit upon them of ungodly he hath made them godly and graciously received them into his favour for the sake of his dear Son And such we were all formerly as your Oration describes wicked sinners and all void of the glory of God before Christ washed us with his blood but now after we are washed from our former filthiness sanctified and justified in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ and by the spirit of our God Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect Those whom God Iustifies who shall condemn Then you go on and deny that it is possible that God should be unlike himself to favour wickedness or make friendship with wicked men of an unclean life And therefore you conclude we must needs be first righteous before we are received into the favour of God Right but who are they whom you call by the name of Iust You must teach us that If you judge they are such as are defiled with no pollution or can say with Christ Who amongst you will prove me guilty of Sin Verily I confess it seems not unlike to truth what you prove concerning the conformity of the Righteous unto God and that we must needs be all of us such if we would with acceptance have to do with that most pure Nature of the Divine Righteousness without a Mediator and Redeemer But if you take those for Righteous who are Righteous by Faith not by Life that is those whom daily forgiveness received by faith brings as righteous in the Presence of God in that sense this debate of yours about Righteousness does us no diskindness For by this means it comes to pass that whom Faith dayly absolves you your self cannot hold them guilty of any crime Therefore if they are not unrighteous nothing hinders them from being admitted with bold access into the presence of the Divine Majesty through the benefit of their Redeemer But you deny that it is agreeable to the nature of God to account any man worthy of his approbation except him whom his countenance beholds to be righteous Therefore it is necessary that our righteousness should go before the favour of God But whence that righteousness should come to us herein is all the contention between us You seem to acknowledge no righteousness but that which the perfection of life procures We place all our righteousness in Christ not in our selves in the faith of him only not in our own works What say you can any man obtain favour from that highest goodness as long as he hates not wickedness as long as be puts not away Iniquity from him which hath a perpetual War with Divine Equity Who is ignorant of or denies that For how can it be that that everlasting Law should not hate sin and wickedness with the greatest abhorrency Well and what do these Mountains of Gilboa bring forth unto us at length he concludes That it is therefore necessary that whosoever thinks to be received into the friendship of God must first hate wickedness Verily there is no man that denies it For though we should grant that a wise and wholesom or sound sorrow whereof you speak makes the first part of our conversion and that the true righteousness of faith doth not follow except some trouble of a penitent mind go before it doth not therefore come to pass that the very cause of justification should be attributed unto repentance for if repentance be nothing else but a grief of mind at the remembrance of sin it proves indeed that sin went before but takes not away that which was committed It declares perhaps some change of mind in him that committed it but takes not away the punishment that is due to justice Moreover repentance testifies that justice is lost but repairs not the loss thereof As pain coming of a wound inflicted makes not a medicine to it self but receives it from some other thing In like manner repentance goes before the remission of sins but doth not cause it just as Seryphius did not cause the recovering of the City of Tarentum who unless he had first lost it Fabius had not recovered it How many may you see in a common-wealth who having violated the publick Laws or been guilty of Treason against their Prince being overwhelmed with grief and shame with all their heart lament the wickedness of their crime and they do not wickedly that they are ashamed and repent But yet they do not escape the due punishment of the Law Therefore the detestation of their sin proves them guilty but doth not free them from condemnation But if there is so great severity of Laws and Iudgments in humane offences which no deploring of ill life can wash away what then should be judged of these that are committed against the highest and infinite Majesty Which Angels offending in one thing were not unpunished having been thrust out of Heaven and whom no sorrow could restore again what should be said to us in this frail condition of sinful nature in which dwelleth no good thing who offend by a daily either negligence of duties or filthiness of deeds Is it sufficient to turn away the vengeance of so great a God to say I have erred unless there be some other thing besides the sense of grief to help guilty and wounded nature which may defend this weak part of our repentance with a stronger safe-guard and may be sufficient to appease and reconcile offended justice with a proportionable price and so to speak can contend with Divine Iustice by opposing a righteousness equal thereunto For as the wound is infinite that is inflicted on our nature so it is just that a remedy of the like nature should be applied the strength and greatness whereof being infinite may by proportionable greatness be suited to the Majesty offended which verily consists not in repentance or charity or any offices of ours but is
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
As if this Assurance and full Perswasion which we maintain did rely on any Dignity of ours and did not wholly depend upon the certainty of the promise of God I come to their other Calumny no less absurd whereby they most unjustly slander us as if we referred the whole cause of our Iustification to nothing else but only an opinionative assurance so that to obtain the Remission of sins we taught that no other thing is necessary but that every Man should by a special faith be perswaded in his own mind that his sins are forgiven him which is most false as there is almost nothing true in the Books of Hosius For though we confess this to be most sure that nothing is more sure than our Iustification by Christ yet if the cause be enquired for which properly justifies us from our sins we answer It is faith not whereby we believe that we are Iustified as Hosius chatters but whereby we believe in Christ the Son of God who only is a propitiation for our sin Concerning the Word Iustification what it signifies in the Scriptures Whether it consists of Remission of Sins only or not And by what ways and means Iustification is obtained NOW ye Papists ye have our Opinion of Iustifying Faith and the true Nature thereof explained unto you what its power is and what its object Moreover ye understand how this Faith is distinguished from Hope and Assurance And wherein the true and next cause of Iustification is taken up whereof if ye enquire for the Internal cause it is faith only whereby we belleve in Christ If ye enquire for the External Matter thereof it is Christ only whom we embrace by Faith But because ye do by no means allow thereof that we should be Iustified by Faith only that we may confute your Calumnies in this matter or amend your errour I see there remain two things to be unfolded by me and to be considered by you First What the Scripture properly understands by the word Iustification And then Who and what manner of persons they are who are Iustified by Faith As touching Iustification they of Trent deny that it consists only in the Remission of sins unless there is joyned therewith a voluntary receiving of grace and some other things go before by which as preparatories Men are disposed to receive Iustification But Pious Reader If you have not yet heard what this Preparatory Disposition is and by what degrees it arises and into what order it is digested by these Men it is worth while to take notice of it For Men are disposed unto Righteousness whilst being helped by the preventing grace of Divine Vocation without any Merits of Works going before they receive Faith by hearing Now what this Faith is it hath been shewed above for according to the opinion of the Papists it is a firm assent unto those things that are revealed and discovered by God And yet they plead that a Man is not presently Iustified by this naked assent or faith But it behoves that other Dispositions be added by Divine grace whereby men are prepared for Iustification Faith Fear Hope Love Repentance Hatred and Detestation of Sin Love of Righteousness Prayer and the like so that indeed the beginning of Iustification is the free calling of God Whence Faith comes by hearing Whereby Men believe those things to be true that are revealed by God Whether they be such things as belong to the free mercy of God towards sinners through the Redemption which is in Christ Iesus Or whether they be such things as belong to the fear of Divine Iustice from which Faith by consideration of the Divine Iudgment fear ariseth whereby Men are terrified to their advantage that they may forsake and detest their sins And afterwards from the same faith through consideration of free Mercy purchased fo penitent sinners by Christ assurance proceeds whereby they are perswaded that God will be gracious to them for Christ's sake And thus by this consideration of so great goodness they begin to call upon God as the Fountain of all Righteousness and to love him and to cast away sin and to endeavour after newness of life and to keep the Commandments And by this means we obtain a perfect disposition or preparation to Righteousness whereby we are commanded to prepare our Hearts to the Lord. And afterwards Iustification follows this preparation which is not only the Remission of sins but also Sanctification and Renovation of the inner Man by a voluntary accepting of grace and gifts whence a Man of unjust is made just and of an Enemy a Friend that he may be an Heir according to the hope of Eternal Life c. But now from what part of the Apostolick or Prophetick Scripture have they taken this Doctrine From none neither is there need of any The Tridentine Oracle is sufficient for Scripture Amongst the Doctors Canisius endeavours a valiant defence of this Decree but he gains nothing at all For tho' we acknowledge with Augustin and the Doctors that which cannot be deny'd that we are Debtors to the grace of God for all we receive both for those things which belong to the forgiveness of sins and also those things which belong to new Obedience Yet what makes this for the matter we are now treating of For the Subject matter at present is not what the efficacious power of Divine grace performs in us without which Augustin justly pleads against the Pelagians that all our strength is wholly ineffectual but what that is which justifies a wicked Man before God What that 〈◊〉 wherein this our Iustification whereof I speak consists in the Remission of sins only or in the possession of Vertues Moreover what that is which is properly signified in the Scriptures by the word Iustification Though in this also the Adversaries are not very well agreed with one another but in this one thing they are wonderfully agreed to oppose Saint Paul with all their might First they of Trent as I have said do thus divide their opinion that they make two parts of Iustification The one in Remission which they attribute to Faith The other in new Obedience and Works meritorious of increase as they speak by which the Righteouness of Faith is perfected of which opinion Tilet an is the Author Again there are Others who are so far from explaining what is signified by the word Iustification that referring all to the Righteousness of Works they think that Iustification is not worthy to be mentioned in Books Of whom and the chief amongst many is this Osorius of ours Thomas Aquinas discoursing of many things about Iustification as also about many other things seems to have described it after this manner To wit according to the nature of Motion which is made in Man from one contrary to another So that it is a kind of Transmutation from a State of unrighteousness to a State of Righteousness And he explains the
exhort unto Works of Piety and by the Authority of Scripture thunder the Iudgments of God against Harlots Adulterers Covetous Persons Highway-men Sorcerers that they may know there will be no place for such in the Kingdom of God and Christ except they amend their lives Who was more zealous than Paul in exalting the Righteousness of Faith And who was more Holy in Life than he or more fervent against the sins of those that walked not after the Spirit but after the flesh The Books of our Divines do evidence the same in which they discourse no less of Repentance and good Works than of Faith joyning always the one with the other Therefore as touching the manner of Teaching you will find that it is not Faith only which is Treated of in the Churches and Books of Men of our perswasion But if the matter of debate between us be about the cause of Salvation and Iustification there is nothing more agreeable to sound Doctrine than that an ungodly sinner is Iustified before God by Faith only without Works But you may object this Doctrine hardens the People in their sinful courses If you understand it of all it is false If of evil doers that run on in sin against their Conscience and take no care to restrain their Lusts As for such who ever said or taught that they are Iustified by Faith only And yet nevertheless the Truth of this Assertion remains invincible whereby we affirm that a wicked Man is Iustified by Faith only without Works if the Scope and meaning thereof be well understood Which will be easie if by adding that which supplies the room of a predicate the proposition be made entire As when Faith only is said to Iustifie add unto the Subject of this Enunciation it s own proper predicate or I may rather say add the proper Subject of Iustification and understand aright who they are whom Faith only Iustifies without Works according to the saying of Paul For herein chiefly lies the difficulty of this Controversie Neither is there any thing wherein the Adversaries are more grosly mistaken And herein they follow the Foot-steps of those concerning whom Cyprian justly complains saying They look at that which is said in the first place but regard not what follows after They catch at that which we assert of Faith only Exclusively and think there is injury done to good Works if Faith only is sufficient to Salvation But they take no notice what manner of Persons they are to whom this Iustification by Faith belongs It is the Advice of those School Divines to consider the reasons of things proposed according to their Subject matter and why then do they not observe their own Rule in this Evangelical Assertion Christ affirms it Paul confirms it yea the common practice of life natural Reason and Experience and the Conscience of all good Men proclaim that Ruine comes only from our Works and Salvation only from Christ. And because we receive this only Mediatour Christ by Faith only hence it is that we assert it is Faith that justifies believing sinners before God But let us see what manner of Sinners they are whom Faith Iustifies Is it the Rebellious and Impenitent No verily Then it must be such sinners as are Converted and Humbled and have the fear of God before their Eyes But there is no fear that such will continue to wallow in their former filthiness but on the contrary they are hereby so much the more stirred up to amend their lives All Ages have abounded with Examples of those to whom the Doctrine of free Iustification by Faith in Christ as it conduced much to their necessary consolation so it was no hinderance to their leading an holy life If Charity according as the Adversaries themselves do testifie is the perfection of the Law which is the Rule of Life I would ask such men whether he to whom more or he to whom fewer sins are forgiven hath the strongest obligation to love either God or his Neighbour which of these two mentioned in the Gospel loved Christ with the greater ardency of affection Simon the Pharisee or Mary that brought with her no good works at all but a great multitude of sins And why was her Love to the Lord more vehement but because she had more sins forgiven her But let us proceed Wherefore were so many and so great offences forgiven her but for her Faith which guided her Love for she did not therefore believe in Christ because she loved him but because she knew him to be the Son of God her Faith being thereby incited to act the more vigorously she loved much For Love proceeds from Faith and not Faith from Love Because we believe therefore we Love but we do not believe because we Love-Whence the Lord regarding more her Faith then her Love said unto her thy Faith not thy Love hath saved thee How Love and Repentance are concerned in Iustification BUT You may say Is Faith alone here Is it not joyned together with Love and Repentance I grant indeed that they are all three together in the person of the Believer But in the Case of Iustification Faith only is regarded And the other do follow as Fruits and Effects thereof For as that Woman unless she had believed in the Mediatour made known unto her by Faith she had nevor loved him So she had never come unto him as her Physician unless the Disease of her Troubled Conscience had driven her Wherefore if we reason aright about Causes these things follow 〈◊〉 as Effects and Fruits thereof but they are no causes of obtaining Salvation We have spoken of Mary Magdalene let us now behold the Pharisee and compare the one with the other If the Woman that was a Sinner by her love mericed as they speak Iustification What shall we say of the Pharisee Did not he also love the Lord Would he have gone to him so Courteously or invited him so lovingly or received him into his House so kindly or entertained him at Dinner so honourably unless he had been moved with some Affection of Love What shall I say of his Faith Did he not believe being instructed by the Holy Scriptures in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth Did he not receive Christ as a Prophet Now he believing in the Father and receiving the Son with Affectionate Love What could be wanting to him that was necessary to Iustification If so be all our Iustification is perfected by Charity And yet I suppose no Man will say that this Pharisee was justified by Christ that is set free from all Condemnation by this love of his Why Because Faith in Christ as a Saviour was wanting But suppose he had Faith and he trusting to his own Righteousness and being puffed up with Pride upon that account had begged no help and imagined he needed no Pardon would this Faith have availed him to Iustification I do no not believe it But
whole Wherefore there can be no surer demonstration that Faith only justifies than is held forth in these very words of the Sacrament whereby the flesh and blood of Christ is represented in that holy Banquet under the similitude of Bread and Wine Another Argument Unless your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Therefore not Faith only but also Works of Righteousness exalt us to the Kingdom of Heaven I answer By these words the Lord gives us serious Instruction what manner of lives they ought to live that are justified But he doth not thereby signifie what is the proper cause of Iustification one Iudgment should be made of the causes of things and another of their effects If you enquire for the cause of Iustification the Lord hath resolved that doubt Thy Faith hath saved thee This is Life eternal that they should know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent In like manner Paul expressed himself If thou confess the Lord Iesus with thy mouth and believe with thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved But if you enquire what manner of lives they ought to live that make sincere profession of the Faith of Christ we are taught in this place and many other sayings of Scripture that they ought to differ much from the lives of the Scribes and Pharisees to wit that they who are created in Christ Iesus should behave themselves without a Pharisaical Vizard of external Holiness or a proud conceitedness of their own Righteousness but that they should be adorned and beautified with sincerity and uprightness of mind and persevere in the practice of good Works which God hath prepared that we should walk in them he said not that we should be justified by them but that being justified by his Grace we should walk in them bringing forth fruits worthy of our Vocation Another Argument Every Tree that bears not good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire Luke 3. Therefore Faith only is not sufficient to Salvation without Repentance I acknowledge the Divine Authority of that Prophecy which is true as it is generally known to all that have heard of the Gospel For who would endure an Unfruitful Tree that cumbers the ground and beares either no Fruit at all or such as is hurtful to the Husbandman But suppose it brings forth good Fruit and beautiful to look upon I would ask them whether the abundance of Fruit be the cause or whether it is not rather the demonstration of the Tree's Fruitfulness and whether the Fruits do not rather receive their growth from the Root whence they come Therefore if Repentance is reckoned amongst Fruits it doth not make the Man in whom it receives its first beginning perfect and good but only evidences what manner of Man he is now and hath formerly been For unless a wicked Life had gone before no Repentance had followed after Moreover Repentance could do no good unless Faith be joyned therewith by which a broken hearted Sinner may get access to the Throne of Grace But you may say Are not grief and remorse for Evil deeds and resolutions to the contrary things very acceptable to God and are not only conducible to the amendment of former miscarriages but also a great cause of future Reformation I Answer The sorrow of an afflicted Conscience which we call Repentance is a lovely effect but it proceeds from an Evil cause yet I deny not that it is a very excellent thing and never too late but always acceptable to God if so be it is accompanied with Faith in Christ. Neither do I deny that by means thereof Men are deterred from their customary Evil courses and stirred up to the exercise of Vertue Which though we grant to be true what doth all this avail towards the justifying of a sinner from those Sins that he hath formerly committed If a Man hath transgressed the Laws of the Commonwealth and being arraigned before a Iudge is forced to give account of all the actions of his Life will it be enough for him to say I was in an errour or I repent of my fault Will fear of judgment or shame set a Man free from the condemnation due to sin unless the Righteousness of a bleeding Saviour apprehended by faith do interpose and ward off the stroke of Divine vengeance from the guilty Sinner Without shedding of Blood saith the Apostle there is no remission Now then if neither Holiness of Life nor Prayers nor Tears nor the Blood of all the Saints can avail any thing towards the mitigation of the bitterness of this Iudgment and the only remedy be the death of the only begotten Son of God what will your Repentance do in this case Indeed I acknowledge that the Scripture attributes much to Repentance and there are glorious promises annexed thereunto but two things must be considered here First Of how large an extent the Promises are and next to whom they do belong for there are some rewards given in this Life and others that are reserved for Life Eternal Verily Eternal Life which is the benefit of Redemption as it could not be purchased by any works of ours so likewise it is not promised as the reward of Repentance or if in any Scripture it seems to be so promised it is not simply upon the account of Repentance but for another cause To wit the faith of the worker and not the work it self Therefore these things should be put each of them in their own places and comprehended within their own bounds That it may be understood aright what Faith does and what Repentance and what efficacy is in both and how they are distinguished from one another and also how they being joyned together do contribute mutual assistance to one another in the Iustification of the Ungodly For though we deny not that both are very pleasing to God yet the one is acceptable to him one way and the other another way For faith is acceptable through Christ but Repentance only upon the account of Faith And it is also a certain truth that though by faith only as the procuring cause we obtain Iustification in the sight of God Yet this very faith doth not put forth its power of Iustifying upon any but penitent and broken-hearted Sinners and therefore in the Gospel we are so often invited to Repentance Not that it is not true faith only which justifies without Repentance but because faith if it be true justifies no others but them that have turned from their Sins in sincerity and are converted unto God by Repentance For such as have no trouble of Conscience nor sorrow for Sin but run on obstinately against their Conscience and continue in their Evil courses it is a vain thing for them to hope for Iustification by Faith whereof they falsely boast for all such stout-hearted Sinners
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
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
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
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
you may say That is true indeed and therefore this proves that Faith only doth not justifie I answer and also request the Adversaries that laying aside the desire of vain jangling they would examine the matter according to Scripture and right Reason Though the manifest Testimony of the Apostle Paul and the Examples of the Saints make it an undoubted Truth that only Faith in Christ the Son of God hath the power of justifying without Works Yet it cannot open this power upon all but only those in whom a fitness is found for receiving the displayings of Divine Grace Of the Repentance of those that are Iustified by Faith BUT None are found more fit than those that seem to themselves most unworthy and none less fit than those that are most highly conceited of their own worthiness Seeing we are all Sinners by Nature nothing can be more reasonable than that we should acknowledge the filthiness of our own abominations and cast our selves down at the Feet of Almighty God And there is nothing that God more requires than this Whose Nature or rather Mercy is such that he delights not in any thing more than in a humble Heart and a broken Spirit as the Psalmist declares He saveth such as are of a contrite Spirit And in the Prophet Isaiah God testifies of himself that he is the high and lofty one that inhabiteth Eternity and dwells in the high and Holy place and also with him that is humble and of a contrite Spirit to comfort the humble Spirit and to revive the Heart of the contrite ones And for that cause he calls aloud in the Gospel and offers his kind invitations chiefly to such as labour and are heavy laden that they may come unto him and be eased What is coming to Christ but believing What is it to be eased or refreshed but to be justified Though indeed he calls all and despises none that come to him Yet so it comes to pass for the most part that none come to Christ as they ought unless they be pressed and burdened under the sense of their Sin and Misery And again that Heavenly Physician is seldom sent unto any others but such As the Prophet bears witness who making a particular description of those to whom Christ was to be sent he sets before us the meek the broken in Heart the Captives the Prisoners the Mourners in Sion them that are walking in Darkness and sitting in the shadow of Death c. And the Psalmist speaks much to the same purpose Ps. 107. describing the Mercy of God on this manner He filleth the hungry Soul with goodness and such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of Death being bound in Affliction and Iron Though he being sent by the Father is given to all yet he is not entertained by all with the like Affection The Lord himself shews the cause thereof For what need have the whole of the Physician Therefore as a skilful Physician doth not Administer his Medicines but when sickness requires it so Faith cleanses none but those whom Repentance also amends neither doth the Gospel heal any but those whom first the Law hath slain and Conscience hath wounded And as that is most true which we Preach by the Authority of Paul the Apostle that Men are justified by Faith only without Works so on the other side it is false which the adversaries assert that by this Doctrine of Faith it comes to pass that all care of good Works is cast off and the reins are let loose to all manner of wickedness Howbeit if they speak of such impenitent persons as go on resolutely in their Sins we acknowledge that such as they are not justified by Faith and yet we assert that this is no way prejudicial to the cause that we plead But if they speak of such as join Repentance with Evangelical Faith and therefore stand in need of consolation if they deny that those are justified by the Faith of Christ only they discover themselves to be utter Enemies of the Gospel and adversaries to Christ. And again if they assert that such penitent believers become worse by this Doctrine they do therein err exceedingly and lye abominably Wherefore that the Mouth of Malice and Slander may be stopped I admonish these professours of Divinity who condem 〈◊〉 this Doctrine of Paul as Heretical that they would take our proposition not by halves but whole and join the legitimate predicate of the proposition with the subject that when Faith is said to justifie they should reckon that is not enough unless they understand aright whom this Faith justifies To wit none of those that continue stubborn and impenitent in their wicked courses but only such as acknowledge their Sins with grief of Heart and being weary of their former abominations fly to Christ by Faith for resuge But here they take another occasion to cavil 〈◊〉 For if Faith justifies none but them that repent then as they say Faith only doth not justifie but together with Faith a Godly Sorrow and Mourning for Sin Iustifie also I Answer It is true indeed that Faith is joyned with Repentance in him that is justified from his Sins And yet Repentance is no cause of Iustification As those that are afficted with a painful Disease Their pain makes them desirous of a cure but yet there is no healing vertue in this desire So Faith and Conversion are joyntly united in the person that is justified But as touching the cause of Iustifying Repentance indeed prepares a Soul for the reception of Iustification but the cause of justifying lyes altogether in Faith and not at all in Repentance For the just Iudge doth not absolve him who hath violated his Iustice because he is grieved upon that account but because he believes in Christ who hath satisfied Iustice and for whose sake Pardon is promised to such as Repent for in him are all the springs of our Iustification But lest this Discourse should grow too Ample for if every thing were treated of particularly it might be enlarged beyond all bounds Let us come close to the Adversary and Fight Hand to Hand that in a Summary Representation it may the more easily appear to the Reader with what Arguments they defend themselves what Arguments they defend themselves what Scriptures they quote what force and what fallacy is in their Arguments THE Third Book A Confutation of the Arguments Whereby the Adversaries defend their Inherent Righteousness against the Righteousness of Faith An Argument taken out of St. Iames. No Dead thing Iustifies All Faith without Works is Dead Therefore No Faith Iustifies without Works Answer First the manner of arguing is captious and transgresses the right Laws of Logick For the terms therein exceed the due number For there is a redundancy in the conclusion by this addition without Works For this should have been the conclusion Therefore no Faith that is without Works justifies And that may be well granted
Works which ye intrude from having a share with Faith in justifying a Sinner what hurt is it to sound Doctrine if the Word only is not expressed when you read such Scriptures as these being justified freely by his Grace Rom. 3. By the Works of the Law no Flesh shall be justified The Righteousness of God is manifested without the Law Rom. 3. a Man is not justified by the Works of the Law but by the Faith of Christ Gal. 3. Not of Works Rom. 11. Without Works Rom. 4. Not of Works Tit. 3. Not of Works Eph. 2. Not according to Works 2 Tim. 1. Without Works Rom. 9. What is the Signification of such Expressions but that all Works being excluded it should be understood that Faith only is the procuring cause of Iustification for what else is Faith without Works and without the Law but Faith only Therefore by the necessary Law of Consequence we may argue thus we are justified by Faith and are not justified by any other thing inherent in us according to the Scriptures Therefore we are justified by Faith only Or we may Confute the Adversaries with this Argument Argument That from which all other things are excluded must of necessity remain alone The Scripture excludes all other things in Man from Faith Therefore of Necessity it is Faith only that justifies But whereas they deny that this exclusive Word is found in the Scripture let them read Mark 5. and Luke 8. where the Lord says Only believe and thou shalt be saved I come now to the Greek and Latin Doctors of the Primitive Church Basilins Nazianzen Hilarius Ambrose Augustin Hierom Chrysostom Theophylact Oecumenius Photius Bernard to whom if you please you may add Thomas Aquin. who all Commenting on the same Words of Christ and Paul do not only agree with us in the same Opinion but also in the same exclusive Word as hath been evidently proved in our former Answer to Osorius Thought it be manifest that we assert nothing here which the Orthodox Divines of the Primitive Church have not confirmed unanimously and in the same Words yet nevertheless these things so evident in themselves do not satisfie those perverse Sophisters who when they cannot deny the very Words of learned Men yet they take occasion to contend with us about the Sense of the Words in which they pretend that we do greatly err for they have found out a curiously contrived Distinction Saying That by Faith only is understood the first Iustification but not the second Thus these cunning Artificers of Words have turned one Iustification into two one that is obtained by the first Grace as they call it before all Works as in Infants when they are Beptized And another which is in Persons come to Years by the practice of good Works That I may Answer this frivolous Distinction First I object this saying of Augustin good Works that follow him that is justified do not go before him that is to be justified which if it be true what remains but that they should either Confess that there is no such thing as this second Iustification which they have devised or else that good Works go before him that is to be justified contrary to the Doctrine of Augustin Moreover if they think there is sufficient cause why Faith only should not be admitted because it is not expresly mentioned in the Holy Scriptures why should not also this Distinction of theirs about a second Iustification by the practice of good Works be rejected upon the same account which is no where expressed in the sacred Oracles But by a manifest Contradiction is opposice to Heavenly Truth It is an Ancient and Famous Rule of Lawyers That there is no occasion of distinguishing where the Law makes no Distinction In what place of Scripture can those Sophisters find this Distinction between a first and second Iustification whereby Infants Baptized are otherways justified than they that are come to years for both were alike dead in their Sins and they are both alike regenerated and live by Faith in Christ the Son of God That we may briefly Consute this Sophistry whereas neither the Holy Scriptures nor the Godly Doctors of the Primitive Church ackonwledge any manner of justifying but one only How comes it to pass that those men have devised a twofold Iustification making two of that which is but one So that the first Iustification consists of Faith only and the second is made up of Works But it is easie to withstand this absurd device by the Authority of sufficient witnesses amongst whom Ambrose comes first into Mind who hath expressed himself thus Because there is one God of all he hath justified all after the same manner and what that manner is he shews in these Words He justifies them no otherways but as they are Believers And presently after he excludes all Merit of Works For nothing saith he is the cause of Dignity and Merit but Faith only And again Seeing that a Man is not justified before God but by Faith only c. Therefore let us inferr from these Words of Ambrose if there is one manner of justifying as there is one God Then no Distinction can make two Iustifications of that which is one only As no Distinction can make the one only God that justifies to be two Again if Believers are no otherways justified before God but by Faith according to the Testimony of Ambrose and there is no other Dignity nor Merit that God regards but only Faith what place is there for a second Iustification made up of the Merits of Works Hereunto let us add the Testimony of Gregory which is very seasonable to confute the Forgery of those vain Sophisters concerning their second Iustification These are the Author's Words Grace begot me being naked in the first Faith and the same Grace will save me being naked at my Reception Thus Gregory spake of Nakedness And what Nakedness is that but the want of Vertue and good Works as he himself Interprets which is the Condition of every gracious Soul not only of Men come to Years but also of Infants when they are Baptized in their first Regeneration If we are found Naked in our Reception into Glory where then is that second Iustification made up of good Works but if it is not so where is that Nakedness whereof Gregory speaks How can these things so much disagreeing consist together that we should both be Naked and void of good Works and also cloathed with good Works and thereby Merit a second Iustification In the mean while this should not be omitted which the same Gregory mentions of Grace which he divides not into a first and second as the Papists do now adays but he shews that it is one and the same Grace which both first regenerates us and also afterwards receives us into the Kingdom of Glory By which it is evident that there is but one manner of justifying which
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