free these miserable captiues out of that tyrant Pharaohs more then Aegyptian bondage Againe in the Acts of the Apostles where it is said that our hearts are purified by faith which some as Aquinas vnderstands of illuminating the vnderstanding by faith others of the purification of the soule and heart from sinne by faith as we are said also to be sanctified by faith that is in Christ. Now this faith is the first worke of Gods grace wrought in the heart that is in the whole soule in our first conuersion by which faith the vnderstanding is inlightned and with it the will and all the other faculties of the soule are sanctified For the heart in Scriptuee is taken oftentimes for the whole soule with all the faculties of it As Ephesians 1. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vulgar Latin renders it word for word Illuminatos oculis cordis vestri the eyes of your heart being illuminated that is the eyes of your vnderstanding And Math. 13. 15. Least they vnderstand with their heart So for â—â—e will Act. 7. 39. The Israelites in their hearts turned backe into Egypt that is in their wills So Acts 11. 23. Bernabas exhorts that with purpose of heart that is of will they would cleaue vnto the Lord. The heart is also taken for the memory as Luke 1. 66 All that heard laid vp those things in their hearts So Deut. 11. 18 Yee shall lay vp these my wordes in your hearts Sometime for the affections as loue feare and the like So Mat. 6. 21 Where your treasure is there will your heart be also your loue your ioy your hope yea and feare too And Psa. 62. 10 If riches increase set not your heart vpon them Thus wee vse to reduce all these streames of the soule to the heart as the prime fountaine as when we say an vnderstanding heart a wise heart a willing heart a valiant heart an humble heart a loving heart and the like Now the heart being taken for the soule and all the faculties of it and being the very seate and subiect wherein faith resides for with the heart man beleeveth to righteousnes and Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith then the heart being purified being sanctified by faith consequently the whole soule with all the faculties the vnderstanding will memory affections are at the same instant with the heart purified and sanctified by faith as the first act and worke of Gods grace in vs. Hence it is euident that the prime worke of Gods grace in the conuersion of a sinner is not a slight and slender worke as a bare stirring mouing or helping of the will to prepare and dispose it selfe to receiue the grace of iustification but it is a mighty and powerfull worke so that thereby the stony heart harder and heauier then the hardest rocke or highest mountaine is remoued and a new heart a new vnderstanding a new will a new memory new affections all new in the qualities of them are put insteed thereof By this prime worke of grace that most excellent grace of faith is wrought in the heart whereby the whole man is sanctified Babylonius Sir by the way now you touch vpon a point which as I haue heard is much controuerted among Diuines namely about the subiect or seat of faith in what faculty or power of the soule it resideth some placeing it in the vnderstanding onely some in the will onely but few as you doe in the whole soule and euery power of it as the soule is said by the Philosopher to bee whole in the whole body and whole in euery part of it Orthodoxus And you giue a very pregnant example to illustrate this truth that faith doth so fill and quicken euery faculty of the soule as the soule doth the body And the comparison holds well for Saint Augustine calls faith the soule of the soule because it giues life to the whole soule as the soule to the whole body And the Scripture saith that wee liue by faith and faith by Christ as Gal. 2. 20. Indeede those of the Church of Rome are of different opinions in this point Dominicus Soto sets it downe as a definitiue decree of the Trent Councell It is decreed that the intellectuall power is the subiect or seat of saith And this suits well with Romes faith being historicall and so proper to the vnderstanding faculty Notwithstanding when they consider of the danger of placing faith in the vnderstanding least it should follow that therefore faith ought not to be an implicit and ignorant blind faith but a cleare and vnderstanding faith they fly to the will rather placing faith in that not for any good will but to suppresse the knowledge of faith which Romes Owle-eyed religion cannot brooke And therefore Bellarmine would haue faith to be defined rather from ignorance then from knowledge and so shuts it out of the vnderstanding and shuffels it into some blinde corner of the will But see the mischiefe of it while they would auoid the gulfe they fall vpon the rocke For if they place faith in the will they must of necessity allow it one speciall property of sauing faith namely assiance and considence in Gods promises in Christ a thing most hatefull to the Church of Rome therefore in conclusion of two euills chusing the lesse that they may rather exclude confidence from faith then science sith they can noe otherwise chuse they rather pitch vpon the vnderstanding then the will wherein to place their faith So that by their good wills they could be content for the auoiding of the inconueniences of an illuminate and confident faith to croud it into some corner of the inferiour part of the soule But for sure worke they haue taken a safer course by excluding and banishing not onely from the soule or any faculty of it but out of the verge and lists of their Romane Catholicke Church and that with a direfull Anathema the true sauing and iustifying faith But whereas you say few Diuines place faith in the whole soule and in euery power of it they are neither few nor those of small authoritie The prouinciall Councell of Colen which was a little before the Councell of Trent although charged by Andreas Vega to speake too broad and too Protestant-like in the point of faith and iustification by imputation saith that true iustifying faith is seated not onely in the vnderstanding but also in the will The learned and ingenious Cardinall Contarenus about the same time writing of iustification saith that the first act or motion of faith begins at the will which obeying God and faith causeth the vnderstanding to assent to the things deliuered of God without doubting and so to trust in Gods promises and of them to conceiue a firme affiance which pertaines to the will and that this faith as it were in a circle begins at the will and ends in the will So that he confineth not faith to the
vnderstanding onely or to any one faculty of the soule though hee place it principally in the will in regard of those natiue and inseporable qualities of true sauing saith namely confidence and affiance in Gods promises So that I wonder how this Doctrine of that good Cardinall hath escaped the flames of their Purgatory Index But his owne life paid for it when he with his fellow Cardinall Fregosus being suspected too much to fauour the Doctrine of Luther were both quickly taken out of the way non sine veneni suspicione not without suspicion of poyson But those Diuines that liued in more ancient ages contented themselues with the most simple but most eâ—phaticall tearmes of the Scripture not troubling their heads with quirks and questions of this nature whether faith were in the vnderstanding or in the will c but with the Scripture they include altogether in the heart the seate and confluence of all the powers of the soule Bernard saith that first the sâ—â—ncere roote of holy faith is planted in the ground of mans heart and when faith is fully growne vp it becomes as a great tree hauing in it sundry sorts of apples wherewith the soule being full of God is refreshed St. August takes no more care but to place faith in the soule Vnder whence comes death in the soule because faith is not there whence in the body because the soule is not there therefore the soule of the soule is faith Againe Fides quae credit in Deum vita anima existit per hanc iustus viuit Faith which beleeueth in God is the life of the soule and by it the iust man liueth And speaking of the vnderstanding hee saith Intellectus merces est sides c. The vnderstanding is the reward of faith doe not then seeke to vnderstand that thou maist beleeue but beleeue that thou maist vnderstand And againe Intellectui fides viam aperit infidelitas claudit faith opens the way to the vnderstanding but infidelity shuts it And speaking of the will he saith Fides excitat ad exercitium voluntatem Faith stirreth vp the will to excercise And in a word Fides sic est in anima vt radix bona quae pluuiam in fructum ducit Faith is so in the 〈◊〉 as a good roote which peoduceth the raine into fruit I might adde many others but this may suffice Babylonius But Sir whereas you seeme to oppugne the Councell of Trent doth it not also acknowledge faith to be the roote of all other graces Doe the Church of Rome right I 〈◊〉 you Orthodoxus God forbid else The prouerbe is Giue the Diuel his due Indeede the Trent Councell confesseth that faith is the beginning of mans saluation the foundation and roote of all iustification But vnder this painted Sepulcher she buries the bones of true sauing faith which she hath slaine there to ly rotting as the Iewes did with Gods Prophets whom their Fathers had slaine and vpon the foundation they erect the Monument and Trophe of their Pageantfaith For vndertaking to glâ—sse vpon the Apostles wordes A man is iustified by faith and gratis freely she saith These wordes are to be vnderstood in that sense which the perpetuall consent of the Catholicke Church hath holden and expressed to wit that we are said therefore to be iustified by faith because it is the beginning of mans saluation the foundation and root of all iustification So that they attribute iustification to faith not simply for it selfe but relatiuely as it hath reference to the fruits whereof they say faith is the roote namely their inherent righteousnesse But the truth is this restrained yea constrained sense of theirs is most absurd and senslesse as hauing neither foundation nor roote of reason to support and maintaine it All is but wordes They neither meane nor will nor can maintaine it For how is faith a beginning of grace if grace be no necessary consequent of their faith For they confesse they may haue faith and want grace which is the Diuels case Or how is faith the roote of grace and iustification sith it is impossible for this roote to produce any fruite at all For how can a dead roote bring forth any liue-fruite And they confesse their faith to be a dead and dry roote of it selfe vntill the sap of charity be powred into it to actuate and quicken this otherwise dead roote So that by Babylons Doctrine the fruite must giue life to the roote not the roote to the fruite And yet forsooth faith must be the roote of iustification the foundation of mans saluation Surely the Prouerbe may here well be verified Dignum patella operculum like roote like iustification both dead like foundation like building both sandy yea meere aery and imaginary Babylonius But is not faith dead and vnformed vntill it be inliued and formed by charity Doth not St. Iames say that as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without workes is dead also Therefore the good workes of charity giue life vnto faith as the soule to the body Orthodoxus Doth charity giue life to faith How is then faith the roote your owne reason may teach you the contrary as wee haue showed But to that place of Saint Iames it is too commonly abused For marke first hee saith not As the body without the soule is dead but as the body without the spirit is dead The spirit is the breath by which the body is knowne to liue So that the body receiueth life from the soule but sheweth it by the spirit which it breatheth The spirit then is an effect and signe not a cause of the life of the body So charity and the workes therof are a fruite and effect breathing from sauing faith testifying that it is a liuing faith not causing it so to be for that were to turne the tree vpside downe as if the roote which is faith should receiue life sap and groweth from the branches And it is plaine by the whole analogy and tenure of the chapter that the Apostle speakes of good workes as they are demonstratiue signes and fruits of a liuing faith not as causes of it Againe he putteth a distinct difference betweene the true sauing faith which alwaies shewes it selfe to liue by the fruits of it for it is that faith euer working by loue and betweene a false counterfeit faith such as is dead and knowne to bee so by the not breathing out of good workes So that the true sauing iustifying faith is that which worketh by loue So the Apostle saith But how by loue as by the efficient mouing cause of the working of it or rather as the instrumentall cause moued by the hand of faith Loue is faiths instrument whereby it worketh Yea it is an inseparable quality of sauing faith whereby faith workes as the heat is the inseperable quality of the fire whereby the fire worketh This is the Doctrine also of the ancient Fathers They so make faith the roote as
in this booke and in his Gagge deliuereth it as an Article of the Creede Credendum est quosdam de filâ—is perditionis non accepto dono persuerandi vsque in finem in fide quae per dilectionem operatur incipere vinere aliquandiu iuste fideliter vinere et postea cadere c. That some may fall away quite from that faith which worketh by loue And you see the words there Iustè fideliter and postea CADERE are set downe in Capitall letters as being most remarkable Orthodoxus It is a faire flourish indeed I remember the place quoted in his former booke nor doth hee in this vary from that But I must tell you the Authour besides his misquoting of the * booke hath not dealt altogether so squarely with Saint Augustine herein as hauing broken off the chiefe corner of this stone which else would stand firme and vniforme with the entire fabricke of Saint Augustines building For Saint Augustine speaking there of perseuerance to admonish the truely faithfull to be the more carefull in the constant pursuit of it he setteth downe the sentence thus PROPTER HVIVS VTILITATEM SECRETI Which words the Appealler leaues out credendum est c. Which words are the maine qualification and seasoning of the whole sentence that is in regard of the benefit of this secret Credendum est c. Which wee may translate wee are to suppose as well as we must beleeue But if wee must beleeue it it is propter huius vtilitatem secreti a phrase which S. Augustine often vseth vpon this purpose And wherfore would Saint Augustine haue vs to thinke or beleeue so but to containe vs the better within the bounds of feare and humilitie in regard of our humaine frailtie as he specifieth both a little before and after this sentence And elsewhere hee saith expresly to the purpose God iudged it better to mingle somâ— that should not perseuere among the certaine number of his Saints that they for whom securitie in the tentation of this life is not expedient might not be secure Babylonius But Saint Augustine saith that a man may fall from that faith which worketh by loue and so dye in that fall Orthodoxus Besides the former qualification PROPTER HVIVS HVIVS VTILIT ATEM SECRETI and besides our former allegations out of Saint Augustine he doth in another place speake conclusiuely with an asseueration saying The faith of those which worketh by loue doth in very deede either not faile at all or if their bee any whose faith doth faile it is repaired before this life be ended and the iniquity which came betweene being blotted out perseuerance is reckoned euen vnto the end Now if this be true that faith worketh by loue either faileth not at all or if it doc any whit faile it is repaired in time then his former speech of the falling away from faith working by loue is to be vnderstood not really of true faith working by loue but as it is in apparance to our sense as hee saith formerly of the sonnes of God Yea Saint Augustine is so copious in this point of perseuerance of Gods Saints that I maruell any man that hath read Saint Augustine of these points would euer meddle with him in this matter to wrest one bare mangled testimonie against so many pregnant proofes of this truth And to conclude this clause with Saint Augustine who saith nothing but vpon the expresse ground of Scripture Christ saying saith he Rogaui pro te c. I haue prayed for thee that thy faith faile not let vs vnderstand as spoken to him which is built vpon a Rocke and so the man of God not onely because he hath obtained mercy to be faithfull but also because faith it selfe doth not faile He that glorieth let hiâ— glory in the Lord. And againe God doth worke in his Saints a will to perseuere that because they shall not perseuere vnlesse they both can and will therefore both the power and will of perseuering is by the bountie of Gods grace giuen vnto them therefore the weaknesse of mans will is helped that by Gods grace it might be firmely and vnseperably vpholden and therefore though weake yet it should not faile nor be ouercome by any aduersitie And he that holds the contrary hee calls him Inimicum gratiae Dei an enemy to the grace of God Babylonius But iustifying faith may be diminished and consequently wholly abolished Orthodoxus It doth not necessarily follow Faith indeede may be saide to be diminished in regard of the act operation externall fruits sense and apprehension of it but not in regard of the habit and substance of it To illustrate this a little The seede cast into the ground lyes there hid appeares not for a good space is it therefore dead waite a little and so it begins to sprout and spring forth and by degrees commeth to a mature haruest The sappe in the winter lyes hid in the roote and the withered vine seemes dead with cold yet the cold blowne ouer and sommer approching so the goodly leaues it puts forth and goodlier clusters vnto a full vintage The Sunne ecclipsed by the Moones interposition or by some blacke cloud from our aspect yet wee know it keepeth his course looseth none of the natiue light the while onely our sense misseth it till anon it breake forth with a fresh luster and glory The soule while the body suffereth a kind of dâ—liquium or fowning though now it exercise not the organicall operations 〈◊〉 the body yet we know the soule is inâ—ue and whole still without any substantiall diminution so that the body being reuiued with some aqua caelestis the soule actuates euery organ and member of it afrâ—sh as before The ship as that wherein Christ slepâ— may be euen couered ouer with waues and giuen for lost as in the Disciples sense and apprehension but Christ being awakened and commanding a calme the ship comes safe to the Port. The fire raked vp close vnder the ashes though you neither see nor feele it yet so it is preserued till the morning to feede vpon new fewell A man in a deepe or dead sleepe may seeme dead but awakening hee feeles himselfe the more refreshed after his sounder sleepe So is faith It is a seede though but as a graine of mustard seede well may it lye hid for a time yet the while it is but fastning the root the more firmely to bring forth the better and more abundant fruite It is the sappe which in time of wintery persecutions and afflictions coucheth close to the heart roote but the sommer of Gods comforts returning it displayeth it selfe in leaues and fruits shewing plainly it was not dead though to our sense it seemed so It is the Sun inlightning the soule which though ecclipsed from our sense by some interposition of transitory temptation yet retaines his full light holding on his insensible course and when this nubecula pertransibit when
lost nature but grace this seemes to imply that Adam in his innocency had grace For else no man can be said to loose what he neuer had But what grace The grace that comes by Iesus Christ which is the onely grace the Scripture speaketh of Surely that he had not for before his fall he needed not Christ as Augustine saith yet he addeth Adam non habuit gratiam imo habuit magnam sed disparem Had not Adam grace yes great grace but farre vnlike that which commeth by Iesus Christ. He might be saide rather to haue naturall graces that is all ornaments and endowments of an absolute and compleat naturall man as hee was then simply that which the Scriptures calleth grace for grace came by Iesus Christ. But this by the way The two principall things I note is first his allegation of the Councell of Trent touching freewill the second his approbation of it seconded with his owne dâ—finiâ—iue sentence tanquam in Cathedra So that howsoeuer he seeme to hold with the Church of England and of Protestants in the point of freewill yet the whole concatenation of his other Doctrines with this as of falling from grace totall or finall praedestination vpon a Preuision of mans willingnesse to receiue grace vniuersally offered and the like doth necessarily conclude that he holds the very freewill of the Pelagians not only that of the Pontificians For all these Heresies are so combined together as so many members compact in one inâ—â—re body or as so many wheeles in a rack each receiuing motion from other But for breuitie because he makes no difference betweene the Decree of the Councell of Trent and his owne yea and the Tenent of the Protestants Church therefore it shall suffice to touch vpon the Councel of Trent onely and so if that proue sound well and good For then the Protestant Church holding therein with the Councel of Trent will proue to be beholden to the Appealer else but a little for shuffling vs in the same pack of Trents freewill I take his words pag. 98. quoted out of his former booke of the Gagge for which he is taxed Our conclusion saith he to the Popish Gagger and yours is all one wee cannot we do not deny freedome of will in man whose doth so is no Catholicke I adde no nor Protestant These bee his words Now all the controuersie about freewill is it not in regard of the grace of Christ with relation vnto it Else what needes all the stirre about it For that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therein lyes the state of the Question For all confelle as well Protestants as Papists that the naturall man hath some reliquâ—eâ— left of Adams naturall freewill we yeeld it not to bee altogether extinct no more then his other faculties of the soule But the Protestant Church the Church of England denyeth that by nature we haue any freewill dispositiue to grace But this is the marke which the Councell of Trent the standard rule of the Romish Church shoote at namely to aduance mans naturall freewill vnto grace onely confessing it is so weakened maimed by the fall of Adam that it needeth some diuine helpe to enable it the better to receiue grace As St. Augustine noteth of some more refined Pelagians who though they will not confesse that those are Praedestinate which by Gods grace are made obedient and permanent yet they confesse a kinde of preuenting grace But how Ideo vtique c. No otherwise but least grace should be thought to be giuen gratis as the truth speaketh but rather according to the merits of mans precedent will as the Pelagian error gainsayeth against This being also the Doctrine of the Councell of Trent howsoeuer the Appealer iumpe with them and ioyne the right hand of fellowship yet for ought I know hee must goe alone with them for any consent or countenance the Church of England will giue him in this his confederation For all orthodox true Protestants deny disclaime any freewill at all in a naturall or vnregenerate man vnto grace I meane the sauing grace of Christ. Naturall men haue it not no nor Adam in his purest naturalls euer had such a freewill For the will must follow the vnderstanding seeing it cannot affect good vnlesse first the vnderstanding apprehend it For Ignoti nulla cupido That which a man knowes not he desires not That the eye seeth not the heart sueth not after To this purpose Aquinas saith well that Those things which pertaine to faith doe exceed humaine reason And Man by assenting to those things which are of faith is eleuated aboue his nature And againe Hoc est ex institutitione diuinae prouidentiae c. This is by the appointment of diuine prouidence that nothing should worke beyond its proper vertue But eternall life saith he is a certaine good exceeding the proportion of created nature because it also transcendeth the knowledge and desires of it And hee concludeth that not euen Adam could attaine to eternall life without a supernaturall grace What needes then all that adoe about the quantity and measure of naturall freewill remaining â—n man when it wants the qualâ—â—y and property to qualifie it any way towards grace There is in vs as naturall men a naturall freewill still it is no more lost then other naturall faculties the poore reliques of Adams perfections but this will is but naturall it reacheth no higher then to naturall obiects So that while the Church of Rome or the Councel of Trent so much adoring her Goddes Freewill yet withall is forced to acknowledege a debility and lamnesse in it they would faine perswade the world that there is yet in our nature some antique venerable reliques of freewill disposing vnto grace Hence it is that they haue a whole chapter of Preparation vnto grace wherein they touch vpon freewill as being the ground sandy though it be of their preparatory workes vnto faith and iustification as also of all their meritorious workes And therefore are they so eager to maintaine and treasure vp at least some Reliques of Adams freewill least all should be attributed to Grace and nothing to Nature and then farewell all Merit either of congruity by preparation to grace or of condignity to glory So that for this very reason they anatheâ—ze all those that say Freewill is altogether lost Wherein if they will not confesse that they which say so meane that a man vnregenerate hath no freewill vnto grace then they cunningly equiuocate But the case is plaine all that their Doctrine driueth at is to aduance mans naturall freewill vnto grace as much as is possible Therefore they say that these remaines of freewill in man though much lessened and sore bruised with Adams fall yet neede but a kinde of stirring vp and awakning as it were oriogging on the elbow or helping vp being downe So that it shares stakes with their first grace as they tearme it though in hypocrisy