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Eph.

hear of salvation by Christ alone, considering that alone as an exclusive particle, we are to note what it doth exclude, and where. If I say, "Such a judge only ought to determine such a case," all things incident to the determination thereof, besides the person of the judge, as laws, depositions, evidences, &c. are not hereby excluded; persons are not excluded from witnessing herein, or assisting, but only from determining and giving sentence. How then is our salvation wrought by Christ alone? is it our meaning, that nothing is requisite to man's salvation, but Christ to save, and he to be saved quietly without any more ado? No, we acknowledge no such foundation. As we have received, so we teach, that besides the bare and naked work, wherein Christ, without any other associate, finished all the parts of our redemption, and purchased salvation himself alone; for conveyance of this eminent blessing unto us, many things are of necessity required, as, to be known and chosen of God before the foundation of the world; in the world to be called, justified, sanctified; after we have left the world, to be received unto glory; Christ in every of these hath somewhat which he worketh alone. Through him, i. 11. according to the eternal purpose of God before the foundation of the world, born, crucified, buried, raised, &c. we were in a gracious acceptation known unto God long before we were seen of men: God knew us, loved us, was kind to us in Jesus Christ, in him we were elected to be heirs of life. Thus far God through Christ hath wrought in such sort alone, that ourselves are mere patients, working no more than dead and senseless matter, wood, stone, or iron, doth in the artificer's hands; no more than clay, when the potter appointeth it to be framed for an honourable use; nay, not so much. For the matter whereupon the craftsman worketh he chooseth, being moved by the fitness which is in it to serve his turn; in us no such thing. Touching the rest which is laid for the foundation of our faith, it importeth farther, that by him we are called, that we have redemption, remission of sins through his blood, health by his stripes; justice by him; that he doth sanctify his church, and make it glorious to himself, that entrance into joy shall be given us by him; yea, all things by him alone. Howbeit, not so by him alone, as if in us, to our vocation, the hearing of the gospel; to our justification, faith; to our sanctification, the fruits of the Spirit; to our entrance into rest, perseverance in hope, in faith, in holiness, were not necessary.

32. Then what is the fault of the church of Rome? Not that she requireth works at their hands which will be saved: but that she attributeth unto works a power of satisfying God for sin; yea, a virtue to merit both grace here, and in heaven glory. That this overthroweth the foundation of faith, I grant willingly; that it is a direct denial thereof, I utterly deny. What it is to hold, and what directly to deny, the foundation of faith, I have already opened. Apply it particularly to this cause, and there needs no more ado. The thing which is handled, if the form under which it is handled be added thereunto, it sheweth the foundation of any doctrine whatsoever. Christ is the matter whereof the doctrine of the gospel treateth; and it treateth of Christ as of a Saviour. Salvation therefore by Christ is the foundation of Christianity: as for works, they are a thing subordinate, no otherwise than because our sanctification cannot be accomplished without them. The doctrine concerning them is a thing builded upon the foundation; therefore the doctrine which addeth unto them the power of satisfying, or of meriting, addeth unto a thing subordinated, builded upon the foundation, not to the very foundation itself; yet is the foundation by this addition consequently overthrown, forasmuch as out of this addition it may be negatively concluded, he which maketh any work good and acceptable in the sight of God, to proceed from the natural freedom of our will; he which giveth unto any good works of ours the force of satisfying the wrath of God for sin, the power of meriting either earthly or heavenly rewards; he which holdeth works going before our vocation, in congruity to merit our vocation; works following our first, to merit our second justification, and by condignity our last reward in the kingdom of heaven, pulleth up the doctrine of faith by the roots; for out of every of these the plain direct denial thereof may be necessarily concluded. Not this only, but what other heresy is there that doth not rase the very foundation of faith by consequent? Howbeit, we make a difference of heresies; accounting them in the next degree to infidelity, which directly deny any one thing to be which is expressly acknowledged in the articles of our belief; for out of any one article so denied the very founda

a Hæc ratio ecclesiastici sacramenti et catholicæ fidei est, ut qui partem divini sacramenti negat, partem non valeat confiteri. Ita enim sibi connexa et concorporata sunt omnia, ut aliud sine alio stare non possit, et qui unum ex omnibus denegaverit, alia ei omnia credidisse non prosit. Cassian. lib. vi. de Incarnat.

Acts

xxvi. 23.

Dom.

tion itself is straightway inferred. As for example; if a man should say, There is no catholic church, it followeth immediately thereupon, that this Jesus whom we call the Saviour, is not the Saviour of the world; because all the prophets bear witness, that the true Messias should" shew light unto the gentiles;" that is to say, gather such a church as is catholic, not restrained any longer unto one circumcised nation. In the second rank we place them, out of whose positions the denial of any the foresaid articles may be with like facility concluded; such as are they which have denied, with Ebion, or with Marcion, his humanity; an example whereof may be that Lib. ix. of Cassianus defending the incarnation of the Son of God against de Incar. Nestorius bishop of Antioch, who held, that the Virgin, when she cap. xvi. brought forth Christ, did not bring forth the Son of God, but a sole and mere man. Out of which heresy the denial of the articles of the Christian faith he deduceth thus: "If thou dost deny our Lord Jesus Christ, in denying the Son thou canst not choose but deny the Father; for, according to the voice of the Father himself, 'He that hath not the Son, hath not the Father.' Wherefore denying him which is begotten, thou deniest him which doth beget. Again, denying the Son of God to have been born in the flesh, how canst thou believe him to have suffered? believing not his passion, what remaineth, but that thou deny his resurrection? For we believe him not raised, except we first believe him dead: neither can the reason of his rising from the dead stand, without the faith of his death going before. The denial of his death and passion inferreth the denial of his rising from the depth. Whereupon it followeth, that thou also deny his ascension into heaven. The apostle affirmeth, "That he which ascended, did first descend;' so that, as much as lieth in thee, our Lord Jesus Christ hath neither risen from the depth, nor is ascended into heaven, nor sitteth on the right hand of God the Father, neither shall he come at the day of the final account which is looked for, nor shall judge the quick and dead. And darest thou yet set foot in the church? Canst thou think thyself a bishop, when thou hast denied all those things whereby thou dost obtain a bishoply calling?" Nestorius confessed all the articles of the creed, but his opinion did imply the denial of every part of his confession. Heresies there are of the third sort, such as the church of Rome maintaineth, which be removed by a greater distance from the foundation, although indeed they overthrow it. Yet because of that weakness, which the phi

losopher noteth in men's capacities when he saith, that the common sort cannot see things which follow in reason, when they follow, as it were, afar off by many deductions; therefore the repugnancy of such heresy and the foundation is not so quickly or so easily found, but that a heretic of this, sooner than of the former kind, may directly grant, and consequently nevertheless deny, the foundation of faith.

33. If reason be suspected, trial will shew that the church of Rome doth no otherwise, by teaching the doctrine she doth teach concerning good works. Offer them the very fundamental words, and what man is there that will refuse to subscribe unto them? Can they directly grant, and directly deny, one and the very selfsame thing? Our own proceedings in disputing against their works satisfactory and meritorious do shew, not only that they hold, but that we acknowledge them to hold, the foundation, notwithstanding their opinion. For are not these our arguments against them? "Christ alone hath satisfied and appeased his Father's wrath: Christ hath merited salvation alone." We should do fondly to use such disputes, neither could we think to prevail by them, if that whereupon we ground were a thing which we know they do not hold, which we are assured they will not grant. Their very answers to all such reasons, as are in this controversy brought against them, will not permit us to doubt whether they hold the foundation or no. Can any man, that hath read their books concerning this matter, be ignorant how they draw all their answers unto these heads? That the remission of all our sius, the pardon of all whatsoever punishments thereby deserved, the rewards which God hath laid up in heaven, are by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ purchased, and obtained sufficiently for all men but for no man effectually for his benefit in particular, except the blood of Christ be applied particularly to him by such means as God hath appointed that to work by. That those means of themselves, being but dead things, only the blood of Christ is that which putteth life, force, and efficacy in them to work, and to be available, each in his kind, to our salvation. Finally, that grace being purchased for us by the blood of Christ, and freely without any merit or desert at the first bestowed upon us, the good things which we do, after grace received, be thereby made satisfactory Lewis of and meritorious." Some of their sentences to this effect I must Granada allege for mine own warrant. If we desire to hear foreign judg- last. 3.

Med. cap.

let. 11.

Annot. in

1 John i.

ments, we find in one this confession, "He that could reckon how many the virtues and merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ hath been, might likewise understand how many the benefits have been that are to come to us by him, for so much as men are made partakers of them all by means of his passion: by him is given unto us remission of our sins, grace, glory, liberty, praise, salvation, redempPaulgarola, tion, justification, justice, satisfaction, sacraments, merits, and all other things which we had, and were behoveful for our salvation." In another we have these oppositions and answers made unto them: "All grace is given by Christ Jesus. True, but not except Christ Jesus be applied. He is the propitiation for our sin: by his stripes we are healed, he hath offered himself up for us: all this is true, but apply it. We put all satisfaction in the blood of Jesus Christ; but we hold, that the means which Christ hath appointed for us in the case to apply it, are our penal works." Our countrymen in Rheims make the like answer, that they seek salvation no other way than by the blood of Christ; and that humbly they do usé prayers, fastings, alms, faith, charity, sacrifice, sacraments, priests, only as the means appointed by Christ, to apply the benefit of his holy blood unto them: touching our good works, that in their own natures they are not meritorious, nor answerable to the joys of heaven; it cometh by the grace of Christ, and not of the work itself, that we have by well-doing a right to heaven, and deserve it worthily. If any man think that I seek to varnish their opinions, to set the better foot of a lame horse foremost; let him know, that since I began throughly to understand their meaning, I have found their halting greater than perhaps it seemeth to them which know not the deepness of Satan, as the blessed divine speaketh. For, although this be proof sufficient, that they do not directly deny the foundation of faith; yet, if there were no other leaven in the lump of their doctrine but this, this were sufficient to prove, that their doctrine is not agreeable to the foundation of Christian faith. The Pelagians being over-great friends unto nature, made themselves enemies unto grace, for all their confessing, that men have their souls, and all the faculties thereof, their wills and all the ability of their wills, from God. And is not the In his book church of Rome still an adversary to Christ's merits, because of her acknowledging, that we have received the power of meriting by the blood of Christ? Sir Thomas More setteth down the odds between us and the church of Rome in the matter of works thus:

of Conso

lation.

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