The Wonders of the Lodestone, Chapter 22
Chap. 22. That all the praise of drawing is due to the Loadstone, not to the Iron, and the praise of good workes to Christ, not to men.
IN that cruell war, of accursed memory, which was heretofore betweene the Church and the Pelagians, it was wont to bee often and very much questioned, To whom the Faith whereby we doe believe in God, and the good workes which we do to his Glory, should be imputed; of whom they ought to be most truely predicated and declared to proceede; whether they were to be ascribed wholly, to divine Grace, or to our free will, or partly to the one, and partly to the other, an equall division being made betweene both; for if these things be true (saith Pelagius) which you do declare, concerning the selfe power and liberty of our will, that it is altogether dead and of no efficacy, it followeth, That it is not the man that beleeves, but God, That it is not the man which shews mercy and is liberall, That it is not hee that bestowes Almes, but God; and therefore surely there is not the least portion of praise or reward due thereby unto man, or to be expected by man. But all things are wholly to be ascribed to God, by whose sufficiency and assistance, all things which we seeme to doe are effected: And this is that strong Argument of which they bragged that no man could answer it; they labou…ed also as much as they could, to do St. Hierome and St. Augustine a spight, and to bring them into hatred, among those that were ignorant; which is plainly all one, as if some body should stirre up and cherrish such a contention as this, touching the Loadstone and Iron, To which of these two the power of drawing and lifting up things should be ascribed, Whether we should say properly, that the Iron or the Loadstone doth draw: Now if the power to give sentence should be in the Eyes or outward senses, all th… praise should happen to the Iron, for if you put any weight upon the Loadstone it falls, but if upon the Iron wherewith it is armed, it is lifted and held up that it cannot fall, and an ignorant Rustick, being admitted to see, cries out, behold the Loadstone is sluggish, drawes little or nothing, it is the Iron which doth lift up and draw to it; But on the other side, if the Judgement of this cause bee commit…ed to understanding and reason, all the praise of this power to draw, shall be restored and given to the Loadstone; For a Philosopher and learned Arbitrator concludes, That the Iron doth nothing here, by its owne particular powers, but by those of the Loadstone, by the abilities that proceed from the same. And a man being overcome by the same reason will confesse, that we being wrought upon by God, do performe all those things by divine assistance, which we do fulfill as we should, And that all the praise and Glory, of faith and good workes, is to be acknowledged as due unto God; Wherefore this Gordian knot which otherwise seemes unpossible to bee loosed, is easily cut asunder, by this strong sword, unlesse a man had rather draw still up and down the same Sawe of Contention, and lengthen the Cord of strife without end; for I pray, vvhat if one, before men of understanding, should shevv a Loadstone armed or harnessed vvith an Iron Helmet, dravving to it a huge burthen, vvould not all of them cast their eyes upon the Loadstone, and vvould not they be amazed and declare the vertue of it? on the contrary, vvould they not be silent, and not so much as mutter a little about the vertue of the Iron? Surely they vvould, and that not unjustly, for if the Iron vvere a living Creature, endued vvith reason and speech, it vvould most vvillingly breake out into commendation of the Loadstone, and most gladly professe openly, That it could do nothing by its ovvne naturall povver, That the ability vvhichwhich it hath is from another; That it is but a povver and vertue communicated by the Loadstone, and infused into it no othervvise, than as the Moon must acknovvledge, that she doth not shine by her ovvne, but by the beames of the Sunne; or a vvoman, that she is ennobled by the dignitie of her husband. Hence it was, that the Apostles, when they had healed a lame man before the doore of the Temple, did so much refuse all popular applause, saying; Yee men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or, Why look yee so earnestly on us, as though by our owne power and holinesse we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Iacob; the God of our fathers hath glorified his Son Iesus. Nor did St Paul deale in this case lesse warily and prudently:1 Cor 3. Not I (saith he) but Christ was mightie in mee, by whose grace I am, what I am: who is Paul? who is Apollo? who is Cephas? but Instruments and Ministers of God, by whom yee beleeved? Even as the Lord gave to everie man, I have planted, Apollo watered, but God gave the increase. Hee that planteth is nothing, the vineyard is Salomons. He let out the vineyard to vine-dressers, & keepers; a thousand shekels or peeces of silver belong to Salomon; two hundred to those that keep the fruit.