Defense of Perkins Book Called a Reformed Catholic, Point 4 · Section 4
OF THE SECOND IVSTIFICATION.
speaker D. B. P. THe fourth argument. A man must be fully iustified, before he can doe a good vvorke: and therefore good vvorkes cannot goe before iustification. True, not before the first iustification of a sinner. But good Sir, you He shewed your distinction, he made none.hauing made in the beginning of this last Article a distinction betweene the first and second iustification: And hauing before discussed the first, and the second novv remaining, and expecting you, vvhy did you not say one vvord of it, the matter being ample and vvell vvorthy the handling?
speaker A. W. He that denieth a second iustification, and hath disprooued it, neede not stand vponupon a deuice of yours, how worthy the handling soeuer you thinke it.
speaker D. B. P. Albeit you vvill not vvillingly confesse any second iustification as you say: Yet had it been your partat least to hauehave disproued such arguments as vve bring to proue a second iustification: Ye acknovvledge that there be degrees of sanctification: But these degrees must be made dovvnevvard of euill, vvorser and vvorst: for if all our sanctification and best This slaunder hath bin often disproued. Pag. 76.vvorkes be like vntounto defiled cloutes, and no better then deadly sinnes as you hold else vvhere, let any vvise man iudge vvhat degrees of goodnesse can be lodged in it.
speaker A. W. But that you knew none of your side doe vse to reade our bookes, nor dare, without your licence; neither you, nor other of your Popish complices, would for shame write in this sort. You hauehave been often answered, that wee acknowledge inherent righteousnesse, and labour for, and (by the grace of God) attaine to the increase of it, in some measure, from day to day.
speaker A. W. Againe, how absurd is that position, that there is but one iustification, D. B. P. Lib. 2. con. souin. Epist. 81. Epist, 57. Hom. 15. in Ezech.whereby they take fast hold on Christs righteousnes, which can neuer after, be either lost or increased? Why then doe you with your brother Jounuan, maintaine, that all men are equally righteous? If it so be, let him that desireth to see you wel coursed, read S. Hierome, S. Amorose, S. Augustine, S. Gregorie.
speaker D. B. P. We maintaine that all men are equally righteous, in regard of iustification; but vnequally, in respect of sanctification. Iouinian is rather one of your brood, who hold, that a man being iustified, is rHieron. contra Iouin.wholy without sin, euen in Gods iudgement.
At least you must needs vphold that a man is as iust and righteous at his first conuersion, as at his death, how godly a life soeuer he lead: against vvhichwhich I vvill put dovvne these reasons follovving.
speaker A. W. First that of the reuelations. Let him that is iust be yet iustified: or as Cap. 22. …ccles. 18.your text hath it. He that is righteous, let him be more righteous.
speaker D. B. P. He that is iustified, is as righteous at the first as at the last, in respect of iustification; but not inherent righteousnes or sanctification: of which the places you alleage are meant, and therefore need no further answere. But that you may the rather see our desire to satisfie you, I will speake a little of them. Iustified, in sReuel. 22. 11.that place, signifieth to proceede in doing iustly; as tRibera in Apoc. 22. 11.Ribera the Iesuite proueth, by the opposition in the other part of the sentence: Let him that hurteth, hurt still, that is, goe forward in your hurting (saith he) and so, let him that hurteth no bodie, but giueth eueryevery man his due, goe forward in so doing. Let him that doth good (saith uGlossa interlin.your glosse) yet xImpensiùs inferat.doe good more abundantly. Let him that is righteous (saith yCyprian de bono patient. cap. 13. & testimon. ad Quiri. lib. 3. cap. 23.Cyprian in two places) doe yet more righteous things; and him that is holy, more holy. The zAretas Apoc. 22. 11.Greeke Scholiast reade it thus: Let him that is righteous, aforeign.yet worke righteousnes. And so doe the bTestam. Graec. Plantin.Greeke Testaments printed by Plantin; and the cInterlin. Bib.Interlinear Bible too; so that there is not so much as the word, iustified, in some of your owne Greeke copies.
And that, feare not to be iustified euen vntill death: do conuince, that there are more iustifications then one, and that a man may increase in iustification, and righteousnes vntill death.
speaker A. W. dEccl. 18. 22.That of Ecclesiasticus would hauehave been spared, till you hauehave proued that booke to be canonicall, which you know we deny, and that, as we are sure, with the consent of the auncient Church: at least you should not hauehave alleadged it with so grosie an error in the translation. The Greek is eforeign.differ not; The old Latin was in all likelyhood, fNe veteris.Be not forbidden, or hindered, as it may appeare by gVatabl… … pe. Ro…er. Steph.Vatablus edition of it, by Robert Stephens; hAn…uerp. a▪ pud …iduam Stelsij anno 1572.that of Antwerpe, and that iBiblia cum gloss 1506.with the glosse: where kLyra, ne prohibearis.Lyra expounds it, ne prohibearis. lAnd…ad. Orthod. explic. lib. 6. pag. 446.Andradius deliuers it thus: Let there be nothing that may hinder thee from praying alwaies, or mProhibeat.may let thee from being iustified, euen vntill death. Some ignorant writer that copied out the booke, finding ne veteris, be not let, and mistaking t, for r, writ, ne nNe verea…s.vereris, feare not; barbarously, against true Grammar Latin. But the sense also, not onelyonly the words, is misconceiued. For the meaning is, that we should not put off honestie, or good conuersation to our last end. oNe differas iustum probare te. Vatablus.Put not off till death, to prooue thy selfe a righteous man, saith Vatablus a Papist, very skilfull in the tongues, and sometimes Hebrue Reader in Paris, where you hauehave the very word, which pBellarm. d… iusti…. lib. 4. cap. 19.Bellarmine condemnes in Caluin, ne differas. Which also Pagnin vseth, a notable Linguist and a Papist; qNec tuam prob…tatem differas.Put not off thy honestie. rArias Montanus. ne expectes.Arias Montanus hath the sense, though not the word, waight not. sStapleton. de iustif. proleg. 2. a… lib. 5.Stapleton applieth it to the first iustification; tBellarm. de iust. vbi supra. Prob. 4. 2. Cor. 9.Bellarmine to the second; whose reasons I will answere otherwhere. It is enough for the present, that a second iustification cannot be prooued out of these two places.
speaker A. W. Which is confirmed, vvhere it is said: that the path of a iust man proceedeth, as the light doth vntill it be perfect day; Which is by degrees more and more: And S. Paul teacheth the same, vvhere he saith to men that giuegive almes plentifully. That God vvill maltiplie their seede, and augment the increases of the fruits of their iustice.
This uProu. 4. 18.place proueth not, that there is a second iustification, but either that the light of the righteous continueth, or at the most, that it increaseth to the end; which we denynot.
And this much lesse, where x2. Cor. 9. 10.the Apostle exhorteth the Corinthians to cheerefulnesse in liberalitie to the poore, assuring them, that God will make them more able to bring forth such fruites of righteousnesse, by multiplying their seede and their store. Ye shall giuegive them bread to eate (saith yCaietan. ad 2. Cor. 9 10.Caietan) and zDeut. 28. 11.seede, wherewith to sowe againe, and iust or honest gaine; whereas the gaine that the wicked make, is vniust.
speaker D. B. P. Further, S. Iames doth most effectually proue this increase of righteousnes, and the second iustification, in these vvords. Abraham our Father was he not iustified by vvorkes, offering Isaac his sonne vponupon the Altar? That he speaketh of the second iustification is euident: for Abraham was iustified before Isaac was borne, as it is most manifest by the Scripture it selfe: and by that heroicall act, of not sparing his onelyonly and entirely Cap. 2.beloued Sonne, *Not his iustification. Genes. 15. Rom. 4.his iustice vvas much augmented. And the Apostle himselfe seemeth to hauehave foreseene all our aduersaries cauillation, and to hauehave so long before preuented them: First, that common shift of theirs (that this worke vvas a signe, or the fiuit only of his faith, and no companion of it, in the matter of iustification) is formally confuted: for the holy Ghost speaking distinctly of both, his faith, and work, and ioyning them both in this act of iustification, attributeth the better part of it, vntounto his vvorke: thus; Seest thou that faith did worke vvith his vvorkes, and by the vvorkes the saith vvas consummate and made perfect? Which he doth after fitly declare by a similitude, comparing faith to the body, and good vvorkes to the soule: vvhichwhich giuegive life and lustre to faith, othervvise faith is of little value and estimation vvith God.
speaker A. W. Though there is enough said before, for the cleering of aIam. 2. 21.this place; yet perhaps it shal not be amisse to follow him in these seueral poynts. That he speaketh not of the same iustification which Paul doth, it is plaine: but not that he meaneth your second iustification, whereby the former is made perfit to deserue euerlasting life. When we say works are no companions of faith in iustification, we do not say, they are not present, but that they do not iustifie: neither speak we of testifying our iustification by workes, as the Apostle here doth, but of that which you call the first iustification; to which questionlesse this fact of Abraham, in your own iudgment, did not appertaine. But he ioyneth faith and workes together. How should they be seuered; when there is no holy action, performed in any part of our life, but proceedeth from faith, which bSuapte natura. Caietan. ibi.of it owne nature, worketh by louelove? now faith is not said to be perfited by workes, as if it did iustifie a man by them, (for then had it not iustified Abraham, till this great worke was wrought) but because the act is the proose of the perfection of the vertue. Wherupon it followeth in the text, cIam. 2. 23.That by this worke the Scripture was fulfilled, which had testified that Abraham was iustified by faith. For now it manifestly appeared, that the testimony was true; Abraham making it cleare to all the world, that he had true faith indeed: that is (saith Caieton) such a faith, as dNon renuentem, sed pa…atam opera…. Caietan. ibi.would not refuse, but was re…die to bring forth good workes. And (in his opinion) this is that, which Iames saith, that we are not iustified by a barren faith, but by a faith fruitfull in good workes.
speaker D. B. P. Which S. Paul also teacheth atlarge, among other speeches including this: 1. Cor. 13.That if he should hauehave all faith, and vvanted charitie, he vvere nothing: And comparing faith and charity together, defineth expresly, that charitie is the greater vertue: Which charity is the fountaine of all good vvorkes. And so by this preferring these vvorks of charity before faith, he doth stop the other starting hole of the Protestants, that Abraham forsooth vvas iustified before God, by only faith: but vvas declared iust before men by his vvorkes: For if God esteeme more of charity, then of our faith, a man is more iustified before God by charity, then by faith.
speaker A. W. God esteemeth more of Charity, for the vse of our conuersation amongst men, but of faith for our iustification. And indeed it is a greater honor to God, for a man wholy to renounce himselfe, and rest vponupon him for iustification, then to louelove God, in hope of such a fauour to be receiued vponupon our being so prepared.
speaker D. B. P. Againe, in the very place where this noble fact is recorded, to shevv how acceptable it was to God himselfe, it is said in the person of God; Now I know that thou louest me: and to conuince all obstinate cauilling, Gen. 22.is it not said that his faith did in this very fact cooperate with his works, and that the worke made his faith perfect? which coniunction of both of them together, doth demonstrate that he speaketh o… his iustification VVe graunt he doth.before God; adding also, That he vvas therefore called the friend of God. Which could not hauehave been, if thereby he had been only declared iust before men: and thus doth S. Augustine reconcile the two places of the Apostles, S. Paul, and S. Iames, which seeme contrary. S. Paul saying that a man is iustified by faith, vvithout vvorkes and S. Iames, that a man is iustified by vvorks, and not by faith only. That S. Paul speaketh of works vvhichwhich goe before saith, such as vve of our owne forces, vvithout the helpe of grace are able to doe: and such he saith not to deserue our first iustification. But S. Iames disp…teth of workes, vvhichwhich sollovv faith, and issue out of our soules, now garnished vvith grace, and such he holdeth vsus to be iustified by, that is, made more and more iust: See the place. He saith directhe, Lib. 83. quaest. q. 76. Serm. 16. de verb. Apos.that we are iustified, and that this iusuce doth increase, whiles it doth proceed and profit.
speaker A. W. This labour might hauehave bin saued. For we grant, that Abraham by this glorious fact was iustified euen before God, that is, was knowne to be iustified, or to hauehave true faith; as he eGen. 22. 12.was known to feare God by it, not that God was ignorant before, either of his faith, or feare, but because it pleased him, by this deed to take as it were speciall notice of them both, as men doe. That righteousnes is increased by holie actions, I shewed before, and that therefore we are iustified by them, that is, more sanctified.
speaker D. B. P. Nothing then is more certaine and cleare, then that our iustification may daily be augmented: and it seemeth to me, that this also be granted in their opinion: for they holding faith to be the only instrument of iustification, cannot deny, but that there are many degrees of faith, it is so plainely taught in the word: O yee of little faith. And then a little after, I hauehave not found so great faith in Israell: And O Lord increase our saith: Math. 8. Luk. 19.and many such like, where many different degrees of faith are mentioned. How then can the iustification which depends vponupon that faith, not be correspondent vntounto that diuersity of faith, but all one? Againe, M. Perkins deliuereth plainly, That men at the first, are not so vvell assured Pag. 54.of their saluation, as they are aftervvard; If then in the certainety of their saluation, which is the prime effect of their iustification, they put degrees, they must perforce allow them in the iustification it selfe.
speaker A. W. Degrees of faith we deny not; but increase of iustification thereupon, except it be in our feeling. In which respect, it receiueth continuall growth, but in it selfe it cannot, because God doth fRom. 4. 3. 5.account faith to vsus for righteousnes, and forgiue our sinnes, not by halues, but fully vponupon the least measure of true beleeuing.