Truths Triumph Over Trent, Chapter 7
CHAP. VII. The Catholike Faith, of the Doctrine of Faith, as the sole immediate Instrument to apprehend and apply the righteousnesse of Christ imputed to vsus to our Iustification, as beeing the effectuall meane of our vnion with him.
HAuing seene what credit Faith carryeth among the Pontificians, in the work of Iustification, which at the best, is allowed no more but eyther to dispose and make a man the more apt (& that also with the helpe of other disposing graces) to receiue Iustification; which notwithstanding for all his Faith, he may faile, and come short of: or else, to come in for a share, (but must be content with the least share, or none at all) among other graces, as Charity, Penance, Martyrdome, and such like; all which take place of Faith in Iustification: Let vsus now come to take an estimate of Faith according to the standard of Catholike Doctrine, weighing it in the most vnpartiall ballance of the Sanctuary. Nor doe we purpose in this place to speake particularly, and punctually of the propertie and kinde of Faith, whereby a man is said to be iustified; as referring that to the more proper place: but wee will content our selues so to speake of faith here in generall, as the only immediate instrumentall cause in vsus, whereby we come to bee made righteous in the sight of God. For, as our Iustification is by the Imputation of Christ, and his righteousnesse vntounto vsus: so the only instrumentall meane comming betweene, to apply, and effectually to worke this imputation of Christ to vsus, is the act of beleeuing; which is the propertyAug. de verbis Apost. ser. 14. tom. 10. of Faith. As Augustine saith, Fidelis est à fide, fides à credendo: A beleeuer hath his name of Faith, and Faith of beleeuing. As the Apostle saith, With the heart man beleeueth to righteousnesse. Faith is the hand of the soule, which applyes the sacrifice of Christ for sinne. It is the hand that puts on the Robe of the righteousnesse of Christ our elder brother vponupon vsus, by the sweete smell whereof God being well pleased, bestoweth the blessing of heauen and earth vponupon vsus, of grace, and glorie, and all. Yea, faith hath another singular propertie, that it is as it were the ligament, or sinew, which fasteneth and vniteth eueryevery faithfull member to the head Christ Iesus, from the influence of whose fulnesse, we receiue and grace for grace. And the Councell of Trent seemeth to professe as much, though with limitation, and restriction to her owne reserued sense: saying, Nam sides, nisi ad eam spes accedat, …ncil. Trid. …s. 6. cap. 7.& charitas, neque vnit perfectè cum Christo, neque corporis eius viuum membrum efficit: For Faith (say they) vnlesse hope and charitie bee added vntounto it, doth neither perfectly vnite with Christ, nor make a liuing member of his body. The Councell neede not here equiuocate for the matter, as if she did admit of our spirituall vnion with Christ by Faith indeed, but such a Faith, as hath hope and charitie ioyned with it: whereas in truth her meaning is, that not Faith, so much as Hope and Charitie, doe vnite vsus to Christ, sith Hope and Charitie make the vnion perfect, which faith doth not. Yea, Charity and Penance (as her intimous Vega saith) doe more closely vnite vsus to Christ, than Faith doth. But we shall discusse and discouer this mysterie more cleerely, when we come to speak of the kinde of Faith, required in Iustification. In the mean time suffice it vsus, that we hauehave the Councels confession, That Faith (at least) with the helpe of Hope and Charitie doth vnite vsus to Christ. And though Vega preferre Charitie and Penance before Faith, in this worke of vniting with Christ: yet thereby hee doth not altogether exclude Faith. Faith therefore (according to the Pontificians confession) hath at least a share (though the least according to their allowance) in working our vnion with Christ. But the Catholicke beliefe ascribeth this worke of vnion with Christ primarily, yea, and solely to Faith, namely, as the immediate and onelyonly instrument of Gods spirit in vsus.
Now our iustification by the imputation of Christs righteousnesse, stands in our vnion with Christ. This is confessed of all, That whatsoeuer we receiue from Christ, it is by vertue of our mysticall vnion with him, And faith it is that worketh this vnion: not (Faith as Pontificians teach) before it bee formed by Charity. To which Faith only Vega ascribethVega de lust; … & grat. q…. 1. a certaine vnion with Christ: Comparamus enim nobis Spiritum sanctum & iustitiam, facimusque vt Christus inhabitet in nobis per Fidem informem, aut saltem per fidem, vt prius est natura, quàm formetur: For (saith he) wee get vntounto our selues the holy Ghost and righteousnesse, and doe cause Christ to dwell in vsus by Faith vnformed, or at least by Faith, as it is by nature before it bee formed. So that by this doctrine a dead Faith, or that which differeth not from the Faith of Diuels, doth cause our vnion with Christ, or Christ to dwell in vsus. But let vsus see how Vega cleereth this doctrine from this imputation.Ibid. q. 2. A little after in his second question of faith and workes, taking vponupon him (as he is very venterous) to answer an argument brought to proue, that Paul excludes no beleeuer from saluation, where he saith, The righteousnesse of God by the Faith of Iesus Christ vntounto all, and vponupon all that beleeue. To this place (saith Vega) many commonly say, that Paul said not, VntoUnto all, and vponupon all that beleeue him, but in him; which is onelyonly proper to those that hauehave charitie, and by louelove tend vntounto him: Aliud enim (inquiunt) est credere Deo, quod est, Aug. in Iohan. Tract. 29.ei fidem adhibere: aliud, credere Deum, quod est, credere Deum, esse: aliud, credere in Deum, quod est, credendo amare, credendo diligere, credendo in eum ire, & eius membris incorporari: For it is one thing (say they) to beleeue God, that is, to giuegive credit vntounto him: another thing, to beleeue God, that is, to beleeue that God is: and another, to beleeue in God, that is, by beleeuing to louelove him, by beleeuing to affect him, by beleeuing to goe into him, and to bee incorporate into his members. They are the words of St. Augustine, vsed by him very frequently throughout his workes; and by name in his nine and twentieth Tract vponupon Iohn, which Vega quoteth. Well, how doth Vega auoyde this Argument concerning Faith in Christ, bringing saluation vponupon all that beleeue? Nihil valet hoc refugium commune. Non enim habetur grace …i, neque in eum, sed absolute dicitur, In omnes, & super omnes qui credunt: This common refuge, saith hee, is nothing worth. For it is said absolutely, VntoUnto all, and vponupon all, that beleeue; the Greeke hath not, him, or in him. Note here, good Reader, that these Pontificians, howsoeuer they would magnifie and preferre their vulgar Latine translation, before the originall Hebrew and Greeke, yet where it makes not for them, they can appeale to the originall: as Vega doth here. For indeede the Latine vulgar addeth in the foresaid place of the Apostle, Rom. 3. 22. In cum: saying, Iustitia autem Dei per fidem Iesu Christi, in omnes, & super omnes, qui credunt in eum: The righteousnesse of God by Faith in Iesus Christ, vntounto all, and vponupon all, that beleeue in him. But note, the spirit of the Trent Councell cannot endure to say, or heare Credere in Christum, to beleeue in Christ. Vega here disclaimes it, as not found in the Greeke, though the Apostle doth vse this Phrase in the very same Epistle to the Romanes, at the least fiue times foreign, to beleeue in him. And in the one Gospell of S. Iohn, this phrase, to beleeue in eum, in him, is vsed aboue thirty times: yet the Councell of Trent in her whole sixt session of iustification, doth not so much as once name credere in eum, to beleeue in him: which may make a man suspect there is something in this phrase, which will not agree with the Councels stomacke. But for as much as we touched a little before, how that Vega attributeth our vnion with Christ to Faith vnformed, and that the Councell saith, that not faith alone, without hope and charity, doth eyther perfectly vnite to Christ, or make one a liuing member of his bodie: to reconcile these two, we may easily see, how that neyther the Councell doth altogether exclude Faith alone from vniting with Christ, sauing that alone it doth not perfectly vnite, nor make a liuing member, but yet a dead member of Christ, as they say: nor Vega so admit of faith vnformed, to incorporate vsus into Christ, saue that it doth it imperfectly, and makes men only not liuing members. So that in this worke of vnion, Vega makes this difference betweene Faith formed and vnformed: that the vnformed procureth the holy Ghost and righteousnesse, and causeth Christ to dwell in vsus: and faith formed with charity causeth both Christ and the holy Ghost to dwell in our hearts, and the Kingdome of heauen to bee within vsus.
But extricating our selues out of these Romane perplexities, and serpentine windings, wee may easily see how the Scriptures ascribe our vnion with Christ vntounto faith, euen by that vsuall phrase of Scripture, foreign: Credere in eum, to beleeue in him, or rather, as the phrase importeth, to beleeue into him. A phrase which the Pontificians doe so much abhorre: but such, as Augustine doth set forth our vnion with Christ by; as we see in that very place alledged out of him by Vega; Credere in Christum, est credendo in eum ire, & eius membris incorporari: to beleeue in Christ, is by beleeuing to go into him, & to be incorporated into his members. And again; Hoc est credere in Deum, credendo ei adhaerere: This is to beleeueAug. in Psa. 77. in God, by beleeuing to adhere or cleaue vntounto him. As that reuolting generation of Ephraim, credidit Deo, sed non credidit in Deum, non ex fide adhaesit Deo: Ephraim beleeued God, but did not beleeue in God, did not by faith cleaue vntounto God. And De verbis Domini, he saith: Qui in Christum credit, credendo in Aug. de verbis Dom. in Euangsecund. Ioh. ser. 61.Christum, veniet in eum Christus, & quoquo modo vnitur in eum, & membrum in corpore eius efficitur: Hee that beleeueth in Christ, by beleeuing in Christ, Christ will come into him, and he is altogether vnited vntounto him, or rather, in eum, into him, and is made a member in his body. But note here a maine difference betweene St. Augustines sincerity, and the Councell of Trents double dealing equiuocation. For Augustine in the same place before mentioned, saith, that this faith which vniteth vsus to Christ, and Christ to vsus, hath euer hope and louelove inseparably ioyned with it, else it is not that faith, Quae credit in Christum, which beleeueth in Christ, or into Christ: His words are; Ille credit in Christum, qui & sperat in Christum, & diligit Christum. Nam si fidem habet sine spe, ac sine dilectione, Christum esse credit, non in Christum credit: Hee beleeueth in Christ, who also hopeth in Christ, and loueth Christ: For if hee hauehave faith without hope, and without louelove, hee beleeueth that Christ is, but beleeueth not in Christ. Yet we see that this holy man ascribeth our vnion with Christ to the act of beleeuing, which is the prime property of faith; and not to the acts of hoping and louing, which are the secondary qualities of it. Euen as the act of burning is attributed to the heate of the fire, the prime quality of it; and not to the light, nor to the drinesse of it, which are secondary qualities of the fire. So that as the fire hath heate, hath light, hath drieth, all of them ioynt qualities in the fire; yet it vniteth the combustible matter vntounto it selfe, or incorporateth it selfe into it, not by reason either of the light, or of the drieth of it, but onelyonly: by the heate, the prime property of the fire: So faith hath beleeuing, hath hope, hath louelove, all of them inseparably ioyned vntounto faith, yet faith vnites the obiect, Christ, vntounto it, or vntounto the soule; not by the vertue of hope and louelove, but by its most proper act of beleeuing. As the same Augustine saith: Medicina animae omnium vulnerum, & vna propitiatio pro delictis hominum, Aug. secund. …oh. ser. 60. de …erbis Dom.est in Christum credere. Nec omnino quisquam mundari potest, siue ab originali peccato, siue ab actuali, nisi per fidem coadunentur, & compaginentur corpori eius, qui sine vlla illaecebra carnali conceptus est, & peccatum non fecit, nec inuentus est dolus in er… eius, &c. The medicine of all the wounds of the soule, and the only propitiation for mens sinnes, is to beleeue in Christ. Neither can any man be cleansed, either from originall, or from actuall sinne, vnlesse they be by faith vnited, and ioynted into the body of him, who without any carnall lust was conceiued, and did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. But the Trent Councell, with her Pontificians, will hauehave hope and louelove so ioyned with faith, in working our vnion with Christ, as indeede they attribute a greater part of this worke to hope and louelove, than to faith: which is all one, as to say, the fire doth more burne by vertue of his light and drieth, than of his heate. which is most absurd.
Further, the Apostle sheweth this vnion by faith, Ephes. 3. 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. Now this dwelling is reciprocall and mutuall; for as Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith, so wee dwell in him by faith, and so by faith are made one with Christ. Againe, Rom. 11. 19. 20. Thou wilt say then, the branches were broken off, that I might bee graffed in: Well, because of their vnbeleefe they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. And againe, ver. 23. If the Iewes abide not still in vnbeleefe, they shall bee graffed into the true Oliffe tree, that is, into Christ againe. If they abide not still in vnbeleefe: implying, if they beleeue, they shall be re-ingraffed: so that faith is the instrumentall meane of our ingraffing into Christ, of our vniting with him. Whereupon Augustine saith; Quam insertionem Oleastri (amputatis propter Aug. epist. 120. ad Hon…rat. cap. 20.infidelitatis superbiam naturalibus ramis) etiam ipse Dominus in Euangelio praedixit, occasione illius Centurionis, qui in eum ex Gentibus credidit; significans inseri Oleastrum propter humilitatem fidei: Which ingraffing of the wilde Oliffe (the naturall branches for their proud infidelity being cut off) the Lord himselfe foretold in the Gospell, by occasion of that Centurion, who of the Gentiles beleeued in him; signifying the implanting of the wilde Oliffe for his humble faith. Thus we see vponupon what ample proofes and testimonies this truth standeth, that by faith wee are vnited vntounto Christ. Now because our vnion with Christ is a doctrine of singular vse, setting forth the nature and excellency of our Iustification by Christ, and wherein we put on and possesse Christ our righteousnesse; therefore wee esteeme it fit to bee treated of in an intire Chapter by it selfe.