Truths Triumph Over Trent, Chapter 9
CHAP. IX. Of the other Roman… Catholicke euasions, to elude and frustrate the euidence of Scriptures concerning sole Faith in Iustification.
FOrasmuch as the holy Scriptures doe abound with cleare euidences, to proue our Iustification by Faith alone, in the only imputation of Christs righteousnesse, apprehended and applyed by Faith, altogether excluding workes from hauing any thing to doe in this worke: it stood therefore the Church of Rome vponupon, to vse all art, and wit of men and Angels (I meane bad Angels) to blunder these Chrystall fountaines by their distinctions, and to sophisticate the pure simplicitie of truth with their faire false glosses, and farre-fetcht interpretations. To beginne with the Epistle to the Romanes, where the Apostle in setting down the doctrine of Iustification, doth so often attribute Iustification to faith, without workes, or without the works of the Law; opposing faith against works, grace against merit, the Law of Faith against the Law of workes, as being incompatible meanes or instruments to iustification: The Pontificians can easily reconcile all, by vnderstandingVega l. 10. de i… aqual. grat. & gloriae iustoru… cap. 8. The title whereof is, De pulcherrima via concilian d… Paulum cum Iacobo, quae … bis ex doctrin… sancta Synodi illuxit: Of the most beautiful way of reconciling Paul with Iames, which was intimated vntounto vsus from the holy doctrine of the Synod. the opposition to bee betweene Faith, and eyther those workes of the Law which are ceremoniall, or those which are done before a man hauehave Faith; but not of those workes, which are done in the state of grace, after a man hauehave receiued faith: as is intimated in the eight Chapter of the Sixt Session of the Councell of Trent. Wherupon * Vega reckoning vp sundry opinions, as of some, that take those workes excluded by Paul, not only for legall and ceremoniall, but morall and naturall: of others, that say, St. Paul spake of workes going before Faith, and St. Iames, of workes comming after Faith, &c. At length addes his owne opinion, spun like a copweb, out of the subtiltie of his owne braine: and all vponupon the preposition Ex, diuersly taken of Paul, and Iames, as this quaint Franciscan hath obserued. For this preposition Ex, saith he, in Paul signifieth merit, and debt: but in Iames, only co-operation, and co-efficiency: as where Paul saith, duplicate page duplicate page that no man is iustified ex operibus, by workes; hee should meane, none is iustified by the merits and due deserts of his owne workes. And where Iames saith, That a man is iustified ex operibus, by workes, and not ex fide tantum, by faith only, he should meane, that workes do concurre vntounto iustification, and not faith alone. But wee shall not want a broome to sweep downe this subtile webb. But let vsus adde first another of his webs, which hee also fasteneth vponupon his Trent-Fathers: namely, That Paul speakes of the first iustification, from which, precedent workes are excluded. And Iames of the second Iustification, in which, subsequent workes are included. Now for Vega's first reason and note vponupon the preposition Ex, it is no lesse really absurd, than seemingly subtile. For, if Paul by saying, Neminem ex operibus iustificari: None is iustified by workes, should meane, by the merit or due desert of his workes; then consequently by saying, hominem ex fide iustificari, that a man is iustified by Faith, he should meane, that man is iustified by the merit and due desert of his Faith: which Vega himselfe in the selfe same place denyeth. Thus the nimble Spider is wrapped and intangled in his owne webbe. And as for the Trent-Fathers conceipt of Pauls first, and Iames second Iustification, wee shall by and by see the vanitie of it. For indeede the iustification which Paul ascribeth to Faith without workes, and that which Iames attributeth ioyntly to workes with Faith, are so different, as they differ not in degrees of first and second, but in a most opposite respect, as much as Iustification in the sight of God, differeth from Iustification in the sight of man. As wee shall more plainely shew anon.
Now for Pauls iustification by faith, without workes, it is cleare, that all workes are excluded without exception; not onelyonly legall, and ceremoniall, and morall, done before the state of grace, but those also done in the state of grace: none are excepted, of what nature soeuer. Paul shuts all out from iustification; for if any be iustified by workes, yea by workes of grace, then Abraham: for Abraham is propounded not onelyonly as a particular beleeuer, but as the father and figure of all the faithfull. But Abraham was not iustified by workes, not by any workes, not by his best workes done in the state of grace. This the Apostle proues manifestly, Rom. 4. 5. To him that worketh not (instancing of Abraham) but beleeueth in him that iustifieth the vngodly, his Faith is counted for righteousnesse: So that Abraham is iustified not by working, but by beleeuing. To this purpose, Gregory surnamed the Great, Bishop of Rome, vponupon the seuen penitentiall Psalmes, Greg. in 7 Psal. poenit▪ in Psa. 5…in the fourth of them, to wit, Psalme 51. vponupon these words: Et exultabit lingua mea iustitiam tuam (you must pardon theIf it be not a misprinting. vulgar barbarisme of the Latine) the true English is; And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousnesse: saith, Iustitia Dei fides est: the righteousnesse of God is faith. And hee instanceth Abraham: Abraham beleeued God (saith he) and it was imputed to him for righteousnesse, Quia iustus ex fide viuit: Because the iust doth liue by faith. Si ergo iusti vita fides est, consequens est eandem fidem esse iustitiam, sine qua, quis que esse iustus non potest: If therefore the iust mans life be faith, it followeth, that the same faith is that righteousnesse, without which, no man can be iust. Or (saith hee) the righteousnesse of God is, that he will not the death of a sinner. For it seems iust with man to reuenge his wrong; but it is the righteousnesse of God to pardon the penitent: So he. As therefore Abraham is iustified, so eueryevery sonne of Abraham; to wit, eueryevery beleeuer is iustified: namely, by faith, and not by workes. Now was not beleeuing Abraham a regenerate person? Did he not bring forth many fruits of faith, many good workes of charity, piety, mercy, hospitality, obedience, humility, and the like? yet none of these come within the account of his iustification in the sight of God. For to him that worketh not, but beleeueth on him that iustifieth the vngodly, his faith is counted for righteousnesse. Therefore though the Pontificians, would neuer so faine foist and croud in by head and shoulders, their workes comming after faith, whereby they may be iustified: yet they are all thrust out by the Apostle, as those workers were shut out of Heauen by Christ, Mat. 7. 22. 23. except they could either bring the Text within the compasse of their Index expurgatorius (as they hauehave done…e the Index …ted at Ma…d by publick …thority, Ann. …. See also …ctor Iames … Popish cor…ptions of the …thers. the glosse and sentences of Fathers in the like kind) or proue Abraham an vnregenerate person, or force the Apostle to say, that though Abraham were not iustified by workes, but by faith, yet Abraham was iustified first by faith, and then by workes.
Yea but (say they) although Paul make no mention of Abrahams iustification by workes, yet Iames, another Apostle, saith plainly, Was not Abraham our father iustified by works, when he had offered Isaac his sonne vponupon the Altar? Therefore…mes 2. 21. Abraham was iustified not onelyonly by faith, but by works also. Therefore to loose this Gordian knot, wherein the Pontificians so much triumph, wee will vse no other sword (not Alexanders) but the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, to cut it asunder. At the first sight, Paul and Iames seeme to be at great oddes: the one ascribing iustification to faith, without workes: the other to faith and workes. In both, the Pontificians vnderstand one and the same iustification in kinde, but to differ only in degree or order: as Pauls iustification to be the first, and that of Iames the second; but both iustifying in the sight of God. But we shall finde it far otherwise: namely, that these two Apostles doe speak of two different iustifications, differing not in degree or order, but in kinde and quality: So that Paul speakes of that iustification, whereby a man stands iust in the presence of God, which is attributed to faith, and not to workes at all; and Iames of another iustification, namely, of a testification of a mans faith, declaring a man to be a true beleeuer by good workes, which are the proper fruits and effects of sauing and iustifying faith. For if Iames should-vnderstand by being iustified by faith and workes together, such a iustification, as makesSee Deut. 6. 25 the Geneua translation amisse. See the vulgar Latine, pro, Erit que isstitia nostra, Erit nostri misericors, si custod. a man iust in the sight of God, then he should directly crosse his fellow-Apostle, who shuts out all workes from hauing any thing to doe in our iustification in Gods sight: For Paul saith, Rom 4. 2. If Abraham were iustified by workes, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. But Iames saith, Abraham was iustified by workes: therefore this iustification of Abraham by workes, was not that iustification, which makes a man to reioyce before God; to wit, the iustification by faith, which Paul directly opposeth to iustification by workes, Rom. 4. Now that Iames speaketh of iustification by workes, and not by faith onelyonly, as vnderstanding a testification and demonstration of sound and sauing faith, is euident by the whole passage of his second Chapter; where the Apostle exhorting to workes of mercy and charity, and meeting with false professors, that turned the grace of God into wantonnesse, professing they had faith, but made no conscience of a Christian conuersation, to testifie the truth and life of their faith by good workes: hereupon he inferreth, ver. 14. What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say hee hath faith, and hauehave no workes? can the faith saue him? No, that faith which is without workes, is dead, and cannot saue a man. Yea, such a faith is no better than that of Diuels. Well, yet thou saist thou hast faith. But there is as well a dead faith, as a liuing faith: a faith common with Diuels, as a faith proper to beleeuers; a sauing faith, as a deceiuing faith: Shew mee therefore whether thou hast that-liuing sauing faith of true beleeuers, or no. It is not enough to say, thou hast this faith, vnlesse thou canst proue it. It is one thing to say it, another to hauehave it. Now the proofe of it is by the fruits of it, to wit, good workes; as the tree is knowne by the fruits. For, the liuing sauing Faith, is not an idle, but an operatiue working Faith: it is a Faith euer working by louelove. Therefore as the man saith to his Neighbour, vers. 18. Thou hast Faith, and I hauehave workes; shew me thy Faith without thy workes, and I will shew thee my faith by my workes. In which words the Apostle puts a plaine difference betweene a dead, and a liuing faith, which yet we are not able to iudge of, or to discerne one from another, but by good workes; and so speakes here of no other iustification by workes, but only such, as is declaratiue or demonstratiue in the sight of men: as it is said here, Shew me thy Faith by thy workes. So that wee see here, how it is the Apostles drift to discouer the true, sauing, liuing Faith, from a false, counterfeit, and dead faith, which notwithstanding vaine professors so much glory of. Hereupon the Apostle instanceth the Faith of Abraham and Rahab, which was proued to bee a liuing and sauing Faith, by the fruits and effects of it. Note the Apostles Context seriously, and with iudgement. In the 20. vers. Wilt thou know, O vaine man, that Faith without workes is dead? Was not Abraham our father iustified by workes, when hee had offered Isaac his sonne vponupon the Altar? Seest thou how Faith wrought with his workes, and by workes was Faith made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled, which saith; Abraham beleeued God, and it was imputed vntounto him for righteousnesse, and he was called the friend of God. Ye see then, how that by workes a man is iustified, and not by Faith onelyonly. First, Faith without workes is dead: But Abraham was iustified by Faith. But by what Faith? Was it a liuing and sauing Faith that Abraham had? Yes: How doth that appeare? By his workes, euen by the workes of Faith, which gaue testimony to his Faith, that it was a liuing, sauing, and iustifying Faith; for by workes his Faith was made perfect: not that his workes added any being of perfection to his Faith, but by way of demonstration and testimony onelyonly. As we hauehave the like phrase in Matth. 21. 16. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfited praise; not that Gods praise and glory receiued any addition of perfection by the mouth of those babes: but onelyonly in respect of the promulgation and declaration of his praise: So here. As also the Apostle inferreth in the next words, vers. 23. Thus the Scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham beleeued God, and it was imputed vntounto him for righteousnesse. Note here, how Iames varieth not one iot from the truth of the Scripture, which ascribeth iustification to Abrahams Faith, without workes: for hee vseth the very same Scripture which Paul vseth, to shew iustification by Faith, without workes. Yea, but he addeth in the next verse, Ye see then, how that by workes a man is iustified, and not by Faith only. This conclusion seems to smile vponupon the Papists, but in truth it derides theirfolly; for we see the Apostle doth no other here, but conclude the former premises, shewing what is that Faith, which is imputed to a man for righteousnesse; to wit, not a dead and idle Faith, but a liuing and working Faith, testified by the proper fruits and effects of it, good workes. So that Abraham being said to be iustified by workes, and not by Faith onelyonly, it is but to proue his Faith by his workes, and that hee was declared to be iustified by Faith, through the euidence of his workes, whereby hee was declared iust in the sight of men, to whom Faith comes to be testified only by good workes. The like is to bee vnderstood of Rahabs iustification by workes; for it is another instance seruing to the same purpose of the Apostle, to distinguish a liuing and sauing Faith, from a dead and vnprofitable Faith. And this the Apostle concludeth, together with the Chapter, with a reason drawne from a similitude: For (saith hee) as the body without the Spirit is dead, euen so Faith without workes is dead also. Note here, how the Apostle most aptly concludeth the constant and vniforme current of this Chapter, concerning the difference betweene a dead and a liuing Faith, which are as it were the two hinges of the Chapter: As the body without the spirit is dead, euen so Faith without workes is dead also. The Pontificians vponupon this place doe ground their informing of Faith by charity, as if Faith were altogether without forme and life, vntill charity be infused into it: but their collection is most improper, and swarueth not onelyonly from the property of the comparison, but also from the maine purpose of the Apostle. For the Apostle saith; As the body without the Spirit is dead: he saith not, As the body without the soule is dead: foreign, without spirit or breath: for so the word signifieth. Now if they would herein, as they doe vponupon other occasions altogether impertinent, consult with Philosophy, it would tell them, that there are three things concurring to the composition of a liuing man; the soule, the body, and the spirit. The soule is that which informeth and giueth life to the body; but the spirit, by which they say the soule & body are vnited, is that whereby also the man doth breathe, and whereby he is knowne to liue. For so long as there is breath in a man, wee know him to be aliue, when a man Iyes in a swoune or trance, without any motion; to know whether he be dead or no, we take a Chrystall glasse, or such like, to discerne whether hee breathe or no: if he breathe not, we giuegive him for dead; but if he breathe neuer so little, we know hee is yet a liuing man. To this purpose doth our Apostle apply this comparison: that as we cannot know a man from a dead carkasse, but by his spirit or breathing; so no more can wee know a liuing Faith from a dead Faith, but by good workes, which are as it were breathed from it.
Obiect. But, will some say, The word vsed by St. Iames for spirit, may be as well taken for the soule, which giues life to the body; for so it is often taken in Scripture for the soule: as Luke 23. 46. and elsewhere. Besides, doe not most Interpreters take it generally for the soule? Why should wee not then rather take it for the soule and spirit of a man that is within him, than only for the breath which proceedeth from him?
Answ. I answer: First as foreign is taken sometimes for the soule, as well as for the spirit; so also it is vsed sometime for breath or winde, as our Sauiour alludeth, Ioh. 3. 8. And foreign, is taken for the praecordia, or lungs, whence the breath is deriued. But the question is, how it is to be taken in this place of St. Iames. For the true meaning of this word in that place, wee must (as in the true interpretation of other Scriptures) obserue the tenure of the text and context. Now the tenure of that whole Chapter of St. Iames, is chiefly to discerne true Faith from counterfeit. To demonstrate this, he instanceth the body of a man. Now by what speciall signe is the body of a man known to liue? By the spirit, saith S. Iames. What spirit? the soule, or the spirit within a man? or his spirit, to wit, his breath? (for Spirit may signifie all these.) By that spirit, which doth most liuely & plainly shew a man to be aliue, & that is the breath. For when all other signs do faile, as speech and motion of any limbe or member, in so much as a man is senselesse & lyes for dead, yet if he breathe, it is an euident token that he yet liueth. But when he comes once to be as the same Apostle saith, foreign, without this spirit, or breath, then he is certainly dead. Euen so Faith without the breathing of good workes, is dead. And this agreeth with that he saith there; Shew mee thy Faith by thy workes. The soule indeede giues the body to liue; but it is the breath that shewes the body to liue, when the soule cannot. Therefore it seemeth to my reason an vndeniable conclusion, that Saint Iames speakes there of the breath of the body, the most demonstratiue signe of life. And deuout Bernard also excellently to this purpose, and place of Iames, Vt corporis huius vitam ex motis suo dignoscimus; ita & fidei vitam ex operibus bonis: As we discerne the life of this body of ours by the motion of it; so also the life of faith by good workes. Nor are we ignorant, that St. Augustine Lib. 83. quaestionum, quaest. 76. to reconcile these two Apostles, saith, that Paul speakes of workes done before faith, and Iames of workes after faith: which opinion and conceit of his, although it not onelyonly want, but crosse the euidence of Scripture, sith Abrahams offering vp his Sonne was a worke of, and so after faith, and yet did not iustifie him before God, as Paul plainely teacheth (and where Augustine doth neuer so little swarue from the Scripure, we must craue leaue there to leaue him: being else followers of him, as he is of the Scriptures, according to his owne law) yet St. Augustine going about to reconcile Iames with Paul, saith not there, nor any where else in all his writings, that good works done after Faith, doe iustifie vsus in the sight of God: but only that they are necessary duties of eueryevery true beleeuer.
Wee know also, that Body in Scripture is often taken for the whole Compositum, or the whole man or person, consisting of soule and body: as Heb. 10. 5. A body hast thou prepared me; meaning the whole humanity of Christ. So Rom. 12. 1. I beseech you Brethren, by the mercy of God, that ye present your bodies a liuing sacrifice, &c. meaning the whole man; the soule as well as the body: for the body without the soule, is not a liuing, but a dead sacrifice. So the Apostle here telleth vsus, that as the body; to wit, a man without the Spirit, or without breathing, is dead: that is, is knowne to be dead: Euen so faith without workes, is knowne to be a dead faith. And so our Apostles conclusion here, is a pregnant confirmation of what he had formerly said, concerning the proofe and euidence of a sauing and liuing faith, which is knowne and distinguished from an idle and dead faith, onelyonly by good workes; by the working whereof, faith is knowne to liue, as a man by breathing. So then it is cleare, that Pauls iustification by faith excluding workes, is that, whereby wee are iustified truly and really in the sight and account of God: and that other iustification, which Iames speakes of, wherein hee ioyneth workes with faith, is onelyonly a declaratiue iustification in the sight and account of men; to whom wee manifect the truth of that faith, whereby we are iustified in the sight of God by our good workes, whereby men take notice that wee are true, no counterfeit beleeuers. Wee will conclude this place of St. Iames with the interpretation of Aquinas In Epist. Iacobi Cap. 2. Iacobus loquitur de operibus sequentibus fidem, quae dicuntur iustificare, non secundum quod iustificare dicitur infusio, sed secundum quod dicitur iustitiae exercitatio, vel ostensio, vel consummatio: res enim fieri dicitur, quando perficitur & innotescit: Iames (saith he) speaketh of workes following faith, which are said to iustifie, not in that sense that iustification is called *In the Pontifician sense.infusion, but in that it is called the exercise, or manifestation, or perfection of righteousnesse: for a thing is said to be done, when it is perfected and made manifest.
In the last place the Pontificians alledge Paul to the Galathians, where (say they) speaking of iustification by faith without the workes of the Law, hee meaneth, yea and mentioneth the ceremonials of the Law, as Circumcision: therfore hee doth not thereby exclude from Iustification, the workes of grace done in vsus and by vsus. I answer, first, their allegation is false: for the Apostle thereby the Law, or the workes of the Law, meaneth not only the ceremonials, but the very morals of the Law, as Gal. 3. 10. for it is written, Cursed is eueryevery one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Booke of the Law, to doe them. All things exclude nothing. Secondly, he speaketh of the workes of the Law, both ceremoniall and morall, as they are done euen by the faithfull and regenerate also; and not onelyonly by others, that euen in that respect they iustifie not in the sight of God. To this end the Apostle saith (Gal. 3. 11.) But that no man is iustified by the Law in the sight of God, it is euident: for,Conferre here the term Law… opposed to Faith; not the Ceremoniall Law to Moral. the iust shall liue by faith. No man is iustified by the Law: therefore not the regenerate, not Abraham, though hee did workes of the Law; for he had the Law already written in the tables of his heart, before it came to be written in stone. But, say they, Abraham was iustified through workes. True. But how iustified? In the sight of God? No, saith our Apostle. No man is iustified by the Law in the sight of God. In the sight of man he may, as St. Iames meaneth; but not in the sight of God, as St. Paul plainely expresseth, both here, & in the forenamed place to the Romanes, Rom 4. 2. If Abraham were iustified by workes, hee hath whereof to glory, but not before God. So that the Scripture in two most euident and pregnant testimonies excludes all iustification by workes; yea, by any workes, in the sight of God, and before God: that by two witnesses of holy Scripture this word of grace, of iustification by Faith, excluding all workes whatsoeuer, ceremoniall or morall, yea, euen in the regenerate themselues, as was faithfull Abraham, the type of all the faithfull, might be established, against all Popish Sophistrie, and doctrines of Diuels.
Thirdly, admit the Apostle meant only legall Ceremonies, not morall Duties (though the contrary is manifest) yet of those Ceremonies, Circumcision is nominated by the Apostle for one speciall one. Of which he saith, Gal. 5. 2. Behold, I Paul say vntounto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Circumcision then is vtterly excluded from Iustification; and, to depend vponupon it, makes a man a debtorObiect. to the whole Law, Gal. 5. 3. But will some say, for a Christian (as these Galathians were) to hold the necessity of Circumcision still, together with Baptisme, makes Christ vnprofitable, and himselfe a debtor to the whole Law. But did not Circumcision iustifie the Iewes before the vse of Baptisme, as Baptisme doth now iustifie, comming in the stead of Circumcision? Surely, much alike. For if Baptisme now iustifieth, as Pontificians teach, ex opere operato, then Circumcision once iustified; which the same Pontificians deny. But if Circumcision did not iustifie the Iewes, as the Apostle affirmeth, and Papists themselues confesse; then Baptisme doth no more iustifie Christians: Seeing that Baptisme is the same and no other to vsus, than Circumcision was to the Iewes; though Papists put a great difference betweene them: saying, that the Sacraments of the New Testament do conferre grace, ex opere operato, but the Sacraments of the Old not so. Wherein, as in other doctrines of the mysterie of godlinesse, they bewray their grosse ignorance. But this by the way. But now, if circumcision, and other ceremonials of the Law of God be excluded from hauing any thing to doe in our iustification in the sight of God, by the obseruation of them; then what part can Popish Ceremonies, beeing not the ordinances of God, but the inuentions of men, yea most of them the doctrines of Diuels, what part (I say) can these challenge in the worke of Iustification▪ How shall the going a Pilgrimage to such a Shrine, or to Rome in their yeare of Iubilee, or the obseruation of Canonicall houres, for reciting prayers not vnderstood, or saying ouer by the Bead-row so many Pater-nosters and Aue-Maries before such or such an Image, or buriallin a Friars Cowle, and a thousand such trumperies, and meere mockeries, yet all of them very meritorious, with that notorious Meretrix of Rome; how shall these things come-in for a share in Iustification?
Lastly, wee may obserue how the Apostle, as to the Romanes, so to the Galathians, doth oppose the Law and Faith, as Gal. 3. 12. The Law is not of Faith. But in what respect doth he oppose them? first in respect of their natures, the one consisting in working, the other in beleeuing: as Rom. 4. 5. To him that worketh not, but beleeueth, &c. Secondly, in respect of their opposite conditions. The condition of the Law is, Doe this, and liue: but the law of Faith is, Beleeue, and liue, as the Apostle declares at large, Rom. 10. 4. &c. Now all this opposition between the Law and Faith, is mainely in the point of Iustification. There is a Iustification by the Law, & a Iustification by Faith; but so opposite and incompatible, as they can in no wise bee reconciled together: the one doth necessarily exclude the other. Oyle and vineger cannot bee mingled together, but the one will euer floate aboue the other, and admit of no mixture: so the oyle of grace and of faith can abide no mixture with the sharpe vineger of that killing letter the Law, in the worke of iustification in Gods sight; vnlesse where the Law is entirely and exactly kept in all points. But otherwise the Law and Faith, the Law and the Gospell, doe sweetly conspire together. For, as for the Ceremonies of the Law, in as much as they were types, all answering to the patterne of heauenly things shewed to Moses in the Mount, which patterne was Christ, as the Apostle to the Hebrewes most diuinely sheweth: those Ceremonies, those Types, are now all swallowed vp, and for euer fulfilled in the substance and truth, which is Christ: And as for the morall Law, it is made subordinate to the Faith of the Gospell. so that in eueryevery beleeuer it is the rule of Christian obedience, and holy conuersation. And therefore when the Law was giuen in Mount Sinai, Iesus Christ stands at the top, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: Thou shalt hauehave no other Gods, but me, &c. Now what deliuerance was this? A temporall deliuerance only? No: it was a liuely type of our spirituall freedome from the Egyptian seruitude of sinne and Sathan: witnesse the Pascall Lambe; which slaine, the blood sprinkled saued the Israelites, which was a type of the Lambe of God, that taketh away the sins of the world: And, the Sea diuided, a type of Baptisme; sauing the soule, and drowning sinne, together with the power of darkenesse, Pharaoh and his Hoast. So that howsoeuer the giuing of the Law was with much terrour, in regard of the manner: yet in regard of the matter being well vnderstood, it must needes bee most comfortable to all the faithfull, who beleeue in Iesus Christ, the Deliuerer from Egypt; who hath freed vsus from the curse of the Law, and will worke in vsus both to will and to doe the duties of the Law, as fruits of faith, euen of his good pleasure. Indeed that notable and excellent Preface to the Morall law, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, &c. to the common carnall and vnbeleeuing Iewes, was a Riddle: but to the Eagle-ey'd Beleeuer, Iew or Gentile, it is a most cleere Gospell; setting forth what Iesus Christ hath done for vsus, and consequently what wee should doe for him: that as wee beleeue in him, who hath saued and redeemed vsus out of the house of bondage, and from the seruitude of the spirituall Pharaoh; so wee should testifie this our faith, in louing, fearing, seruing and obeying him, in keeping those commandements of LoueLove; written not with pen and inke, but with the finger of Gods spirit; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshie tables of our hearts. As it is in the Song of Zachary,Luke 1. 74. That wee being deliuered from the hands of our enemies, should serue him without feare, in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life. Therefore seruants were called à seruando, as being saued by those, to whom therefore they did owe their seruice. In this respect, the Law and Faith, the Law and the Gospell, are not opposite, but sweetely subordinate the one vntounto the other: that as Christ hath saued vsus from the curse of the Law; so he propounds himselfe to be serued of vsus, by conformity to the Law, in a Christian conuersation. So that the Tree of life sweetning these waters of Marah, Iesus Christ sweetningExod. 15. 25. and sanctifying the Law vntounto vsus, wee drinke thereof with comfort, to strengthen vsus in our way to Canaan, through this wearisome Wildernesse. As Dauid saith, I will runne the way of thy Commandements, when thou hast enlarged my heart. So thatPsal. 149. Faith and the Law, to wit, the obedience of Gods will, are sweete, yea inseparable companions, and goe hand in hand together throughout the whole Pilgrimage of this life: but in the worke of our Iustification in the sight of God, they are meere strangers one vntounto the other; yea, sworne opposites, that can neuer be reconciled, though the Pontificians would neuer so faine ioyne together Faith Gods Arke, and their owne worke Dagon in their Temple, to stand as copartners in their iustification. But Dagon fals downe, where the Arke standeth: yea, hee loseth his head (all deuices to pleade for himselfe) and his hands too, that hee cannot doe one good deede towards his Iustification, but remaines a meere trunck and senslesse blocke. And as the Philistims, while they boasted they had gotten the Arke of God to their Dagon, were not free but the more followed with diuine vengeance: So the Pontificians, while they bragge of faith and good workes as concurring in iustification, they are so farre from being saued from Gods wrath, as that they doe the more incense him against themselues. Nor shall they euer bee free from feeling, and fearing Gods plagues, till with the Philistims, they send home the Lords Arke, with a sinne-offring: that is, vntil they repent of this their profanation of the Faith of Christ; which is that onelyonly, wherein Israel must be saued, renouncing their own workes, as hauing no more hands than Dagon left them, for to worke their iustification in the sight of God.