Pseudo-Martyr, Chapter 3 · Part 2
THE SECOND PART OF MERIT.
THe next Doctrine which I noted to mis-incite men to an imagined Martyrdome, is the Doctrine of Merites. aBell. de Indul. l. 1. c. 2. propos. 1.In eueryevery good worke, you say, there is somewhat of merite, and somewhat of satisfaction. The first is said to belong to our selues, and that by it we establish our saluation: So that the passion of our Sauiour is but as Baptisme to vsus, and our owne workes, as Confirmation: bIdem de Confirmatione c. 11 § Duplex.Which Sacrament you say, confers more grace then baptisme dooth, for strengthning vsus against the Diuell: cIbid ca. 2. §. Sed r…spond.And that the holy Ghost is giuen more fully therein.
And accordingly you teach, that iustice of workes doth giuegive the forme and life to faith. And the second, which is Satisfaction, is reserued in the common stocke, the treasury of the Church, and husbanded and dispensed by the generall steward thereof the Bishoppe of Rome.
2 But for that Merite, which you teach, to say That our workes of their owne nature, Bell. de Iustif. l. 5. c. 17. §. Nobis.without considering any Couenant or Contract with GOD, deserue Heauen, dooth not onelyonly diminish CHRISTS Passion, by associating an Assistant to it, and determine his Priesthood, which is euerlasting, by vsurping that office our selues, but it preferres our worke before his, because if wee could consider the passion of Christ, without the eternall Decree, and Couenant, and Contract with his father, his worke (sauing the dignity which it had by Acceptation, by which the least step of his humiliation might worthily hauehave redeemed tenne thousand worlds) had not naturally merited our saluation.
3 Now betwixt God and vsus there is no such Couenant; our best plea is, The sinner must repent, and God will blotte out his sinnes. If a Prince should so farre prostitute his merciemercy, as to proclaime a veniall Pardon, by which for certaine money, any Malefactor might be pardoned, no such Malefactor as by the nature of his fault, had at that instant forfaited and confiscated all his estate, should hauehave benefite by that pardon, because he had nothing to giuegive. All these dis-aduantages and infirmities oppresse vsus; no good worke is naturally large enough to reach heauen; no promise nor acceptation of God hath changed the nature of a good worke: And lastly, we can do no perfit good work; for originall sin hath poisoned the fountaines, our hearts: and those degrees and approaches, which we seeme to make towards good workes, are as if a condemned man would make a large will, to charitable vses. For, as that which hee giues is not his owne, so that goodnesse of good workes is not ours; and as it is in the Princes pleasure and allowance, whether his will shall take any effect, or no; so is it in the pleasure of God, whether any workes of ours shal be accepted.
4 Yet there is more Deuotion in our Doctrine of good works, then in that of the Romane Church, because wee teach as much necessity of them as they doe, and yet tye no reward to them. And we acknowledge, that God doth not onelyonly make our faith, to fructifie and produce good workes as fruits thereof, but sometimes beginnes at our workes: and in a mans hart morally enclined to doe good, dooth build vp faith: for if an Angell could transport Abacuc, for Gods seruice, by onelyonly taking hold of his haire, God can take such holde of our workes, and carrie vsus further by them. And fu…ther then this I see not that moderate men may goe: and they startle too easilie that dare not come so farre. And if it had beene expedient for Bellarmine, to hauehave spoken plaine, I thinke he would hauehave come to that, when hee was so neere towards it, as to say, That it is the safest way to place all our confidence in the onelyonly mercy of God, De Iustific…t. l. 5. c. 7. Proposit. 3.by reason of the incertainety of our owne righteousnesse, and the danger of vaine-glory: for he seemes else where to be so farre from doubting, that a man may not be sure of his owne righteousnesse, that himselfe had such an assurance of righteousnesse in another man, that vponupon his Oath before a publique Notarie he affirmes,Ceparius. de vit. Go…zag. l. 3. c. 2. That hee verily beleeues that Gonzaga, (who left the dignitie and inheritance of a Marquisate) neuer cōmitted mortall sin, and that from his age of seuen yeares, he is certaine of it.
5 The Doctrine of good workes in the Reformed Churches, is vniforme and consonant. For though Luther, to relieue and succour the doctrine of faith, which then languish'd desperately in the Romane Church, for iust dignification thereof, sometimes omitted, sometimes spoke remissely of good workes, yet betweene those, who seuerely adhere to him, & other Churches, which in some other things depart a little from them, in this point, I hauehave obserued no dissention.
6 But the Romane Church at this present is tempested with a violent storme in this ma…ter: that is, by what way and meanes, man can be enabled to doe any meritorious worke. In which Controuersies, after the Dominicans and the Iesuites, had with much earnestnesse prouoked,…enius de Controuersia, de lib. A…b. & Dei aux…l. in…er Catholicos. Epist. ad Cle. 8. and with much bitternes replied vponupon one another, Benius in a booke as moderate and elegant, as any these later ages hauehave affoorded, proiecting a way, in his Epistle to Clement the eight, how these dissentions might be re-vnited, and reconciled, obserues that all the Controuersies betweene them, ariseth out of presuming a false ground and foundation to be true, which is the famous Distinction of Sufficient and Efficient Grace. And so he dooth not onelyonly demolish all that they had diuersly built thereupon,Li. 1. de grat. & lib. arb. ca. 11. but defeats and destroies that foundation, which Bellarmine himselfe was most confident in, and euicts that that distinction, which that Church hath vsed of late yeares against all opposition, is neither containd, Fo. 4.nor conueniently deriued, either from Scriptures, Councels or Fathers, but is refeld & resisted by the Councell of Trent it …elfe. Fo. 91.No… can they extenuate this matter, as though it were o… …ma…l consequence; since neither small matters should produce amongst Religious men, so much and so bitter Argumen…ation: nor can it bee in it selfe esteemed a small matter: vponupon which Benius saies,Fo. 2. the questions of Predestination, Iustification, Merite, Perseuerance, Glorification, and many more depend, and that all Diuinitie is shaken therein.
7 And if they thinke, howsoeuer they suffer an intestine war, to make vsus beleeue that all is peace, and that this variety is onelyonly De modo, they must remember, that that for which they burne and damne men, which is Transubstantiation, is but a question De modo, which may be somet…mes so essentiall, That if the Arrians had agreed with the Orthodox, of the maner of the generatiō of the So…, or the Greeke Church would agree yet with the western… of t…e maner of the proceeding of the Holy Ghost, there could be no diffrence in t…ese points and therfore these d…ffrēces & controuersi…s, & irresolutiōs in the Roman Church ca…not be …xcu…'d or diminished by this, that they are De modo, since they are not De modo prob…tionis, which is when a certaine truth is illustrated by diuers waies of proofe, but they are so De modo essendi, or existendi; So, as if you remoue these wayes, by which they are said to be, they are not at all.
8 And howsoeuer those Doctors, whome they stile Seraphicos, VVilloti A…benae, Orthodox.and Illustratos, and Irrefragabiles, & Fontes vitae, with which transcendent Titles, they enamell so many of the writers in the Franciscan Families, so are in so high a pi…ch as dazles vsus, or diue so low, as we cannot discerne what they …old in this matter of Merit; yet what the vulgar doct…ine is in this point, the Expurgatory In…ices shall suffic…ently informe vsus: for no opinion of any Fa…her, or Doctor, or of any vniuersity, can be of so m…ch credi…e, and authority, as those books; since they are compiled by a commission issuing from the Pope himselfe, who was either authorized or entreated to that office, by a generall Councell.Ex Con…. Trid. Bull. Pij 4. de Ind libro. So that in these bookes there are all these approaches to an infallibility, that they were determined and prouided by a Councel, executed by a Popes Buls, and iustified by him, when they were perfited …nd accomplished.
9 And those bookes hauehave not bestowed so much diligence, vponupon any point, as this, that nothing remaine in any Authour, which may pref…rre Christs passion before our merits. And therfore, to omit innumerable instances to this purpose)aIndex Hispan. fo. 149. in that Catholique booke, bVenet. 1575.imprin…ed in a Catholique state, w…ich is stiled, Ordo Baptizandi, & Modus Visitandi, they hauehave expunged these wordes: Doost thou beleeue to come to glory, not by thine owne merites, but by the vertue and passion of our Lord Iesus Christ? And a little after they ha…e cut off this question; Dost thou beleeue that our Lord Iesus Christ died for our saluation, and that no man can be saued by his owne merits, or any other way, but in the merite of the passion of Christ? And though they might hauehave excuse to extoll our merites, yet they might hauehave spared the first part of the sentence, and giuen vsus leaue to beleeue, That our Lord Iesus Christ died for our saluation.
10 Amongst these great works, pregnant both of Merite for our selues, and satisfaction for others, Martyrdome is in the…r Doctrin…, that Opus priuilegiatum, which takes away al sinne; by occasion of which wordes, To take away, I cannot for…beare to warne you in this place, of one ordinarie indirect dealing in Bellarmine; which is, tha… in his Indices, and Tables, he presents wordes… ve…ie f…r…e from the sense of the place to which they relate. As in this point of merite, where his Index saies, Martyrium tollit peccata, S. Hierome, out of whom the Text, …o which he relates, is drawn…; s…ies only per martyrium peccata non imputantur;B…ll de Iusti…i. l. 2 c. 9. §. Sanct…s Hieron…mus. which is nothing to the naturall condignit…e of the wo…e it sel…e. And I should hauehave neglected to hauehave noted Bellarmines Index, but that I obserue that they are so seuere vponupon the Indices, made by some of their owne Church, that pretending st…ll to hauehave rased nothing in the body of the fathers, they expunge in the Indices many sentences, though the very wordes be in the Text it selfe: as in t…is point of Merite,Epist. ante Ind. Belg. Iunius hath no…ed, that these wordes, Meritum nullum, nisi quod a Christo confertur, are cut out of the Index to Chrysostome, though the same wordes be in the text.
11 To proceede then, for the dignity of this wo…ke, Bellarmine against So…o, and Ledesmo maintaines, that martyrdome doth saue a man, De baptism. l. 1. c. 6.ex opere operato. And that there is required in the martyre, no further disposition, nor other preparation, then in one who is to be baptized. For (saies he) though Charity be required, it is not precedent Charity, but it is, because a Martyr cannot depart without Charity, because by a couenant from God, Grace is inf…s'd, and so Charity: and therefore it abolishes originall sinne, and actuall sinne, and both eternall and temporall punishment belonging thereunto. De Indulg. l. 1. c. 2. §. Qu…nto.And in another place Bellarmine saies, That it is euident that martyredome is so full a satisfaction, that it expiates all guiltinesse, contracted by all sinnes, how huge soeuer the number, or haynousnes therof be: and if any milder man of that Church would say otherwise (as Ferus doth directly, the Passions in this life, L. 3. Com. in Mat. 20.8are not worthy of future glorie) hee must be detorted to the other sense,Sext Sen. Bibliot Sanct. l. 6. Anno…. 89. (as Senensis saies of this place, I am of opinion, that Ferus his wordes might bee deflected to the other sense:) Or if the wordes will not confesse vppon …hat racke, they must bee vtterly expunged, as wee noted of others before.
12 And vponupon this superabundant value of the merite of Martyredome,De Indulg. l. 1. …. 2. §. Quinto. Bellarmine builds that conclusion, which wee now condemne; which is, That because many martyres hauehave but fewe sinnes of their owne, and their passion is of a large and rich satisfaction, a mightie heape of Satisfaction superabounds fr…m martyrs. And so they being sent hither, as Factors to encrease that banke and Treasurie, it appears, … thinke, sufficiently, that this doctrine of merit…s, dooth mis-prouoke and inordina…ly p…forward inconside…ate men, to this vitious …ffec…ation of Martyrdome. To which also the Doc…ine of Purgatory contributes as much perswasion.