A Treatise of Justification, Book 4 · Chapter 3
CHAP. III. The question concerning the imperfection of inherent righteousnesse further discussed.
§. I. TO contradict this argument, that we are not justifiedBellarmines proofes that inherent righteousnesse is perfect. by righteousnesse inherent, because it is unperfect; Bellarmine indeavoureth to prove that it is perfect both in respect of habituall, and actuall righteousnesse. But in both hee useth to disputeDe Iustif l. 2. c. 7. § Tertio, fidem, spem, & charitatem in hac vita posse esse perfectam. Sophistically: in the first, because some men have beene indued with perfect righteousnesse: in the second, because some good works of the just are purely and perfectly good. For though both these assertions were true, as they are not, yet would they not conclude justification by inherent righteousnesse. For first, as touching the persons, the question is not, whether some choice men in some part of their life, after they have beene good and long proficients, doe attaine to some perfection; but whether they, and all others, when they are first justified, are endued with perfect justice: for if they be not then endued with perfect inherent righteousnesse, they are not justified by it. Now justification by habituall righteousnesse, which they call their first justification, is incipientium, of incipients: and themselves distinguish Christians into three rankes, that some are incipients, some proficients, some perfect. But incipients are such as be infants and babes, either in respect of age, when being baptized in their infancie, are, as they teach, justified; or in respect of religion, being new converts. But to imagine, that either infants, which have not so much as the use of reason, nor are as yet capable of the habits of Faith, Hope, and Charity, and much lesse are able to produce the Acts, to Beleeve, to Hope, to Love; or new converts, who are like Babes to bee fed aHeb. 5. 12. 1 Cor. 3. 2.with Milke, are indued with perfect righteousnesse, is a great absurdity.
§. II. Yea but, saith bDe Justis. l. 2. cap. 14. §. respond…o.Bellarmine, the workes of God are perfect, Deut. 32. 4. habituall righteousnesse is the worke of God, therefore it is perfect. Answ. The workes of God are either immediate, and such asBellarmines argument for habituall righteousnesse, because the works of God are perfect. hee worketh at once; or else mediate, which hee worketh by degrees. The former are perfect at the first, according to their kinde: as were the workes of creation. The latter are not perfect at the first, but by degrees are brought to perfection: as the worke of procreation or carnall generation, and of Spirituall Re-creation or Regeneration. Adam was the immediate Worke of GOD created at once: and therefore perfect in his kinde at the first. Seth also was the Worke of GOD, not immediate by creation, but mediate by Procreation, being first begotten by his parents and conceived, then formed in the wombe, then borne, then growing from age to age, untill hee came to bee a perfect man. So it is in the Spirituall Re-creation. For wee are the workemanship of God created cEphes. 2. 10.unto good workes: but we are not perfect Christians at the first. For we are first begotten by the incorruptible d1 Pet. 1. 23.seed of Gods Word, receiving, as it were, the seeds of Gods graces at the first, being but as Embryons in the wombe untill Christ eGal 4. 19.bee formed in us. And when wee are borne a new, wee are at the first but as new borne Babes, who are to desire the sincere f1 Pet. 2. 1.milke of the worke, that we may grow thereby: and afterwards stronger meats, that wee may grow more and more: and then, not contenting our selves with that measure of growth, which wee have attained unto, must still strive towards perfection, being from day g2 Cor. 4. 16.to day renewed in the inner man untill we come to be adult, growne men, or, as the Apostle speaketh, hPhil. 3. 15.perfecti; and when we are such, (because alwayes in this life we are in our foreign, or growing age, receiving onelyonly the first iRom. 8. 23.fruits of the Spirit) wee must imitate the Apostle Paul; who, though he farre excelled the most perfect among us, acknowledged, that he had not attained kPhil. 3. 12, 13, 14, 15.to perfection, but did strive towards it: exhorting all others, who are perfect, that is, adulti or growne men, to be of his minde; that is, that they should acknowledging their imperfection still more and more strive towards perfection.
§. III. As touching actuall righteousnesse, hee dealeth also Sophistically:Bellarmines argument for actuall righteousnesse. for first, where hee should prove, that the works of the faithfull are perfect, or purely and absolutely good, he proveth that they are truely good, and not sinnes: but especially, when he should prove, that all the workes of the faithfull or righteous, are purely and perfectly good; he proveth, that some are. As though a man who is not onelyonly guilty of many sinnes, and infected with manifold corruptions and infirmities, but also in respect of his former sinnes obnoxious to damnation; could bee justified by some good workes among many not good. But this is a most erroneous conceit of the Papists, who hold, that every good worke, proceeding from charity, doth absolutely deserve heaven; even as well as any evill worke committed against charity deserveth hell. As though by one act of charity the whole Law were fulfilled, as well as by one act committed against charity the whole Law is broken. Hee that transgresseth one Commandement, lIam. 2. 10.though it bee but once, is guilty of all. But hee doth not fulfill the Law, and much lesse can bee justified by his obedience, whose obedience is not totall, mGal. 3. 10.perfect, and perpetuall. It is true, that a faithfull man may bee justified, that is, declared and approved to be just by some one or more good workes, as Abraham nIam. 2. 21, 25.by offering his sonne Isaac, and Rahab by her entertaining and delivering of the Espies; but no man can bee justified before God by his works, who is guilty of any sinne. For if Paul o1 Cor. 4 4.who was not conscious to himselfe of any sinne, was not thereby justified: how can he that is guilty of any, or rather many sinnes be justified? For whosoever is justified before God pRom. 4 6.is blessed, but cursed qGal. 3. 10.is every one that continueth not in all the things, which are written in the booke of the Law▪ to doe them.Reasons proving that the workes of the faithfull are not purely and perfectly good. and first, Esa. 64. 6.
§. IV. But if it shall evidently appeare, that none of the workes of the faithfull are purely and perfectly good, how farre then are the Papists from proving justification by workes. And this I will prove by divers arguments, which I will also maintaine against the cavils of the Papists. And first out of Esa. 64. 6. We are all as an uncleane person, or thing, all our righteousnesses are as a menstruous cloth. Where the Church doth freely confesse her selfe and all her members to bee uncleane, and all their righteousnesses, that is, all their most righteous workes, to bee as polluted clouts: which, though it be a most pregnant testimony, wherein wee have just cause to triumph; yet Bellarmine rDe justi… l. 4. c. 20. §. Quarto.saith it is impertinent, and that for three reasons: First, because without doubt the Prophet speaketh not of just men, but of notorious sinners, for whose sinnes the City of Ierusalem and people of the Iewes was to be delivered into the hands of the King of Babylon. And that the prophet speaketh in the person of such wicked men, he endeavoureth also to prove by three arguments: First, because he a little before had said, because thou art angry and wee have sinned, that is, as Cyrill expoundeth it, because thou art angry, thou hast forsaken us. But neither is God angry with the just, neither doth hee forsake them. I answere no lesse confidently, but upon better grounds, that without doubt the prophet speaketh in the person of the Church, and namely of the faithfull, who living after the desolation of Ierusalem in the captivity of Babylon, should bewaile their owne sinnes and of the whole people of the Iewes, which had drawne upon them those fearefull judgements. For these words are part of that prayer of the Church of the Iewes, which from the seventh verse of the 63. chapter is continued to the end of the 64. And in token of this continuation, the latter part of the last verse of the former chapter in the hebrew, is the beginning of this chapter in the Greeke, Latine, and other translations. Now in the former chapter, the same persons, which here confesse their sinnes, after they had magnified Gods mercies towards them, verse 7. &c. doe say unto God, verse 16. doubtlesse thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel know us not: thou O Lord art our Father and our Redeemer. And in this chapter, as they bewaile in this verse their sinnefulnesse with aggravation: so they desire the Lord (whom they call their Father) not to remember their iniquities, because they are his people, verse 8. 9. professing their hope of salvation, verse 5. which is not the manner of notorious and impenitent sinners, but of those that are penitent, and faithfull. And further, that which Esay here foretelleth, is accordingly performed: First, by Daniel, chap. 9. from the fourth verse to the twentieth, who in like manner in the name and behalfe of the desolate Church of the Iewes, prayeth unto God, confessing his owne sinnes and of the people of Israel, as he speaketh, verse 20. Secondly, by the Church in captivity, which send the like prayer written by Baruch to the priest and people, who then were at Ierusalem. Baruch 1. from the 15. verse of the first chapter to the end of the third.
§. V. This then is the confession of the Church, which accordingThat in Esa. 64. 6. to be the confession of the faithfull, proved by testimonies. to Tertullians rule, is to bee extended▪ unto the faithfull in all times: and so it is understood by Origen sin Rom. 3. lib. 3.who saith, that no man may glory of his owne righteousnesse, seeing here it is said, that all our righteousnesse is as the cloth of a menstruous woman: by Hierome tin locum., wee shall bee saved onelyonly by thy merciemercy, who of our selves are uncleane. And what righteousnesse soever wee seeme to have, is compared to a cloth of a menstruous woman. By Augustine, uDe tempore serm. 43.all our righteousnesse compared with divine justice is accounted like the cloth of a menstruous woman, as the Prophet Esay saith, &c. and again, *Tom. 9. soliloq. c. 28.whatsoever an uncleane person toucheth shall bee uncleane: but all wee are as the cloth of a menstruous woman, comming from a corrupt masse and uncleane, we beare in our foreheads the spot of our uncleannesse, which wee cannot conceale, at least from thee, who seest all things. By Bernard in divers places? First, for xDe verbis Esai…, Nostra n. (si qua est) bumilis instit…a recta for sitan, sed non pura, &c.our humble righteousnesse, if wee have any, is perhaps right but not pure: unlesse peradventure wee beleeve our selves to be better than our forefathers, who no lesse truely than humbly said, all our righteousnesse is like the cloth of a menstruous woman: for how can there be pure justice, where as yet fault cannot bee wanting. And againe, yIn festo omnium Sanctorum serm. 1.what can all our righteousnesse bee before God? shall it not, according to the Prophet, be reputed as the cloth of a menstruous woman? and all our righteousnesse, if it bee straitly judged, will it not be found unjust and defective? What then will become of our sinnes, seeing our righteousnesse cannot answere for it selfe? wherefore crying earnestly with the Prophet, Enter not into judgement with thy servant O Lord, let us in all humility have recourse to merciemercy, which alone can save our soules. Thirdly, zDe verbis Origenis.if I shall bee just, I will not lift up my head, for all my righteousnesses before him are as the cloth of a menstruous woman. Fourthly, aDe verbis… Apostoli, 1 Cor. 1. 31.it is perfect and secure glorying, when wee feare all our workes, as blessed Iob testifieth of himselfe, and when wee acknowledge with the prophet Esay, that all our righteousnesses are to bee reputed no other, than the cloth of a menstruous woman. Fifthly, bDe decic. Ecclesia, serm. 5.surely if all our righteousnesses being viewed at the light of truth shall bee found like a menstruous cloth, what then shall our unrighteousnesses bee found to bee? And to the like purpose I might alleage Dionys. Carthus. in Psal. 142. Gerson. tom. 3. de Consolat. lib. 4. pros. 1. & tom. 4. tr. de sign. Cajetan. in 2 Cor. 5. 21. Iacob. Clict. in Canonem apud Cassandrum consult. art. 6. Stella in Luk. 17. Ferus in Matth. lib. 3. cap. …0. Andreas Vega opusc. de justif. cPag. 25.qu. 1. propos. 4. Adrianus de Traject▪ dApud Casandr. Consult. art. 6., afterwards Pope in quartum sentent. Quasi pannus menstruat… sunt omnes justitiae nostrae: jugiter igitur super pannum bonae vitae, quem justitiae operibus teximus, stillamus saniem diversorum criminum; all our righteousnesses are like the cloath of a menstruous woman: wherefore continually upon the cloth of a good life, which we weave by the works of righteousnesse, we drop the filthy matter of divers crimes.
§. VI. But let us briefly examine Bellarmines proofes, where toAnswer to Bellar mi…es proofe first, from the words going before. omit Cyrill, who understandeth the place, contrary to Bellarmines conceipt, of the wicked Iewes, who, after they had crucified Christ, persisted in their infidelity: his first reason is from the words going before, eV. 5.because God is not angry with the just, nor forsaketh them, but according to our doctrine (forsooth) hee covereth their sinnes, and imputeth them not. I answere, first, that when the children of God do… sinne, God is angry, as the Prophet here saith; behold, when wee sinne thou art angry. God was angry with Moses, Exod. 4. 14. Deut. 1. 37. with Aaron, Deut. 9. 20. with David, 3 Sam. 11. 27. Psalm. 38. 3. 88. 16. with Salomon, 1 King. 11. 9. with his people, Psalm. 85. 4, 5. Esai. 47. 6. with the sheepe of his pasture, Psalm. 74. 1. with his faithfull servants, Esai. 12. 1. Secondly, that by their sinnes f1 Cor. 11. 29, 30.they provoke Gods judgements, the fruits of his anger: from which they are so farre from being exempted, that judgement beginneth g1 Pet. 4. 17.at the house of God. Thirdly, that if they meet hAm. 4. 12. 1 Cor. 11. 30, 31. Psal. 32. 4.not the Lord in his judgments, and doe not judge themselves, then are they sure to be judged of the Lord▪ For though he doth not hate them, nor execute upon them the fruits of his eternall anger: yet he is angry with his children when they sin, (for to sin against him is to offend him) and for their sins he doth many times judge and correct them: but our comfort is, when we are judged, we are chastized i1 Cor. 11. 32.of the Lord, that wee should not be condemned with the world. Fourthly, that they are patiently to beare the anger of God, because they have deserved it, Lam. 3. 39. Mic. 7. 9. I will beare the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him. And as touching Gods forsaking of his Children (whereof notwithstanding there is no mention in this place) it is certaine, that although he doth never utterly or finally forsake his children, Psalm. 37. 25. 28. Heb. 13. 5. Psal. 89. 33. 2 Cor. 4. 9. yet sometimes they are subject to spirituall and temporall desertions for a time, wherein God is said to hide his face from them, as it is here said, vers. 7. see Deut. 31. 17, 18. Iob 13. 24. Psalm. 22. 1. 88. 14. 2 Chron. 32. 31. Esai. 8. 17. 54. 8. Ier. 39. 24. 29. Iud. 6. 13. Psal. 77. 7. Es…i. 49. 14. and 62. 4. Howbeit that is verified of them, which the Lord professeth to his Church by his Prophet Esai. c. 44. 7, 8. for a small moment have I forsaken thee, but in great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindenesse will I have merciemercy on thee, saith the Lord thy redeemer.
§. VII. His second proofe is from the words following, vers. 7.His second proofe from the words following. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, nor standeth up to take hold of thee. But the just doe call upon God: therefore the prophet doth not speake in the person of the just. Answ. Ordinarily the godly doe give themselves to prayer: though sometimes, when they are left unto themselves, they doe neglect it. But as ordinarily they doe not neglect this duty; so when they have neglected it, their manner is, as in this place,Psal. 109. 4. to complaine of the neglect thereof. For according to this prophecie, Daniel and the remnant of Iuda which were in captivity, in whom it was fulfilled, use the very same complaint in their prayer, Dan. 9. 13. Baruch 2. 8.
§. VIII. His third proofe is out of the words themselves: whereHis third proofe from the words of the text. the righteousnesse of them that make this prayer is compared to a menstruous cloth, and therefore, saith he, he speaketh not in the person of the just whose good works in the Scriptures are highly commended. Ans. It is not likely, that the hypocrits, who use to trust in their owne righteousnesse, and to boast of it, would complaine of the defectivenesse therof. But howsoever the godly, though weak indevors of the faithfull are graciously accepted of God in Christ, and freely rewarded; yet the children of God, when they are humbled under the hand of God, or doe summon and present themselves before the judgement seat of the Lord, or in their soules doe exercise judgement according to the testimony of their owne conscience; they doe use to judge and condemne themselves, and to speake as basely of themselves and of their works, as the faithfull doe in this place, wee are as an uncleane person (that is, as a Leper, who according to the Law was to cry out, I am uncleane, I am uncleane, Levit. 13. 45.) and all our best actions are stained with the flesh like a polluted cloth, or as Dan. cap. 9. and the remnant of Iuda, Baruch c. 1. 2, 3. in whom this prophecie was fulfilled; who speake most basely of themselves, and of their actions. Yea, the more godly a man is, the more sensible he is of his corruption, and the more ready with aggravation to confesse it. Quanto, saith Gregory, kMoral lib. 9. cap. 28.ad Deum veriùs per bona opera surgimus, tanto subtiliùs vitae nostrae sordes agnoscimus, by how much more truly wee arise to God by good works, by so much the more exquisitely wee acknowledge the pollutions of our life: and againe, lIbid. in summario.with how great cleanenesse soever holy men doe shine, notwithstanding by reason of this body, wherein they are, which is corrupted, they judge themselves abominable, and by reason of the filth of concupiscences, without which they are not, they repute themselves uncleane: and to the like purpose Cardinall mDe Iustisicat. Uiri sancti quanto magis in sanctitate pro siciunt, tanto minus sin placent.Cont. Godly men, saith he, by how much the more they profit in godlinesse, by so much the lesse they please themselves: Especially, when they are summoned, or doe summon themselves to appeare before God, as every one ought to doe, who would be justified, either before God, or in the Court of his owne Conscience. Iob the most holy and righteous in his time, when hee stood before God, abhorred nIob 42. 5, 6.himselfe, repenting in dust and ashes. The holy Prophet Esaias, when in a vision hee beheld God sitting on a throne attended by the Seraphin proclaiming Holy oEsa. 6. 3, 5., Holy, Holy, the Lord God of hosts; exclaimeth, Woe is me, I am undone, for I am a man of polluted lips and dwell in the midst of a people of uncleane lippes, Esa. 6. 5. The faithfull are pMat. 5. 3.foreign, beggars in spirit, who acknowledging that there is nothing in them whereby they might hope to bee justified or saved; as beggars, rely wholly upon the mercies of God and merits of Christ, renouncing their own merits, and in the question of justification deresting them as polluted clouts, as dung, qPhil. 3. 8, 9.as losse, and acknowledging themselves in themselves, to be wretched sinners: for as Herome *Advers. Pelag. dial. 1.saith, Tunc ergo iusti sumus quando nos peccatores fatemur, then are wee just when wee confesse our selves to be sinners. But the pharisaicall Papist, if he be once justified, as by their doctrine all are, for a time at the least, who either are baptized or absolved; hee must thinke that in him there is no sinne, nothing that God can justly hate. And therefore farre bee it from him to make such a confession as this, or to cry out with the Apostle, Wretched man that I am, who shal deliver me from this body of death? Rom. 7. 24.
§. IX. His second reason to prove this allegation to bee imperitnentHis second reason that this testimony of Esay is impertinent. is this: Because although Esay should speake of all, that is, of that whole people: yet hee doth not speake of all, at all times, but onelyonly of the people of the Iewes at that time, who for their extreme wickednesse were delivered into captivity, as appeareth by the words following, verse 10. Zion is a wildernesse, Ierusalem a desolation, the Temple burnt, &c. Answ. These words doe prove that the Prophet in this place doth not speake in the person of the wicked Iewes that lived in his time before the desolation of Ierusalem, but of the remnant of the faithfull and penitent Iewes, who being in captivity bewaile their sinnes, and lament the desolation of the Temple and City. And therefore what is said of them, may be extended to the faithfull in all times, being, as these were, humbled before God for their sinnes, as penitent suppliants.
§. X. His third reason, because the Prophet speaking onelyonly of the wicked His third reason.of that time, meaneth not all their workes, as though all were sinnes (for then Bellarmine must confesse that the best workes of the unregenerate are but splendida peccata) but such as they accounted to bee their righteousnesse, as their sacrifice, and new-moones, and other ceremoniall observatious wherein they placed their righteousnesse, which, because they were not … with a good intention, nor as they ought, are worthily compared (but not by them) to a menstruous cloth, and are rejected by God, Esa. 1. 11. Answ. Here Bellarmine taketh for granted, that the Prophet speaketh of the workes of the wicked onelyonly of that time, which I have disproved. Or if hee had spoken of the wicked, it were more probable either that they should place their righteousnesse in morall workes, if they had any, rather than in ceremoniall, or if they placed the top of their righteousnesse (as hypocrites many times doe) in ceremoniall observations, that they would compare those things, which they so highly esteemed, to menstruous clouts. But hee speaketh of all the persons, All wee, and therefore including the righteous, if there were any at all among them, as some there were both before the captivity and in it, and of all their righteousnesses, and therefore not of their ceremonials onelyonly, but also of their morals. Neither might they performe the chiefe of their ceremonials during their captivity being in a forraine land.Our second reason that the worke of the faithful are not purely and perfectly good, because there is in them a mixture of sin. proved sirst out of Exo. 3. 28. 36. 38.
§. XI. Secondly, that the good workes of the faithfull in this life are not purely and perfectly good, I prove, because in all our best actions there is a mixture of evill, either by the absence or defect of some good thing which ought to bee therein, or by the presence of some fault or corruption, which ought not to be in them. And this I prove: first, out of Exod. 28. 36. 38. where the high Priest, who was the figure of Christ, is appointed to weare on his forehead a plate of pure gold, which is also called an holy coronet, Exod. 29. 6. Levit. 8. 9. engraven with this inscription, Holinesse of the Lord; and so the 72. translate it, foreign, of the Lord, that is, of Christ, who is the sIer. 23 6.Lord our righteousnesse. The end wherefore he was to weare it, was, that Aaron might beare the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel should hallow, in all their holy gifts. And it was alwaies to be on his forehead, that they (the holy gifts) might be accepted before the Lord: where we are plainly taught, that in all our best actions and holy services which wee performe to God, there is iniquity, which must bee taken away by the holinesse and righteousnesse of Christ imputed unto us, otherwise they cannot in themselves be accepted of God.
§. XII. Secondly, out of Eccl. 7. 20. There is not a just man upon the Secondly, out of Eccl. 7. 10. Quisecerit bonum & non poccârit.earth, that doth good, and sinneth not; that is, who in doing good sinneth not. For if the meaning were onelyonly thus, as Bellarmine would have it, that none are so just, but that sometimes they sinne, according to that, 1 King. 8. 46. those words, that doth good were superfluous: for there is no just man that doth not good. But his meaning is, that there is no just man upon earth, who doing good sinneth not, that is, which doth good so purely and perfectly, as that hee doth not sinne therein. For to the perfecting of a good worke many things must concur, the want of any whereof is a sinne. The truth of this doth best appeare in the particulars; Prayer is a good worke, and so is the hearing of the word, &c. but there is no man doth so pray, or so heare the word, but that when hee hath done, he hath just cause to pray unto God to forgive his defects and defaults, both in the one and the other. And in this sense Luther did truly hold, that justus in omni opere bono peccat, that a just man sinneth in every good worke. Not that the worke in respect of its kind, or per se, is a sinne, as if wee said that prayer, &c. is a sinne, but per accidens, because in that good worke, there happeneth a defect, which defect is a sinne, not mortall to them who are in Christ, but veniall. And thus Augustine also seemeth to understand this place. For speaking of the imperfection of charity in this life, hee saith, tEpisto la. 29.that so long as it may be increased profectò illud quod minus est quàm debet, ex vitio est, ex quo vitio non est justus in terra qui faciat bonum & non peccet; assuredly that which is lesse than it ought to be, is out of vice; by reason of which vice there is not a just man upon earth, who doth good and sinneth not, by reason of which vice no living man shall bee justified before God: and in another place, more plainely, hee saith, uDe perfect. iustitia resp…ad. 15.peccatum est cum charitas minor est quàm esse debet, it is a sinne when charity is lesse than it ought to bee.Thirdly, such as is the tree such is the fruit
§. XIII. Thirdly, such as is the tree, such is the fruit. The tree is corrupt in part: For even in the best there is the Old man and the New, the flesh and the Spirit, betwixt oGal. 5. 17.which there is a perpetuall conflict, so that wee cannot doe the things wee would, and much lesse as we would, pRo. 7. 18, 19. 21but all, even our best actions are stained with the flesh: which is such a law in us, that when wee would doe good, evill is present with us.
§. XIV. Fourthly, actions absolutely good may stand in judgementActions purely good maystand in iudgement. before God. But our workes cannot stand in judgement. The best of us have need to pray with him, who had lesse neede than wee: qPsal. 143. 2.Enter not into judgement with thy servant O Lord. If rPsal. 130. 3.thou Lord shouldest marke what is amisse, even in our best actions, who should be able to stand? Noliergo intrare mecum in judicium Domine Deus meus: wherefore enter not into judgement with me O Lord my God: sAugust. in Psa. 142.Quantumlibet rectus mihi videar, producis tu de the sauro tuoregulam, coaptas me adeam, & pravas invenior. For though I seeme to my self never so right, thou bringest forth of thy treasury a rule, thou examinest mee by it, and I am found wicked. This which David, and Augustine expounding him, speake in respect of the person, may bee applyed to his best actions; as namely to his prayer, unto which more specially David in both places doth seeme to have relation. Lord heare my prayer, &c. and enter not into judgement with thy servant. Lord heare my voice, &c. if thou shouldest marke what is amisse, who should stand? For though my prayer (may the best of us say) seeme to my selfe never so godly, yet thou hast a rule, according to which if thou shouldest exactly examine my prayer, it would bee found sinnefull. Alas, Lord, I doe not pray with that humility in respect of mine unworthinesse, nor with that feeling of my want, nor with that reverence of thy great and glorious Majesty, nor with that attention of minde, nor with that devotion and fervencie of Spirit, nor with that assurance of faith, &c. that I ought to doe. Therefore I come unto thee, not in any conceit of mine owne righteousnesse, or of the worthinesse of my prayer; but I come unto thee in the name and mediation of Christ, appealing from thy tribunall of justice to the throne of thy grace, desiring and beleeving, that the incense of my prayers, being perfumed with the odours of his merits, may and shall bee acceptable unto thee.
§. XV. But if any popish pharisee doth thinke, that hee needeth not Appeale to the conscience of the Papists.thus to pray, I shall desire his Conscience thus to speake unto him: Doest thou thinke, that for the worthinesse of thy prayer thou shalt bee heard, and that if the Lord should enter into judgement with thee according to his exact rule, he could finde no fault with thy prayer? Alas, besides those blemishes and imperfections even now mentioned, whereof the most godly have just cause to complaine: thou directest thy prayer not to God alone, but to Saints and Angels, and so committest horrible idolatry: and when thou dost direct thy prayer unto God, thou dost conceive of him under some bodily shape, whereby thou doest circumscribe him, and make him finite, and so no God, but an idoll of thine owne braine. Thou doest not come unto God, in the name and mediation of Christ alone, who is the onelyonly mediatour betwixt God and man, but in the mediation of many others, by whose merits and intercession thou hopest and desirest to be heard. Thou cravest not the helpe of the Holy Ghost the Spirit of grace and supplication, whose helpe thou findest not thy selfe to need for such a prayer as thou doest make. Thy prayer is but a formall recitall of a certaine taske of words, uttered for the most part without understanding, without feeling, without devotion, without faith. Thou, if unlearned, as the most are, thou prayest in an unknowne language, speaking like a Parrat thou knowest not what, thy prayer is a meere lip-labour, thou hopest by the multitude tMatth. 6. 7.of thy words, and the often repetitions of thy Ave-maries, thy Pater-nosters and thy Creeds, most ridiculously and odiously reiterated upon thy Beads by most superstitious uMatth. 6. 7.Battology. And notwithstanding all this, wilt thou bee so wickedly impudent, as to obtrude thy orisons unto God, not only as an acceptable service, wherewith, though he should enter into judgement with thee, he could finde no fault, but also impetratory of thy desires, satisfactory for thy sinnes, and meritorious of eternall life? Nay, I assure thee, that thy prayer to God with the opinion of satisfaction and merit, though it were otherwise well qualified (as it is farre from it, there being nothing almost performed in it which is required in prayer) it were abominable in the sight of God: what shall I say more? The acceptable and effectuall prayer is the prayer of faith, Iam. 5. 16. whereby a man doth specially beleeve, *Matth. 21. 22. Mark. 11. 24. Iam. 1. 6, 7.that his requests are or shall bee granted to him, as namely for remission of sinnes and eternall life: but thou (I speake to the best and most learned of the Papists) thou I say dost scorne and detest this speciall faith, and so thy prayer, wanting faith, besides all other the abominations thereof, is turned into sinne.
§. XVI. So in like manner in respect of the rest of our actions, though seeming laudable unto us; wee must pray, that the Lord will not enter into judgement with us. To which purpose manifold testimoniesTestimonies of Fathers. of the Fathers might be alleaged. These few may serve, *In Psal. 142.Hilarie what living man can bee justified in the sight of God? In whom there is a mixture of anger, of sorrow, of concupiscence, of ignorance, of forgetfulnesse, of casualty, of necessity happening either through the nature of the body, or the motion of the soule alwaies wavering.
Ambrose yIn Psal. 118. Serm. 20., hee that thinketh hee hath gold hath lead, and hee who thinketh himselfe to have the graine of Wheat, hath chaffe which may bee burnt.
Augustine zConfess. l. 9. c. 13. vae etiam laudabili vitae hominū si remota misericordia disculias cam., woe to the very laudable life of men, if merciemercy being removed thou dost examine it. Gregory in many places of his Morals, lib. 5. c. 7. quia s…pe ipsa justitia nostra ad examen divinae justitiae deducta, injustitia est, & sordet in districtione judicis, quod inestimatione sulget operantis, lib. 5. cap. 18. ipsa nostra perfectio culpâ non caret, nisi hanc severus judex in subtili lance examinis misericorditer penset, Lib. 9. cap. 1. Sancti viri omne meritum vitium est, si ab aeterno arbitri… districtè judicetur, Lib. 9. cap. 2. omne virtutis nostrae meritum esse vitium, lib. 9. c. 11. Si remota pietate discutitur, in illo examine etiam justorum vita succumbit, & cap. 14. on those words of Iob. Si habuero quippiam justum, non respondebo, he saith, ut enim sape diximus omnis humana justitia injustitia esse convincitur, si districtè judicetur, prece ergo post justitiam indiget ut quae succumbere discussa poterat, ex sola judicis pietate convalescat, lib. 1. cap. 27. Si remota pietate discutimur, opus nostrum poen… dignum est, quod remunerari praemiis prestolamur, & cap 28. quousque poena corruptionis astringimur, quamlibet rectis operibus insudemus, veram munditiem nequaquem apprehendimus, sed … mur, lib. 27. cap. 15. Sciunt Sancti, quia omnis humana justitia injustitia est, si divinitùs districtè …: and in the conclusion of his worke, lib. 35. cap. 26. wherein as hee professeth that hee sought chiefly to please God, so hee confesseth, that this intention was accompanied with other worse intentions and sinister respects as seeking to please men, and affecting their praise: whereupon hee inferreth, Si autem de his divinitùs, districtè discutimur, quis inter ista remanet salutis locus: quando & mala nostra pura mala sunt, & bona, quae nos … credi…s, pura bona esse nequaquam possunt: the evill things, saith he, which we have, are purely and meerely evill, but the good things which we suppose our selves to have, are not, nor can in any wise be purely good, and so said aDe verb. Esaiae ser…. 5.Bernard, Nostra siqu… est humilis justitia, recta forsan, sed non pura: whence it followeth necessarily that none of the workes of the faithfull are pure, and consequently that their very best workes are impure.
This which hath been said may suffice to a conscience not cauterized; neither shall I need to say any more in this needlesse argument. For though it should bee granted that some of the works of the faithfull were purely good, (as they are not) yet so long as any of their works are sinfull, as in many things we faile bIam. 3. 2.all, insomuch that the righteous (as Bellarmine himselfe doth cite the place) doth fall cPro. 24. 1….seven times a day, they cannot be justified by their workes, but are by the sentence of the Law in themselves accursed: because they doe not continue in all the things which are written in the booke of the Law to doe them: and because the breach of any one commandement maketh them guilty of all. I conclude against the Papists as cHares. 59. foreignEpiph…ius did censure the Catharists, these men professing themselves pure, by this supposition make themselves unpure, for whosoever pronounceth himselfe to be pure, therein he doth utterly condemne himselfe to be impure.