A Treatise of Justification, Book 8 · Chapter 6
CAP. VI. The Testimonies of the Fathers alleaged by Bellarmine aDe iust. l. 5. c. 4.answered.
§. I.
NOw I come to his allegation of the Fathers. ButIn what sense the Fathers use the word …erit. before I examine the particular testimonies, I am to admonish the Reader, that hee have an eye to the point in question. For that the Latine Fathers doe often use the termes of merit or meriting, we doe acknowledge, but without any advantage to the Papist. For the Papist useth the words in the proper sense, for deserving and desert. But merits with the Fathers signifie no more but good workes, or at the most good works, which God will reward: that is, either simply good workes, or with relation to reward. And the Verbe t… merit, besides the generall sense of obtaining, or finding favour, which is very frequent, they use it more particularly for doing workes of grace which God will graciously reward. In which senses the use of the words, though unproper, were not to bee misliked in the Fathers, were it not that the after-writers have taken occasion thereby to use the words properly, for deservnig, and desert, and that in justice for the workes sake, as well in good workes, as in bad. I meane, that good workes doe as truely and as properly deserve eternall life, as evill workes deserve everlasting death, which was not the meaning of the Fathers; who meant not, that a man doth deserve those good things at the hands of God, which by them hee is said to have merited. If therefore his allegation bee of merits and meriting used by the Fathers in the former, that is, the unproper senses, as indeed they are, hee shall proove nothing, but that the Fathers doe not dissent from us. And if they serve not to prove, either that the works of grace in themselves doe merit, that is, deserve eternall life, as the meritorious causes thereof: or that Christ hath by his merits made them meritorious, then doe they not at all make fo… the Papists against us. But I am confident, that they are not able to produce any one pregnant testimony of the ancient Fathers, affirming, either that our good workes doe truely and properly, that is condignely merit eternall life: or that Christ hath merited for our workes that they might bee meritorious of everlasting life.
§ II. Hee beginneth with the Greeke Fathers, of whom hee citethGreek Fathers. Ignatius in Epist. ad Romanos. eight. The first is, Ignatius: Sinite me ut bestiarum esca sim, per quam possim Deum promereri. Here Bellarmine for a poore shift is faine to make use of a corrupt Latine Translation, as it were a puddle, leaving the fountaine and the purer streames. The originall is, foreign, suffer me that I may become the food of wild beasts, by whom I may obtaine God. And so their owne Vairlemius translateth, Sin…e me ferarum escam fieri, per quas licebit Deum adipisci. But the same Latine aInter …. pag 98.Translatour doating, as it seemeth, upon his Helena of merit, more than once or twice in that Epistle, useth the word merear, that I may merit, where the Greeke is foreign, that I may finde, enjoy, obtaine, and in the first sentence of the Epistle twice, Deprecans Deum obtinui ut videre merear dignos vultus vestros sicut plurimum optabam promereri. The Greeke is foreign, which Vairlemius rendreth thus, Deprecatus Deum obtinui, ut viderem divinas vestras facies, quas plurimum expetebam. And in the third sentence, for foreign Si modo gra…iam consequar, the Latine Translatour, whom Bellarmine followeth, readeth, Si quidem per gra…iam meruero. And in the next sentence, for foreign De…m asseq…i, hee readeth, Deum promereri. And in the next, where Ignatius saith, I shall not have the like opportunity foreign Deum assequendi, of attaining to God, he reade…h, ut Deum promeruissem, five times in the five first sentences. I omit the rest. But how little Ignatius favoured the proud and Antichristian conceit of merits, may appeare by that which followeth in the same Epistle. Now being bound in him I lea ne to covet no wo…ldly nor vaine thing. By sea and land even from Syria to Rome I fight with beasts, being night and day bound to ten Leopards, which is a guard of Souldiers, who by benefits become worse. But I by their injuries am more instructed. Notwithstanding bforeign.I am not hereby justified.
The second is Iustin Martyr, Homines qui dignos se Dei voluntate & 2. Iustin Martyr, Apolog. 2. an…e medium.consilio operibus praestiterint, cum eo victuros esse meritis suis sumpsimus, ac regnatur os sicut ab o…ni interitu perturbationéque sint liberi. Where Bellarmine againe maketh use of a corrupt translation, the Greeke Text is this; foreign. Where, having said that God hath created all things for men, addeth: who, if by their workes shall shew themselves worthy his will (or to his will) wee have received (or learned) that they are vouchsafed (or accounted worthy of) conversation with him, raigning together with him made incorruptible and impassible. Here in stead of being vouchsafed or deemed worthy his (that is) Gods conversation or fellowship, viz. in heaven, where they shall raigne with him without corruption or passion, hee absurdly readeth, they shall live and raigne with him by their merits.
The third is Irenaeus, Let us thinke that crowne precious, which is3. Irenaeus. lib. 4. cap. 72. gotten by conflict or contending for it, and commeth not unto us of it owne accord, that is, wi…hout seeking. And by how much the more it commeth unto us by striving or contending for it, by so much it is the more precious.
Not that contention or conflict is the meritorious cause of eternall life, but the way to heaven, Luke 13. 24. Matth. 7. 14. Act. 14. 22. and the meanes to victory, to which God hath promised freely to give a crowne of life, Iam. 1. 12. Apoc 2. 7. 10. 17. Bellarmines reference of his Reader to the forty fourth Chapter, is but to make him lose his labour.
The fourth is Origen, whom Bellarmine falsifieth, reading pro meritis, Origen▪ in Rom. 2. lib. 2.in stead of pro operibus. I will recite the whole place. Nunc requiramus de justo judicio Dei, in quo reddet unicuique secundum opera sua. Et primo guidem excludantur haeretici, qui dicunt animarum natur as bonas vel malas: & audiant, non quia pro natura unicuique Deus sed pro operibus suis (pro meritis suis, saith Bellarmine) reddit. Secundo in loco aedificentur fideles, nè putent sibi hoc solum sufficere posse quod credant, sed sciant justum judicium Dei reddere secundum opera. Where if hee will needs read pro meritis, in st…ad of the Apostles words, on which cRom. 2. 6.Origen writeth, foreign yet according to that Latine translation he expoundeth the words twice secundum opera, retaining the words of the Apostle.
The fifth is Basil, for as for Clemens Alexandrinus, and such other testimoniesBasil. of the Fathers, as Bellarmi…e doth but point at, I meane not to trouble my selfe with the search of them. For if they had said any thing for him to better purpose than those which hee doth cite; I presume hee would have recited their words, being forced to such poore shifts, even in those whom he doth cite.
Out of Basil, he citeth two testimonies: the former, dDe Spiritu sancto. cap. 24.Homo exjustitiae operibus salvatur, which words, as Bellarmine citeth them, directly contradict the Doctrine of the holy Ghost, who saith, that a man is not saved by the workes of righteousnesse, Tit. 3. 5. Ephes. 2. 8, 9. Yea, of Basil himselfe in other places, as in Psal. 114▪ and in Psal. 32. before cited. But indeed the words are these, foreign. As though a man saved by his workes of righteousnesse were farre from bereaving the holy Ghost of his due glory, which censure let the Papists, who looke to bee saved by their workes, apply to themselves. For if the words were, as he citeth them, they would further Erasmus his censure, eIn Epist. dedicat. ad Episc. Culmens.that this part of that booke is not Basils.
The other testimony is this, fHomil. in initium, Prov.Omnes qui viam evangelicam incedimus mercatores sumus, per oper a mandatorum nobis possessionem coelestium comparantes. Here also Bellarmines reliefe is in the translation, as shall appeare by recitall of the place. The kingdome of heaven, saith he, out of Matth. 13. 45. is like a Merchant man, foreign. All wee therefore who goe the way of the Gospell are Merchants▪ gaining to ourselves the possession of heavenly (gifts or goods) by the traffique or negotiation of the Commandements. It behoveth us therefore to gather much and manifold heavenly riches, where, by heavenly things hee doth not meane the heavenly joyes or glory of heaven, but heavenly gifts and graces in this life, which in the words following hee calleth heavenly wealth. Neither doth hee speake of purchasing the reall possession of heaven by the workes of the Commandements, but of gaining spirituall and heavenly gifts, foreign, by exercising the trade, or by the gaine (for that is the foreign. of Merchants and Trades… men, Mat…h. 25. 16. Act. 19. 25.) Of Gods Commandements both Legall and Evangelicall, which is a rich sto…ke, for in the keeping of them there is great reward, and by imploying the Talents which God hath committed unto us, that wee should foreign trade with them, Matth. 25. 16. and by trading with them gaine unto our selves a treasure of heavenly riches. For as our Saviour saith, Matth. 25. 19. Habenti dabitur, & exuberabit: habenti, that is, to him tha… imployeth his gifts, and tradeth with them it shall bee g…ven and he shall abound. For those that excercise the trade of Gods Commandements being rich in good workes, they doe, as the Apostle saith, g1 Tim. 6. 18, 19.treasu…e up to themselves a good foundation, that is, assurance of eternall life, for so he saith, that they may lay hold on eternall life, viz. by the …ssurance or Plerophory of faith and hope. For by being rich in good workes men doe make their h2 P…t 1. 10.calling and election sure, and so are iRom. 8. 24.saved in hope. But that we should purchase the reall possession of the heavenly kingdome by the workes of the Law, which Christ alone hath purchased for us, were little better than blasphemy, from which Saint Basil is sree. And that this, which I have delivered, was Basils meaning, appeareth by that which followeth. For after he had said, that we must gather heavenly wealth, he addeth, if we would not be ashamed at the shewing foreign of our negotiation, as those kMatth. 25, 26.who had received the Talents; nor heare, t…ou wicked and slothfull servant, but having laid up our wares (which before hee called heavenly riches) to endeavour to passe through this life safely and securely. And this further appeareth by the whole discourse. For having said before the words alleaged, that to our navigation in this life; the gift of governing, as it were, of our shippe is necessary, for we are all Merchants, &c. for saith hee, in the next words after those which I alleaged last, many who from their youth have gathered geat store (namely of that heavenly wealth) in the middle of their life for the want of the skill of governing, and not able to withstand the tempests of temptations have made shipwracke, which saith he, is a miserable spectacle, foreign, &c. That hee who hath prospered in the negotiation of the Commandements should become like a Merchant of great wealth, who glorying in the multitude of his wares, his ship also failing wi…h a prosperous winde, and having passed the dreadfull seas, at length suffering shipwracke at the very haven, is at once deprived of all.
The sixth is Chrysostome, If God be just, hee will render both to theChrysostome. De Lazar… Hom. 4. godly and to the wicked according to theirmerits. But if he will render both to the one and the other according to their merits, and in this life neither d…e receive, neither the one the punishment of wickednesse, nor the other the reward of vertue: it is manifest, that there remaineth another time, in which they shall have either of them a convenien… reward. Here also the force of Bellarmines argument is in the translation. For the words, which twice hee translateth pro merit…s, are foreign according to their worthinesse, which is of a larger extent than merit. Now men are said to be worthy either of eternall punishment, and that in and of themselves by their sinnes; or of eternall life, but not of or in themselves, but in Christ, and by grace, God accepting of them in Christs worthinesse, his merits being imputed to them without any merit of their owne. And thus God will repay the wicked for their demerits, and reward the godly according to their worthinesse, which standeth not in dignitate sua, but in dignatione divina, as I have said before. Howbeit, his meaning in this place by foreign is all one, as I suppose, with foreign, that is, according to the quality of their works; that is to say, rendring damnation to the wicked, and salvation to the godly. For so in the words going before, hee saith, that the godly shall receive foreign the rewards of their vertue, and the wicked foreign and in the allegation it selfe hee explaneth what hee meaneth by foreign, to wit, that the wicked shall receive foreign the punishment of their wickednesse, and the godly, foreign the rewards of their vertue.
The seventh is Gregory Nazianzen: Crede resurrectionem, judicium, Nazianzen. Orat. in S. Baptism.mercedem, adjustum Dei lancem exigendam. The words are foreign. Besides these articles of the Christian faith, receive the resurrection, judgement, remuneration by Gods just balance. What is that balance, but the righteous Will of God, which is the rule and standard of all justice, which will render to every one according to their workes, that is to say, to the wicked everlasting death, and to the godly eternall life. But merit of condignity was no point of his faith.
The eighth is Gregory Nissen: Denique pro suis quemque meritis ornatum …regory Nyssen. orat. de pauper. amandis.cerno. Gregory in that place deciphereth the judgment to come. And having described the Iudge, and them that are to bee judged; I heare, saith he, the speech as of the Iudge, and their answers: then followeth, foreign which are the words which Bellarmine citeth, and import no more but this, that hee distributed to every one fitting rewards: which hee doth particularize in the words following to them that have led a godly life, the fruition of the Kingdome; but to the inhumane and wicked, the punishment of fire, and that everlasting. And these were his Greeke Fathers, whose learned judgements hee hath not alleaged, but for the most part, the popish conceits of their partiall translatours.
§. III. Of the Latines he citeth eleven Fathers. To whose test imonies,The Latine Fathers. if it bee remembred that they use not the word, meriting, for justly deserving, but either for obtaining and finding favour to obtaine, or for doing that which God will accept and reward; or the word, merits, in the better sense, properly for such workes as doe truely and condignely merit or deserve; but onelyonly for good workes, either simply, or with relation to a free reward, that is. for such good works as God will freely reward, it will not be hard to answere. Neither will the Papists, as I suppose, bee ever able to alleage any one pregnant testimony where the word is used in the Popish …ense, for that which truely, properly, and condignely deserveth a reward to bee rendred in justice for the workes sake. Neither doe we deny merits in the sense of the Fathers, but confesse that the good workes of the faithfull are such, as God accepteth …o reward them. And so Vega defineth merit; the name of merit, saith heeIOpuscul. qu. 4. is restrained to those works which God accepteth to some reward. And so Augustine useth the word, as Bellarmine confesseth, mDe gratia & lib. …. l. 1. c. 14. §. … esse, ….to signifie any good act for which wee receive any other thing.
But let us briefly examin… the particulars. And first the testimony of Tertullian▪ which, as hee alleageth, it is to mee a riddle. nDe … rect. carnis. cap. 48.Or…o meri…orum dispositorum nomine disponetur: merita autem cum corpori quo que ads…ribantur, ordo quoque corpor…m disponatur necesse est, ut possit esse meritorum: which I cannot assoile, though I should read with Pamelius, Ordo enim non al…ud quam meritorum dispositor, unlesse wee understand the word merits not actively for good workes meriting or obtaining, but passively for the rewards obtained. For actively merits cannot be attributed to the body▪ which cannot produce any act of freewill, and therefore cannot according to the doctrine of the Papists, merit. But the rewards are attributed as well to the body as to the soule, and from thence hee proveth the resurrection of the body, out of 1 Cor. 15. 23.
The second is Cyprtan, out of whom hee citeth two testimonies. TheCyprian. former oDe unitate Ecclesiae.just…tia opus est▪ ut promereri quis possit Deum, that a man may obtaine Gods favour there is need of justice: wee must obey his precepts and monitions, ut accipiant me…ita nostra mercedem, that our good workes may receive the reward, which God hath promised. The other testimonyDe Opere & El…mos. is the last sentence of his Booke de opere & Eleemosynis, containing an effectuall exhortation to the workes of charity from the reward that God hath promised, and will graciously bestow on those that are forward in these workes. Nusquam Dominus meritis ad premium deerit, God will no where bee wanting to our good workes, to reward them. To them that overcome in peace, he will give a white crowne for their actions, and to them that overcome in persecution, hee will redouble a purple crowne for their suffering. Where hee saith no more, being rightly understood, than t…e Preachers of the Gospell use to say upon the like occasion.
His allegation ou… of H…larie, Regnum Dei vitae nostrae stipendiis quaramus Hilarie. In Mat. can. ….is a grosse m…aking of stipends for merits, which are contraries. For merits in his ow…e conceit are mens workes; stipends are the rewards, which God g…veth to our workes. And this absurdity is increased by our p…al. 682. s.Ie…uites translation set forth in capitall Letters. Let us, saith he, endevour to pu…chase the Kingdom of heaven by the price of our good life, so that in his learning quaerere, is to endevour to purchase, and stipen…ia vitae nostrae is the price or merit of our good life. The words are spoken by way of exposition upon Matth. 6. 33. Where our Saviour having disswaded us from seeking inordinately the things of this life, directeth us what wee are first to seeke. qMat. 6. 33.But first seeke the Kingdome of God and his righteousnesse, and all these things shall bee added unto you, all these things, that is, stipendia vitae nostrae, the stipends of this life of ours which God hath promised to give to them that seeke his Kingdom and his righteousnesse, as the petty rewards of our piety. For those things that hee calleth stipends, must either bee stipends by us given to God, or by us received from him. But the former is absurd, if not blasphemous, therefore by the stipends of this life wee are to understand foreign the things of this life, as food and apparell, &c, which God foreign as it were by way of advantage or surplusage, addeth to these to whom hee giveth his kingdome and righteousnesse, which they first sought: for so hee saith foreign. But if the kingdome of God which with these things r1 Cor. 10. 31.is to bee sought, were, by them to bee purchased, then the righteousnesse of God by which wee are justified and entitu…ed to that kingdome, that is the righteousnesse of God s2 Pet. 1. 1.and our Saviour Iesus Christ, should also bee purchased by Gods temporall gifts, for so hee saith, seeke the kingdome of God, and his righteousnesse, and therfore it rather than they should be called stipendium or merces; which the Papists themselves deny, it being gratia onelyonly, a… they confesse, and not m…rces.
As for those other words, tI… Mal. can. 6.which Bellarmine citeth, De nostro igitur est beata illa aeternitas promerenda, &c. I presume, that hee himselfe would not subscribe unto them, as they sound, as if wee attained to heaven by any thing that is properly ours, and from our selves. But Hi…ari's meaning may bee gathered from that which went before. For writing upon Matth. 7. 22. Many shall say to mee in that day, Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in thy Name, and in thy Name cast out Devils, &c. saith, that Christ condemneth the hypocrisie of counterfeit Preachers who, though they were vo…d of sanctifying grace, yet because they prophesied and wrought wonders in his Name, did therefore promise to themselves the kingdome of heaven: quasi verò eorum aliquid proprium sit quae loq…ntur aut faciun…, as if any of those things, which they say or doe were their owne, they be…ng but the instruments of God by whom hee speaketh and worketh, for the good of others: and therefore both the word and the worke is not thei…s, but Gods. But if wee desi…e to attaine to that blessed eternity; pr…standum aliquid est ex proprio, at bonum velimus malum omne vitemus, totoque affectu praeceptis caelesti…us obtemperemus, wee must doe something of our owne, that wee will that which is good, and shun all evill, and with all our affection obey the heavenly precepts, which though they be not from our selves, yet may be called ours, as being our workes, and properly tending to our owne good.
To the testimony of Ambrose, Nonne evidens est meritorum aut praemia Ambrose De …ffic. l. 1. c. 15.…t s…pplicia post mortem manere? wee readily subscribe, understanding by merits, according to the language of the Latine Fathers, workes with relation to reward, whether good, or bad.
To the testimony of Ierome, Denarius quas… indalgentia veri principis Hierome. Advers. …ovinian. lib 2.…mnes per baptismum omittit de car…ere. I am nostri laboris est, pro d…versitate virtutum, diversa nobis praemi… praeparare: I answere, that hee di…puting against Iovin…an, who held equality of rewards in the life to come, using for his argument one and the same day-peny which was given to unequall labours, answereth, that unus denarius no… est unum pr…mium, one peny is not one and the same reward, sed un… vita, ac una de gehenna libe ratio, but one life and one deliverance out of hell. But as at the granting of a Princes pardon men that are guilty of divers crimes are all released out of prison, and every one according to his labour or his workes, is in this or that state of life: Even so the penny, as it were the pardon of the true Prince by baptisme releaseth all out of prison. Now it must bee our l…bour, according to the diversity of virtues, to prepare unto our selves divers rewards. His meaning is that in the life to come, which as it is eternall, is one and the same to all, there are divers degrees of glory. Whereas therefore wee have deliverance from hell and title to heaven by the true Princes pardon, it being purchased for all true beleevers by the merit of Christ, which in Baptisme is equally applyed to all the faithfull: it must therefore bee our endevour, by labouring for a greater measure of grace, to prepare, as it were, for our selves a greater measure of glory. For the Lord doth crowne his own graces in us with glory, and the greater graces with greater glory. And although both the life it selfe and the degrees of glory therin, as to sit, some on Christs right hand, and some on his left in his kingdome, are prepared by God, as it is said, Matth. 20. 23. and by our Saviour, who therefore ascended into his fathers house, wherein are many mansions, that hee might prepare or provide a place for each of us, Ioh. 14. 2, 3. yet we may be said, after a sort to prepare for our selves greater rewards when wee labour to be endued with greater graces.Paulinus ad Victricium.
To the testimony of Paulinus; Tuarum tibi praemia se debere virt…tum justus j…dex agnoscet, I onelyonly answere this, because I have not the booke: that although it bee a harsh speech, that God should bee said to bee a debtour to any cr…ature; yet as Augustine saith, hee may bee said to be a debtour, as hee is a promiser, and because it is a just thing to keepe promise, hee may be said to owe the performance of that which hee hath promised.uUid. supr. cap. 4. §. 15. But as his promise was, not de debito, but de gratuit…: so what hee freely promised, he freely giveth.
7. Out of Augustine he citeth three testimonies, two out of his EpistleAugustine Epist. 105. to Sixtus: out of which Epistle I have before produced divers pregnant testimonies against merits so properlycalled. His first allegation is this: nullane sunt merita justor…m? sunt planè: quia …usti sunt: sed ut justi fierent merita non fuerunt. In which testimony there is nothing for the merit of condignity, but onelyonly the name of merit, which notwithstanding …ignifieth nothing but the good workes of the just; which God will reward. As if hee had said, have the just no good workes, which God will reward? They have, no doubt, because they are just. For, as Saint Iohn saith, he th…t worketh righteousnesse is righteous 1 I…h. 3. 7. But as the former words doe not prove the merit of condignity: so the later words plainely disprove merits of congruity, that they might become righteous saith hee, they had no merits: for as in the same Epistle Augustine teacheth against bothsorts of merits. Sicut ab initio fidei misericordiam consequuti sumus, non quia fideles eramus, sed ut essemus; sic in fine quod e…it in vita aeterna, coronabit nos, sicut scriptum est in miseratione & miseric…rdia.
Secondly, as touching the other *Sicut merito peccatitanquam stipendium readitur mors: ita merito justitiae, tanquam stipendium vitu aeterna, which is repugnant to that of the Apostle Rom. 6. 23. if it be not understood of a free stipend as indeed Augustine doth understand it.Augustine indeed saith, that as the Apostle calleth death the stipend of sinne, so he might truly have called eternall life the stipend of righteousnesse. But yet hee could not say that it was debitum stipendium. Because the Apostle by way of opposition saith; that death is the stipend, meaning the due and deserved stipend of sinne, but eternall life is the free gift of God. Nay he saith the contrary, xIbid pag. 302.that it is not to be demanded tanquam debitum stipendium. And yDe gratia & lib. arb. c. 9.elsewhere, as we heard before; though the Apostle might have said, that eternall life is the stipend of righteousnesse; yet he would rather say, that it is the grace of God; that hereby we might understand, that God doth not bring us to eternall life by our merits, but by his merciemercy. And in the same hundred and fifth zAd Sixtum.Epistle. The stipend of sinne is death: and worthily it is called a stipend, because it is due, &c. Deinde ne justitia de humano se extolleret bono, sicut humanum meritum malum non dubitatur esse peccatum, non à contrario retulit dicens, stipendium justiti… vita aeterna, sed gratia (inquit) Dei vita aeterna—tanquam diceret; audito, quòd stipendium peccati est mors, quid te disponis extollere, & contrariam m…rti vitam aeternam tanquam debitum stipendium flagitare? But of this point I have spoken more than sufficiently when I urged aSupr. cap▪ 2. §. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.our fourth testimony out of Rom. 6. 23.
But the third testimony bDe merib. Ecclesia. cap. 25.Bellarmine chiefly urgeth, Vita aeterna est t…tum praemium, cujus promissione gaudemus. Eternall life is the whole reward in the promise whereof we doe rejoyce: nor can this reward come before merits be had, neither may it be given to a man before he be worthy. For what more unjust than this, and what more just than God? We must not therefore demand the reward, before wee merit to receive it.
Answ. Augustine, as himselfe cRetractat. l. 1. c. 7. Minus memorem scripturarum, in quibus non dum assuetus, eram.testifieth, wrote this booke when he was newly baptised, and as yet not accustomed or well versed in the Scriptures, and therefore if he should have written any thing therein contrary to that, which I have heretofore proved out of him, it ought not to prejudge those manifold pregnant Testimonies by mee cited before, which he wrought when he was of more mature judgement and of riper yeares. Notwithstanding out of this testimony such as it is, Bellarmin… collecteth five conclusions against us. First, that a man (he meaneth …o doubt a righteous man) hath the merits of eternall life; that is, as Bellarmine acknowledgeth Augustine to use the terme, that he hath good workes which God will reward with eternall life: and that we confesse.
Secondly, that eternall life is one and all our reward. But Augustine doth not say un…m, neither is it true. For temporall Blessings are also rewards dDeut. 28. 1. ad 15. 1 Tim. 4 10., though but petty rewards in comparison of eternall life: neither doth he say simply totum, but t…tum cujus promissione gaudemus. For, temporall benefits we are to use, but not to set our hearts upon them: but spirituall blessings are those wherein eLu…. 10 20.we are to rejoyce: them we use; these, we are to enjoy: for those are utenda, but these are sruenda.
Thirdly, that the reward of eternall life is given in justice, that we should not say, that it is given of meere liberality. But Augustine every where else teacheth, that it is given of grace, and that it is called grace, non ob aliud, nisi quia gratis datur, for no other cause but because it is fre…ly given, and that it is not grace, si non sit omni modo gratuita. Neither doth it hinder it to be of Gods free grace, that it is given in justice. For these two in the workes of God, especially in the worke of justification and salvation doe meet together. Grace and merciemercy in respect of us, in that he doth justifie and save us gratis byf Rom. 3. 24. his grace: justice, not in respect of our merits, which in justice can merit nothing at the hands of God but punishment: but partly in re…pect of Christs merits, unto which eternall life is due; and partly in respect of his promise made in Christ to all that truely beleeve; which promise he is faithfull and just to performe.
Fourthly, that the reward is not given before they be found worthy of it that shall have it, lest wee should fay, there is no dignity in workes. I answere, that our dignity standeth in Gods dignation or acceptation in Christ: which dignity he vouchsafeth to all that truely beleeve in Christ. For to them Christ gRom 10. 4.is the end and complement of the Law: insomuch, that whosoever beleeve in Christ, they are esteemed to have fulfilled the Law: Wee acknowledge the dignitie of good workes, as being the fruits of the Spirit, and as being good, profitable, and necessary: but no dignity of merit doe we ascribe to them. And yet the faithfull are not therefore unworthy, nor destitute of merits, so long as they are accepted in Christ, and made partakers of his merits by faith: Unto which faith Augustine useth to ascribe merit. For indeed faith is that worke of. hIoh. 6. 29.God, which hee requireth instead of all our merits, because by it wee are partakers of the merits of Christ: which whosoever hath is not without merits, nor unworthy of the Kingdome of Heaven.
Fifthly, that it is a most unjust thing to desire eternall life of God the most just judge, before we merit to receive it. Where, faith he, he plainely condemneth all Lutherans, who will not by their workes merit eternall life, and yet by assurance of faith they presume it shall be given them. Answ. If by his word, petere, he meane desiring by prayer, I say we must desire it, before we be worthy of it in our selves. But Augustine hath the word poscere, meaning, that no man ought to challeng or demand eternal life as his due, before he hath deserved to receive it: To which I answere, that none can deserve to receive it by their ow…e merits, and that none but Pharisees will challenge it. But yet all that truely beleeve in Christ doe in him deserve it, yea in him they have it: and he that will not beleeve this, he maketh God a lyar, 1 Ioh. 5. 10, 11. and therefore every one that knoweth himselfe to beleeve, doth or ought to know, that he hath eternall life, 1 Iohn 5. 13. He might have added a sixt collection, that nothing is more unjust, than that God should give rewards to men before they deserve them. But this sheweth the unsoundnesse of this Testimony, not beseeming Augustine. For what God giveth, he freely giveth; and in that which is grat…itum free, there is no unjustice. May not God doe with his owne iMatth. 5. 15.what pleafeth him: and therfore no unjustice, when he gave the whole dayes wages to them that had wrought but an houre, and therefore to such as had not deserved it. And if it be unjust with God to give the reward of eternall life to them that have not in their owne persons deserved it, what will he say of Gods dealing with the elect infants, who dying in their infancie are crowned with eternall life. This Testimonie therefore was but the assertion of an ungrounded Divine. And yet this Testimonie alone with our kMal. 686.Braggadochio is sufficient to put us all to silence.
Eighthly, His allegation of Prosper, justificatus homo, id est, ex impio Prosper Resp. ad c. 6. Gallo. rum.pius factus, nullo praecedente bono merito accipit donum, quo medio acquir at & meritum, maketh wholly against the merit of congruity, which with the Pelagians the Papists doe hold: but against us it hath nothing, except perhaps the word, merit, which is not against us in that sense, that he and Augustine use it, for a rewardable worke, which before justification men have not, but with their justification they receive grace, from which what good workes doe proceed, are to bee rewarded with eternall life.
Ninthly, the word merit being understood in that sense, as undoubtedlyCaele…inus epist. ad Gallos. c. 12. it is in all the Latine Fathers, we subscribe to the Testimonie of Caelestinus Bishop of Rome, as making for us, rather than against us. For having said, Dei gratiâ omnia hominis merita praeveniri, that all the good workes of men are prevented by Gods grace: hee addeth, Tant a est enim erga omnes homines bonitas Dei, ut nostra velit esse merita, quae sunt ipsius Dono, & pro his quae largitus est, aeterna premia sit donaturus, which notably setteth forth the unspeakable goodnesse of God to us, but not our desert towards him.
Tenthly, the like is to be said of his allegation out of Gregory, onGregory Moral. lib. 4. c. 42. those words of Iob c. 3. 19. (Parvus & magnus ibi sunt) quia in hac vita nobis est discretio operum, …rit in illa proculdubio discretio dignitatum: ut quo hic alius alium merito superat, illic a…ius alium retributione transcen…at: where he using promiscuously the words opera and merita, by merita understandeth opera bona proceeding from grace, which hee acknowledged to bee the free gifts of God. Wherefore his meaning is no more but this; that on those to whom in this life God doth give greater grace, he bestoweth in the life to come greater glory.
Eleventhly, in the last place hee alleageth Bernard, who in theBernard in Cantic. serm. 68. whole controversie of justification, and in this question of merits, is wholly ours. Out of him he citeth two Testimonies. The former, Merita habere cures, habita data noveris: perniciosa paupertas, pen…ria meritorum. Answ. Bernard useth ordinarily the word merit unproperly, according to the use of the Latine Fathers, meaning thereby good workes, and that either simply, or with relation to reward, that is to say, rewardable workes: such workes or merits, saith Bernard, we must be carefull to have; and having them, we must acknowledge them to bee Gods gifts: the penur… of them is lMat. 25. 41, 42.pernicious poverty. The other, mSerm. 81.Omne quod feceris bonum malúmve, quod quidem non facere liberum sit, meritò ad meritum deputatur. Answ. That is worthily accounted merit, that is a rewardable worke, which is free for a man not to doe. For what is not voluntary but forced, it deserveth not reward. But to speake of merits properly, as justly and condignely deserving a due and proportionable reward for the workes sake, Bernard acknowledgeth no merits, but the mercies of God and the merits of Christ: denying our workes to be our merits but Gods gifts, nor to be merits properly, or meritorious causes of our salvation, as I have shewed nSupr. c. 4. §. 6, 7before.
And these were all the testimonies of the Fathers, which Bellarmine thought good to produce: which when the Reader hath compared with those which I formerly alleaged, let him pronounce secundum allegata & probata, whether wee, or the Papists, have the consent of Antiquitie in this great question of merits.
§ IV. But to the testimonies of the Fathers Bellarmine adjoyneth the authority of foure Councels. The first whereof is the second Councell held at Aurenge oConcil. Aransuan. 2c. 18.in France. Debetur merces bonis operibus, si fiant, sed gratia qui non debetur, praecedit …t fiant. Reward is due to good workes when they bee wrought, but grace, which is not due, goeth before, that they may be wrought, which Canon as all the rest is collected out of the writings of Augustine, for the confutation of the Semi-pelagians, and is to bee understood according to the constant and perpetuall doctrine of pDe verbis Apostoli, serm. 16. De Verbis Dom. serm. 31.Augustine, that reward is due to good workes (not in respect of the dignity or worth of workes, but) in regard of Gods Promise. Now there is great difference betweene thatIn Psal. 32. 83. 109. which is due by desert, and that which is due by promise. For where a great reward is promised to a small worke, the reward is due by promise, but not by desert. But much more when eternall life is promised to our workes, betwixt which there is no proportion. Therefore though eternall life bee a reward due in regard of promise, yet it is a free and undeserved reward, and is therefore called foreign the free gift of God, or as Augustine useth to render it according to the vulgar Latine, gratia, and that in opposition to the wages or deserved reward of sinne, Rom. 6. 23. and is so called gratia, non …b aliud, nisi quia gratis datur, as I have shewed before.
As for the other three Popish Councels, viz. Lateranense, Florentinum, Tridentinum, they are not to bee accepted, as witnesses; but to be excepted against, as parties.
§ V. Wee have heard Bellarmines testimonies, both of Scriptures,Bellarmines reason. De justif. li. 5. c. 4. §. … ultimò. and Fathers; now wee should heare his reason, but that wee have heard, and confuted it before. In the last place, saith hee, there may bee added one evident reason from those things which were prooved in the former booke. For it hath beene demonstrated, that the good workes of the just are truely just, that they satisfie the Law of God, that they justifie a man, whereupon it followeth that they are truely meritorious. Whereunto I ret…rne this answere. First, to the Antecedent: that it hath beene sufficiently demonstrated, that the worke of just or justified men, though they may bee said to bee truely good, yet they are not pur…ly good, that they doe not satisfie the Law of God, that they doe not justifie a man before God: so farre are they from being truely meritorious. Secondly, to the consequence, that although they were truely good, although by them men did satisfie the law of God by doing all that is commanded: yet so long as men do but their duety, they must confesse themselves to bee but unprofitable servants, neither doe they merit any thing at the hands of God. For Debitum non est meritum, that which is debt is not merit. And if they could, (which they cannot,) by their obedience satisfie the commandement for the time to come; yet how shall they satisfie the penalty for their sinnes past? wherefore a servant is well apaied, as Theophylact said, if he escape the whippe, though hee cannot deserve so much as thankes, which is but a verball reward. But hee prooveth the consequence, because the chiefe reason why wee (poore heretikes) deny merits, is because wee thi…ke that no worke in this life is truely just; or doth satisfie the law, but that all our workes are mortall sinnes in their owne nature, &c. Answ. Though wee were heretickes (which hee with all his complices shall never bee able to prove) yet would it not become him to belie us. For neither doe wee denie the good workes of the faithfull to bee truely just, neither doe wee say, that they are sinnes and much lesse mortall sinnes, neither is that the chiefe reason why wee deny them to bee meritorious, as you may perceive by the reasons before alleaged, neither if that reason doe (as it doth) prove them not to bee meritorious, doth it follow, that therefore the contrary doth prove them to bee meritorious at the hands of God. For though they were not onelyonly truely, but also purely good, though they were not sinfull nor stayned with the flesh, as all are; yet so long as they are our duties, so long as they are Gods free gifts, so long as there is no proportion betweene them and the reward, so long as they are accompanied with manifold sinnes and infirmities, and so long as all the reasons before alleaged against merits stand in force: it followeth necessarily, that we neither doe or can by all the workes wee can performe, merit any good thing, and much lesse the eternall reward at the hands of God.