A Case for the Spectacles, Chapter 9 · Section 1
CONCERNING IVSTIFICATION BY FAITH ONLY. Spectacles Chap. 9. Sect. 1.
THE Knight faileth in the proofe of his first point of Iustification, producing but one only place out of a booke intituled, Ordo baptizandi & visitandi, and that of no speciall good authoritie, as hee alledgeth it out of Cassander an Author placed in the first Classis in the first index librorum prohibitorum; and even in that which he alledgeth, there is nothing that doth not very well stand being rightly understood with the Catholique faith which wee now professe, for there is nothing but that which was shewed before out of Bellarmine, to wit, that in regard of the uncertaintie of our owne justice, that is, whether wee bee just or no, and for the perill of vaine-glory it is most safe to put our whole confidence in the sole mercy and benignitie of God; Which word sole, doth import confidence in that, and in nothing else with which it may stand very well, that men in the favour and grace of God may doe workes meritorious of encrease of grace and glory, which is the controversie betweene us and heretiques.
The Hammer.
aEras. Apoph. Laconum.AS David cut off Goliahs head with his owne Sword, and Brasidas ranne through his Antagonist with his owne Speare, and Iustine Martyr refuteth the Philosophers out of the principles of Nature; and Constantine the ancient Romans out of the Oracles of Sibylla, and Eusebius the Gentiles out of their owne Historians,bCredis te non posse nisi per mortem Christi servari? respondet insirmus; etiam, tum illi dicitur age ergo dum super est in te anima in hac sola morte fiduciam tuam constitue, in nulla alia re fiducium habe, huic morti te totum cōmitte, hac solâ te totum contege: fi dixerit tibi quod meruisti damnationem, dic, Domine, mortem, D. nostri Iesu Christi obtendo inter me, & mala merita mea ipsius{que} meritum, offero pro merito quod ego debuissem habere, nec habeo: credis quod Dom: noster Iesus Christus pro nostrâ salute mortuus fit? & quod ex proprijs meritis vel alio modo nullus posset salvari nisi merito passionis ejus? Impres. Venet. 1575. and S. Paul the Athenians out of their owne Poets: so doth the Knight here in a litigious case, of greatest moment, convince the Iesuite out of his owne evidence a booke intituled, The forme and order of baptizing and visiting the sicke; printed and reprinted, and practised for many hundred yeares without any check, or controle. In this booke the Priest is directed to put this question to the sick; Dost thou beleeve that thou canst not be saved but by the death of Christ? the sicke person answereth; I beleeve; then the Priest goeth on saying, Goe too therefore as long as thy soule remaines in thee, place thy whole confidence in this death only, have confidence in no other thing, commit thy selfe wholly to this death, with this alone cover thy selfe wholly, if hee say unto thee, thou hast deserved damnation, say Lord, I set the death of our Lord Iesus Christ betwixt mee and my bad merits, and I offer his merit in stead of the merits which I ought to have and yet have not. What could Luther or Calvin, or Zuinglius, or Peter Martyr, or any Protestant in the world speake more expressely for the renouncing all merit, and relying upon Christ wholly and solely for justification and salvation? Yet our Spectacle-maker by a false glosse, as it were, a false glasse, would make us beleeve, that the author of the Liturgie cast his eyes another way, and that this allegation maketh nothing for us.
First, he excepteth against this Authour as a single witnesse, you produce, saith he, but one only place out of one authour, &c. I answer as the Lionesse doth in the fable to the aemulous beast twitting her,cAesop. Fab. that whereas other females had many young ones at once, shee had but one, ac pol leonem inquit; but, saith shee, that one is a Lion of more worth then twenty whelpes: so I grant, that in this place hee insisteth but upon one allegation, but it is a most remarkable one; It is very likely that this ordo visitandi, as other parts of the Liturgie and Catechismes, and confessions might bee penned by one man: yet after they are generally received, and approved, and passe currant for many ages, they carry the authoritie of many, yea the whole Church; and howsoever the Iesuite would intimate that the Authour was an anonymus, yet hee might have learned from their greatdHosius Conf. Petricon. c. 73 Sed & Anselmus Cartuar. Interrogat quasdam praescripsisse dicitur infirmis in extremis constitutis. Cardinall Hosius that hee was the famous Archbishop of Canterburie. Neither is ther any reason to make scruple thereof, for it hath beene anciently printed with his Workes, and passed under his name, and both the style and the doctrine in it is very conformable to that wee find in his unquestionable writings, as namely in his Comment upon Romans chapter the eight (v. 18.) I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthie to bee compared with the glorie which shall bee revealed in us if a man, saith he,eSi homo mille annis serviret Deo etiam ferventissimè, non mereretur ex condigno dimidium diem esse in regno coelorum. should serve God a thousand yeares, and that most fervently, he should not deserve of condignity to bee halfe a day in the kingdome of heaven. Neither is Cassanders testimonie of this booke (at which the Iesuite gives so many a flert) to be sleighted, for he was a man of eminent note, and in high esteeme among the learned of his age, hee was a favourite of two great Emperours, and lived and died in good reputation, as appeareth by the sundrie encomiums before his Workes; as also the Epitaph on his Tombe. As for the setting him in the first Classis of prohibited bookes, no whit ecclipseth the glorie, but rather enobleth him, for that Index is a kind of Ecclesiasticall ostracisme, by which the Romanists banish as farre as their power stretcheth, the most eminent Authours, and most free and ingenuous professors of the truth. AsfTertul in Apologet. c. 5. consulite commentarios vestros illio reperietis primum Neronem in hanc Sectam Romae orientē Caesariano gladio ferocisse. Sed tali dedicatore damnanionisnostrae etiam gloriamus qui enim scit illum intelligere potest non nisi grande aliquod bonum à Nerone damnatum. Tertullian draweth an argument to prove the sincerity and holinesse of the Christian Religion from the barbarous decree of wicked Nero against the professours thereof; it must needs, saith hee, bee singular good which that damned monster condemnes: so if any man peruse the Authours censured, and the passages expunged in the Index expurgatorius, hee shall find them to be of speciall note, and singular use. Albeit the Inquisitors pretend that they change not, nor blot out any thing, but onelyonly where manifest errour is crept in, and that since the yeare 1515. Yet the Knight hath demonstrated before by undeniable instances in all ages, that they blot out of the Index of the Bible, the writings of the ancient Fathers; and since 800. yeares out of the Doctours of their owne Church, what maketh most against their errours and superstitions. Yea, but saith the Iesuite, this supposed booke of Anselme hath beene printed, and reprinted by heretiques, and therefore may well fall under the Inquisitions censure; so hath Ignatius, Cyprian, Theodoret, and Ambrose, and Austine; yea and the originalls of the old and new Testament, and must they therefore come under their file, and bee subject to their Index correction? AsgIohn 18.23 Christ spake to the high Priests servant; If I have spoken ill, beare witnesse of the ill, if well, why smitest thou mee? So say wee of these bookes printed and reprinted by those whom hee tearmes heretiques, because they impugne his errours and heresies, if they have printed ought amisse declare it: if not, why doe you prohibit or correct their impressions?
Well (saith he) for all this, if the worst come to the worst, if this Authour prove to be S. Anselme and his words Gospell, the Knight gaines nothing by it, or we lose, for though it bee the safest way to cast anchour at the last in the bottome of Gods merciemercy, and put our whole confidence in Christs merits, it doth not from hence follow, but that men may doe workes meritorious of increase of grace and glory. First, why doth he lispe here, and not speake plaine out the Romish tenet which is that our Workes doe merit not only increase of grace and glorie, but remission of sinnes, and hConcil. Trid. Sess. 6. c 32. Si quis dixerit hominis justificati opera non verè mereri augmentū gratiae & vitam aeternam, & ipfius vitae aeternae, si tamen in gratiò decesserit, consecutionem, Anathema fit.eternall life? Next, I would faine know how mercy and merit, nay sole mercy and merit can stand together? Certainly as mercy excludeth merit, so sole mercy all merit. Can those workes which in S. Anselmes judgement will not beare scale in Gods ballance, weigh downe super-excellens pondus gloriae, a super-excellent weight of glorie? Certainly the Spectacle-maker put in a burning glasse into his Spectacles which hath much impaired his eye-sight, or else hee could not but reade S. Anselmes words in this place, in which he renounceth all merit, and that in most direct and expresse tearmes, I beleeve that none can bee saved by his owne merits, Vid loc. sup. cit. p. 4.or by any other meanes, but by the merit of Christs passion. I set the death of Christ betwixt mee and my bad merits, and I offer his merits in stead of the merits which I ought to have, and have not.