A treatise of original sin ... proving that it is

If my judgment were for Justification by Works,¹ as a condition thereof, as well as Faith, I should think it my duty, both in Preaching and Printing, as occasion serveth, to persuade the forbearing of the word Sola, when we say Faith Justifieth: For if God hath appointed Works, as well as Faith, how dare any man presume to say Faith alone. And thus we must receive the moderating advice of Cassander, who saith; Multis eruditis, & piis viris satius videtur & in concionibus ⟨image 303⟩popularibus vox illa (Sola) praetermittatur.

If my judgment were for Justification by Works,¹ as a condition thereof, as well as Faith, I should think it my duty, both in Preaching and Printing, as occasion serveth, to perswade the forbearing of the word Sola, when we say Faith Justifieth: For if God hath appointed Works, as well as Faith, how dare any man presume to say Faith alone. And thus we must receive the moderating advice of Cassander, who saith; Multis eruditis, & piis viris satius videtur & in concionibus ⟨image 303⟩popularibus vox illa (Sola) praetermittatur.

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I can grant, ¹that we are justified by Faith, as it is an instrument appointed by God, and as it is a condition; provided the conditionality of it be limited to the receptive Office of Faith, and Gods designment thereunto: But it cannot be an instrument applying, and a condition in the sense, my Reverend Brother contends for. When we say, Faith Justifieth as an applying means, then Christ and his Grace, is considered as donum oblatum; Faith being the hand that receiveth this Treasure. But when it Justifieth as a condition, in the sense asserted, it must be considered ut opus praestitum; whereby the Covenant is made good to us, which maketh two distinct kinds of Justification; which latter differeth from the Popish way only, ut magis & minus. They make Works merits and Causes: he Conditions, whereas not only causality, but conditionality, doth overthrow the alone Justification by Faith, and introduceth another way of Justification, then by application alone. Or if the learned Brother, will make Works a condition of Justification, when Faith alone doth begin and continue it, he will be necessarily involved in a contradiction. In what a sense I make Faith a Passive Instrument (but supernatural) I have in my former Treatise clearly explained, and so need not repeat it here again.