A40370:397
Of free justification
Of free justification by Christ written first in Latin by John Fox, author of the Book of martyrs, against Osorius, &c. and now translated into English, for the benefit of those who love their own souls, and would not be mistaken in so great a point.Of free justification by Christ written first in Latine by John Fox, author of the Book of martyrs, against Osorius, &c. and now translated into English, for the benefit of those who love their own souls, and would not be mistaken in so great a point.
London: printed for Tho. Parkhurst, 1694
Book 1 › Concerning the Grace of God, how it is defined by Osorius, with a c… › Argument.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
I answer to the minor by denying; for that which is the proper 1definition of Grace, doth not agree to Righteousness, seeing the things themselves do very much differ from one another, both as to their Effects, and as to ⟨p. 208⟩their Causes. For, if we believe Thomas, Grace is the Principle, and Cause of Justice, and of all Virtues. Justice is not the cause of Grace, but rather an effect thereof. Yea, Albertus Ratisponensis does not much 2differ from the opinion of Thomas; who commenting upon the same sentence, in the same Dist. Ar. 4. saith thus.
I answer to the minor by denying; for that which is the proper 1definition of Grace, doth not agree to Righteousness, seeing the things themselves do very much differ from one another, both as to their Effects, and as to ⟨p. 208⟩their Causes. For, if we believe Thomas, Grace is the Principle, and Cause of Iustice, and of all Vertues. Iustice is not the cause of Grace, but rather an effect thereof. Yea, Albertus Ratisponensis does not much 2differ from the opinion of Thomas; who commenting upon the same sentence, in the same Dist. Ar. 4. saith thus.
- 1An Answer to the Argument.
- 2Albertus magnus in Sentent. lib. 2. Dist. 16. Ar. 4.
Grace is a habit of Life universally well ordered, not according to the degrees of things ordered, but as it is called a Relation of the whole Life to the obtaining of the End. But Justice doth not this, nor Virtue; for Justice doth not necessarily make worthy of Eternal Life, upon the account that it is Justice, or Virtue, &c. What if the proper and true cause which reconciles us to the love of God, and makes us worthy of Eternal Life, should be searched for. We shall find, that it lies not in the Works of Justice, but that it proceeds from another cause.