Of free justification

But if this Faith, that we profess, contained no other thing in it, ¹but that which they pretend to in their Books, I would be of the same Opinion, which they Preach: To wit, That it avails little to the procuring of Righteousness. That this may be the more evident, I would have Pious Readers listen to what those Men teach concerning Faith, and how they define it. And so they define it, that either through blindness they know not, or by dissimulation they make as if they knew not, what is the true Faith proposed to us in the Gospel for Righteousness. And that we may begin first at the Tridentines, they so define it, That it is a firm assent unto those things, that are revealed, and made manifest by God. And Osorius following these Men Collects ²the Universal Nature of Faith after a manner not much differing from them, That it is a firm and constant assent of the mind, stirred up by the Authority of the Speaker.

1. 1It is no wonder if Faith as it is defined by the Papists does not Justify.It is no wonder if Faith as it is defined by the Papists does not Iustifie.
2. 2The definition of Faith in Osor. lib. 2. Numb. 46.

But what this Faith is, which Osorius describes after this manner, let him look to that. Verily any Man may think it is not this Faith, which Paul speaks of, in disputing of Righteousness, or ¹to which we from the Authority of Paul affirm that Righteousness should be attributed properly. Though in the mean while we deny not, that this Faith is true, which is asserted by Osorius and others, ⟨p. 280⟩whereby, for the Authority of the Church teaching, we believe whatsoever things belong to Religion; which though they are not seen, as Lombard says, yet