Faith. 58
words: "You were not worthy, whom He might glorify being justified, He crowned you in His mercy and pity. If you have prevented Him by any merits, examine then your merits," says God, "and you shall find that they are My gifts." Anselm likewise (de mensurat. cru.) says more plainly than any, "If a man should serve God with greatest fervency a thousand years long, yet should not all his deserts be worth the staying one half day in heaven." Look in Gregory of Arimin
(in 1 d. 17, q. 1, art. 2); Durand. (in 2 d. 27, q. 2 and in 3 d. 18, q. 2); Waldensis (tom. 3 de Sacra c. 7); Burgensis (in additio. ad Lyram super Psal. 35); Scotus (in 1 Sent., d. 17, q. 2) thinks that our good works have no proportion with eternal life, and he therefore accepted of God for reward. "You must know," says Cusanus (precit. lib. 9),
"that Christ's death only was of ability to merit everlasting life, because it being a consummate death, merits an eternal life. None of all the other martyrs do merit eternal life by their death, because all other death of whomsoever comes short of the greatest death, which only merits the greatest, that is, everlasting life."
Faith 1. The fathers affirm faith to justify a man not by disposing him inwardly, or preparing him, but by apprehending Christ and applying of Him, which is, when we do stay ourselves upon the mercy of God and merits of Christ, holding God as favorable unto us in Christ.
"This is set down by God," says Ambrose (in 1 Cor. 1), "that whosoever believes in Christ shall be saved without works, receiving by his only faith free remission of all his sins." And Isichius upon Leviticus (lib. 4, cap. 2): "Grace is given out of mercy and compassion and obtained by faith alone." And Marius Victor has these words (in Gen. 3):
, but he Believed, and this sole faith he did confess, Was held a worthy crown of righteousness:
Thus we by Abraham's great reward are taught, By faith in God's true word what good is caught.
"As soon as ever a man believes," says Chrysostom, in Rom. 3, hom.
7, "he is forthwith justified." And in his commentaries upon the Hebrews, cap. 11, hom. 23, after he has spoken of the promises made unto the patriarchs, he adds, "These by their only faith conceived an assured trust of these things, seeing them afar off, four generations ere they came to pass. So firmly were they persuaded of them, that they did as it were salute them coming. You see that this receiving of theirs was but an expectation and trust of them. If therefore to trust be to receive, then may we also receive." And it is Augustine's opinion in Prosper, in Sent. 352, that the faith of Christ is to believe in Him that justifies the wicked; to believe in the Mediator without whom no man is reconciled unto God; to believe in the Savior who came to seek and save that which was lost; to believe in Him that said you can do nothing without Me. "Now what it is to believe in Him that justifies the wicked?" the same father, Tract. 29, in Joan. lays down, saying, "What is it then to believe in Him? In believing
Him to love Him; in believing Him to depend upon Him; in believing Him to turn unto Him; and to be incorporated into His body." And in other places, and that very often, he uses to affirm that to believe in God is to cleave unto God, and to bend towards God. Look in his narration upon the 77th Psalm, in his 54th tractate upon John, and in his 181st sermon de tempore. He also in his 26th tractate upon John says, "Whoso believes in Him, eats Him and is invisibly fed, because invisibly regenerate." And in his 50th tractate upon John:
"How shall I reach my hand unto heaven, and lay hold of Him as He sits there? Why, send but up your faith, and you have hold of Him."
And sermon 33, de verb. Dom.: "Behold, we believe in Christ whom we have received through faith; and in our receiving Him we know what to think upon. We receive but a little, and yet our hearts are fed fat therewith."
So Bertram, in his book of the body and blood of Christ, says thus:
"This body is not to be received, beheld, or eaten with the senses of the flesh, but with attention of a faithful soul." And the decretals themselves, de consecrat. d. 2, counsel us in this manner: "Behold the holy body and blood of your Lord with faith; honor and admire it, touch it with your mind, receive it with the hand of your heart, and take it wholly with the endeavor of the inward man." And Lombard,
Sent., lib. 3, dist. 19, says, "We are said also to be otherwise justified by the blood of Christ, namely, in that we are cleansed from our sins by the faith of His death. And therefore, says the apostle, 'the righteousness of God (in us) is through the faith of Jesus Christ.'"
And by and by after he says, "'Whom God has made a propitiator by faith in His blood,' that is, by the faith of His passion. If therefore we behold Him that died upon the cross for us with the eye of faith, we are loosed from the bands of the devil, that is, from our sins."
2. That the justification of our souls by faith consists not in apprehension, but in inward preparation and disposition, it is a fantastic invention of the schoolmen.
3. The fathers do hold faith only to be requisite unto justification, even without the works of grace. "We must especially believe," says
Augustine, Serm. 181, de temp., "the remission of sins, for this is the only remedy which looses man from the sentence of death eternal."
"I am able to show," says Chrysostom (Hom. de Fide & Lege Natura), "that a faithful man has both lived in this life without works, and has attained unto the kingdom of heaven. And the thief only believed and
was justified. But I dare affirm that only faith by itself has saved some." And in Hom. 7, in cap. 3 Roman.: "What is the law of faith?" says he. "To be saved by grace. Here he shows the power of God in that He not only saved us, but also justified and glorified us, and that without use of any works, exacting only faith of us."
"We have not believed of our own accord," says Theodoret (in Eph.
2), "but came being called, and when we are come, He does not exact purity and innocence of life, but has pardoned our sins accepting of faith only."
"This it is to glory in the Lord," says Basil (Serm. de Hum.), "when a man is not puffed up with his own righteousness, but acknowledges himself destitute of all true righteousness, and justified by faith alone in Jesus Christ."
"They are justified before God," says Ambrose (in Roman. 4), "without any labor or toil, by only faith, no works of penitence being hereto required, but only that they believe."
Origen upon the 3rd of the Romans, after he has alleged the example of Paul, says, "Therefore the just cause of man's glorying is in the faith of the cross of Christ, which excludes all glorying that proceeds from the works of the law."
Augustine, against Pelagius's 2nd epistle (lib. 1, cap. 21), says that, "Of how great holiness soever the saints of either the New or Old
Testament are said to be, yet nothing saved them but faith in the Mediator, who shed His blood for the remission of their sins."
"That a man should be saved by his faith that has no good works, it may be, is not a thing out of custom," says Chrysostom (in Rom. 4, hom. 8). "But to see a man who is noted for good works, not to be
saved by them, but by faith, this is an admirable thing, and makes a most manifest demonstration of the efficacy and power of faith." And in Hom. 14, in cap. 8: "We offer but one gift unto God, namely in believing His promises of things to come, and by this only way we are brought unto salvation."
4. Whensoever the fathers do join faith and works together in the matter of our salvation, they speak of an historical and general faith, which is only a knowledge and universal assent, or otherwise of the external profession of faith; or also of faith as it is the pathway to salvation. For although faith, as it is the instrument or means to apprehend Christ unto righteousness and salvation be alone and unjoined with any other mean, yet as it is the way unto salvation, it is not alone. Whence we acknowledge that faith alone is not sufficient unto salvation, and to live a good life by, but must have the assistance of good works and other virtues.
"The help of repentance," says Lactantius (de Divin. Instit. Epit., ca.
9), "is great; which whosoever casts away, bars himself of the way of salvation."
"Some do purge away their sins, by watching," says Chrysostom (in Joan., hom. 38). "You may do this an easier way, namely, by exercising patience unto all men."
"By works of righteousness," says Eucherius (in Reg., lib. 3), "we come to the kingdom of heaven. And we cannot come to these everlasting joys, but by faith, and works of justice." And again, "Let them begin at faith and continue to the end of their journey in good manners, until they come whither they intend" (in Gen., lib. 3).
"Let us make pity our patron in this world," says Caesarius (Hom.
15), "that it may deliver us in the world to come. For there is mercy in
heaven, which is obtained by exercising mercy here upon earth."
"Some hasten unto God by fasting," says Haimo (sup. Psal. 135), "others by alms, and others by other virtues." "Let us hasten unto our country in heaven by doing good works," says another, viz. Ideot.,
Contemp., lib. 2, cap. 15. And Rabanus says there are many fruits of repentance by which a man may attain unto the clearing of his crimes.
5. Sometimes the fathers, joining works to faith, do speak of faith as it is a persuasion of the impunity and freedom of sins, without penitence, or as it is an imperfect virtue, unto which other virtues are therefore to be joined.
6. The fathers do acknowledge a special and infallible certainty of faith in God. "Trust in God," says Remigius, Altisiodorensis in Psal.
10. That is, "All my faith is in Christ. By Him only I believe to be justified and saved; He is my rock, He is my refuge."
"He that believes with a strong affection," says Theophylact, "extends his heart wholly unto God, and what then? He is united to him. And his heart being enkindled, conceives a most certain assurance to be made partaker of His desire. This do all men find true by experience."
"If you believe that your sins cannot be forgiven," says Bernard (in Mar. 11, De Annum. Serm. 1), "but by Him whom only you did sin against, and who Himself cannot sin, you do well. But add this, that you believe that by Him they may be forgiven; this is the testimony that the Holy Ghost sets down in your heart, saying your sins are forgiven you." And again (epist. 107): "Who is righteous but he that recompenses God's love with his love again? And this is never done but when the Holy Ghost by faith reveals unto man God's purpose
from everlasting, concerning his future salvation." And (ser. 5, Dedica.): "Here it is most plainly necessary that faith do succor us, that that which lies hidden concerning us in the heart of the Father, may by His Spirit be revealed unto us, and the same Spirit testifying unto us, may persuade our spirits that we are the sons of God, and may persuade us by calling us, and justifying us freely by faith." And again elsewhere: "We know that we are translated from death to life by this quickening Spirit, and by a certain and daily experiment (the same Spirit enlightening us) we do prove, that our prayers and contrition do come from Him, and ascend unto God, before whose eyes they do find mercy." And in his eighth sermon upon the Canticles: "What soul among you all," says he, "has at some times felt the Spirit of the Son in his secret conscience, crying Abba, Father. Let that, O let that soul presume boldly, that it is beloved with a fatherly affection that finds itself affected with the same Spirit that affected the Son. Trust to it (you soul whatsoever you are). Trust unto it, and never doubt at anything." And in his 69th sermon he has these words: "Nothing can forbid this soul to say, 'God is my beloved,' which in that it feels itself to love, and to love vehemently, doubts not but that it is beloved, as ardently and as vehemently. And of the singular intent, desire, care, labor, diligence, and study that it shows in endeavoring so incessantly and earnestly to please God, undoubtedly acknowledges all these in itself, remembering that promise, therefore by its own proper affects, it knows how God is affected, and doubts not that it is beloved again, seeing itself loves."
"There is a certain kind of glorying in a man's conscience," says Augustine (in Psal. 149), "and that is, when you know your faith to be sincere, your hope to be infallible, your charity to be unfeigned." And in his 75th tractate upon John, he says this saying: "For now is He in us, and we in Him, but this as now we do but believe, but then we shall know also, although we
"We know it already by believing, but then we shall know it by contemplating." And in another place, in his 13th book of the Trinity, cap. 1 and 2, he says: "Every man that believes, sees faith to be in his heart, and he that believes not, sees that faith is not in his heart."
"The mind that is replenished with the Holy Ghost," says Gregory, Dial., lib. 1, chapter 1, "has most evident signs thereof, namely, virtues and humility, which if they do perfectly concur in one mind, it is certain that they do bring assured testimony of the presence of the Holy Ghost." And in the sixth book of his register, chapter 187, "The soul that thirsts for God is first touched with fear, and then with love.
But when the fear is worn out with the continual languishment of sorrow, then at last enters some security and hope of the presuming of pardon." And in his Morals, lib. 31, cap. 23, he says that "The security of the righteous man is fitly compared unto a lion, who when he sees any come against him, betakes himself to his wonted (or usual) courage. So the other knows that he shall overcome all adversaries, because he loves Him only whom against His will he can never fall from."
"There is abiding in us," says Cyprian, ad Dem., "a fortitude of hope, and a firmness of faith, and an upright and vigorous heart (even among the greatest ruins of this declining world), and a patience always rejoicing, and a soul always secure of the favor of his God."
And de Caena elsewhere: "Our affection knowing itself cured and sanctified, washes itself with tears. And in His (God's) presence these well-shed tears do beg for pardon."
"Let the hearts of the faithful," says Leo, Sermon 10, de quadr., "examine themselves, that finding in themselves any fruits of charity laid up, they may know without all doubt that God is in them." And Sermon 8, de Epiphan.: "He that will try whether God do dwell
within him or no, if he diligently examines the inward parts of his heart, and finds therein the love of God and his neighbor, assuredly and without dissimilation, he need not doubt that God both governs him and dwells in him."
"He gave Him for us," says Ambrose, de Jacob & vit. beat., lib. 1, cap.
6, "therefore there is no doubt that we need fear anything should be denied us; there is no cause for us to doubt of the continuance of God's munificence towards us." And again, Sermon 7, in Psal. 118,
"He that has a good conscience is not troubled nor in doubt, but constantly affirms, 'We be the heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.'" And in one of the sermons under his name, he says,
"Whosoever sticks fast unto that leaven Christ, shall also be converted into leaven, as well helpful to himself as convenient unto others, and certain of his salvation and secure of the calling and gaining of others."
"By this that the Holy Ghost infuses charity into us," says Anselm, in Rom. 8, "He declares unto our hearts by an evident testimony that we are the children of God." And, in 1 Cor. 2, "We know by His Spirit, that we have both His gifts, and also received them of Him." And again, "He that has the feeling of faith in his heart, this man knows that Christ is in him," in 2 Cor. 13.
"Whensoever any man feels himself so affected either with his own sins or with others, as we have said," says Basil, Reg contract. q. 296,
"then (plhroforhqhtw) let him undoubtedly know that he is free from sin."
And Cyril upon John, lib. 10, cap. 3, "Besides this general knowledge also sets down another, namely, by which the faithful, having received illumination from the Spirit, do with the eyes of their mind see God dwelling in them." "This is not," says he, "the common and
general knowledge of the saints but another, far more clear and more certain, and far differing from that other general knowledge."
"Let us bring faith and obedience," says Chrysostom (in Gen. cap. 29, hom. 54), "and believe as confidently upon God's promises as though they were already performed." And again (in Rom. 8, hom. 14):
"Seeing we have the testimony of that supreme essence, who gives us what He promises, and also commands us to ask, who can from henceforth doubt of this dignity?"
"When these three are sealed in the mind," says Hales (sup. 2, dist.
12, q. 20), ", light, gladness, and peace, it is a most sure experiment that the soul has grace."
Yea, Thomas Aquinas (l. 2, q. 112, art. 5) and the most ancient of the schoolmen do rather deny the certainty of knowledge than of faith. "I believe that I have faith," says Scotus (lib. 3, dist. 23) and so affirm all the modern writers. The Enchiridion of Colen teaches that it is necessary unto justification for everyone to believe certainly that his sins are forgiven him. So Catharinus teaches and defends that the faithful may have assurance of faith concerning grace in this life. And Cajetan (in Rom. 8) says that, "The testimony of the Spirit is a gift by which I neither see, nor know, but I believe that I am the son of God." So Marinarius, the Carmelite friar, in his oration unto the Council of Trent, anno 1546, says: "Let a man abhor the fruitless confidence in his own worth, and depend wholly upon God's mercy; let him hold God to be always present with him as a most merciful
Father, from whom he is always to expect all joy and all felicity. Nor ought he ever to let this persuasion go out of his mind, although he be molested with the most intolerable and infinite difficulties that the world, the flesh, and the devil can any ways inflict to withdraw us from our trust upon God and His divine worship." And, "Wherefore,
they never wander in the labyrinth of doubt that have obtained righteousness through Christ, but living in security of conscience, in peace of mind, in joy of heart, and taught by that Spirit which testifies unto them that they are the sons of God, they dare be bold to say, 'Abba Father.'"
7. Where the fathers do sometimes seem to deny the special assurance of faith, they do speak of presumption or the carnal security wherein men do dream of lib.ty and peace without temptation and hazard. "Which of all the company of the faithful," says Saint Augustine (de cor. et grat., cap. 13), "dares presume that he is of the number of the predestinate, as long as he lives here upon the earth?"
Sometimes they speak of the certainty of continuance unto the end without fall or defect. "And in this sense," says Augustine (De civit.
Dei, lib. 11, cap. 12), "who is he that knows that he shall persevere in increase and acts of justice until the end? Unless he be instructed of this by revelation from Him that instructs all concerning this matter by His just and secret judgment and deceives no man."
Sometimes they speak of the assurance of experience, which is always after the event of the thing. Sometimes of the certainty of grace and salvation of others. Sometimes of assurance by special revelation, or privileged assurance, not the ordinary certainty contained in the Word and sacraments. Sometimes of the demonstrative assurance, begetting knowledge in the mind by peculiar and proper principles, not of the assurance of faith. And sometimes of that certainty which is without any signs or tokens, called the certainty of evidence.
8. The special and particular assurance of faith was never condemned for heresy before the Council of Trent condemned it.