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IN that cruell war, of accursed memory, which was heretofore betweene the Church and the Pelagians, it was wont to bee often and very much questioned, To whom the Faith whereby we doe believe in God, and the good workes which we do to
his Glory, should be im∣puted; of whom they ought to be most truely predicated and declared to proceede; whether they were to be ascri∣bed wholly, to divine Grace, or to our free will, or partly to the one, and partly to the o∣ther, an equall division being made betweene both; for if these things be true (saith Pelagius) which you do declare, concerning the selfe power and liberty of our will, that it is altoge∣ther dead and of no effi∣cacy, it followeth, That it is not the man that beleeves, but God, That it is not the man which
shews mercy and is libe∣rall, That it is not hee that bestowes Almes, but God; and therefore surely there is not the least portion of praise or reward due thereby un∣to man, or to be expe∣cted by man. But all things are wholly to be ascribed to God, by whose sufficiency and assistance, all things which we seeme to doe are effected: And this is that strong Argument of which they bragged that no man could an∣swer it; they labou••ed also as much as they could, to do St. Hierome and St. Augustine a spight, and to bring
them into hatred, a∣mong those that were ignorant; which is plain∣ly all one, as if some bo∣dy should stirre up and cherrish such a contenti∣on as this, touching the Loadstone and Iron, To which of these two the power of drawing and lifting up things should be ascribed, Whether we should say properly, that the Iron or the Loadstone doth draw: Now if the power to give sentence should be in the Eyes or outward senses, all th•••••• praise should happen to the Iron, for if you put any weight upon the Load∣stone it falls, but if upon
the Iron wherewith it is armed, it is lifted and held up that it cannot fall, and an ignorant Rustick, being admitted to see, cries out, behold the Loadstone is slug∣gish, drawes little or no∣thing, it is the Iron which doth lift up and draw to it; But on the o∣ther side, if the Judge∣ment of this cause bee commit••ed to under∣standing and reason, all the praise of this power to draw, shall be resto∣red and given to the Loadstone; For a Philo∣sopher and learned Ar∣bitrator concludes, That the Iron doth nothing here, by its owne parti∣cular
powers, but by those of the Loadstone, by the abilities that pro∣ceed from the same. And a man being overcome by the same reason will confesse, that we being wrought upon by God, do performe all those things by divine assi∣stance, which we do ful∣fill as we should, And that all the praise and Glory, of faith and good workes, is to be acknow∣ledged as due unto God; Wherefore this Gordian knot which otherwise seemes unpossible to bee loosed, is easily cut asun∣der, by this strong sword, unlesse a man had rather draw still up and
down the same Sawe of Contention, and length∣en the Cord of strife without end; for I pray, vvhat if one, before men of understanding, should shevv a Loadstone ar∣med or harnessed vvith an Iron Helmet, dravv∣ing to it a huge burthen, vvould not all of them cast their eyes upon the Loadstone, and vvould not they be amazed and declare the vertue of it? on the contrary, vvould they not be silent, and not so much as mutter a little about the vertue of the Iron? Surely they vvould, and that not un∣justly, for if the Iron vvere a living Creature,
endued vvith reason and speech, it vvould most vvillingly breake out in∣to commendation of the Loadstone, and most gladly professe openly, That it could do nothing by its ovvne naturall povver, That the ability vvhich it hath is from a∣nother; That it is but a povver and vertue com∣municated by the Load∣stone, and infused into it no othervvise, than as the Moon must acknovv∣ledge, that she doth not shine by her ovvne, but by the beames of the Sunne; or a vvoman, that she is ennobled by the dignitie of her hus∣band. Hence it was,
that the Apostles, when they had healed a lame man before the doore of the Temple, did so much refuse all popular ap∣plause, saying; Yee men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or, Why look yee so earnestly on us, as though by our owne power and holinesse we had made this man to walk? The God of A∣braham, of Isaac, and of Iacob; the God of our fathers hath glorified his Son Iesus. Nor did St Paul deale in this case lesse warily and pru∣dently:* 1.1 Not I (saith he) but Christ was mightie in mee, by whose grace I am, what I am: who is Paul?
who is Apollo? who is Cephas? but Instruments and Ministers of God, by whom yee beleeved? Even as the Lord gave to everie man, I have planted, Apollo watered, but God gave the in∣crease. Hee that plan∣teth is nothing, the vineyard is Salomons. He let out the vineyard to vine-dressers, & kee∣pers; a thousand shekels or peeces of silver be∣long to Salomon; two hundred to those that keep the fruit.
1 Cor 3.