Pap. We firmly believe that no force of Nature, nor dignity of our best Works, can merit Justification; but we are justifi'd freely by Grace through the Redemption that is Christ Jesus.
Answ. The Roman Catholick is so far from firmly believing what he says, that upon his own avow'd Principles he believes nothing less firmly. Can any sober Person think, that to be justified for the sake of Works is to be justified by Grace? If so, Contradictions are most Reconcilable, Darkness may not unaptly be tearm'd Light: this is the very Case that Paul of old strenuously argu'd against the Meritorians of his time, If of Grace then not of Works; if of Works, then not of Grace.
It is to mock the World to say, That Romanists expect to be justified by Grace, who have for Ages impleaded that Doctrine, as Dangerous and Heritical: Bellarmine in his Discourse of this Point is most plain, and more modern Authors follow his steps; But they say.
Pap. All other Merits (according tour sense of that word) signifies no more then Actions done by the assistance of God's Grace, to which he has promised a Reward —— thus we believe the Merit or Rewardableness
Answ. Methinks these men are run to a narrow straight, who venture to reconcile Merits and Grace: They cannot wholly be divorced from Merits, and yet would they fain espouse Grace; & by seeking to wed both, they do not a little manifest their own palliated Designs: for either they must confess themselves, and all their Ancestors most ignorant Persons, that they could never find any distinction betwixt Merit and Grace before; or else they would retain the force of their Meritorious Opinion, under their more general Concession of Gods Grace; a way of evading, they are not a little skilled at.
Nor is there less difference betwixt Merit and Rewardableness, as they phrase it, then betwixt the Middle and the End: Grace and Merit, as stated by Calvinists and Papists, are taken, For Faith without Works, and Works without Faith, like the two Poles; Doctrines the most opposit; now Rewardableness is neither, but something in the middle, and indeed the most true; for, Grace is a free Gift, requiring nothing: Merit, is a Work proportioned to the wages: Rewardableness is a Work without which God will not bestow his favour, and yet not the meritorious cause; for that there is no proportion betwixt the Work that is finite and temporary, and the Reward which is infinite and eternal; in which sense both the Creature obeys the Commands of God, and does not merit, but obtain only; and God rewards the Creature, and yet so as that he gives too. But the Papists are very far from this medium, and their shuffling this Doctrine of Merit, betwixt Grace and Rewardableness, only shews how unwilling they are to venture it in the plain Field, and not that any thing of resemblance is betwixt it and them, they being of three distinct Natures and Significations.
Besides, 'tis wretched to think by what wayes the abused Romanists fancy to merit Justification; not by keeping the moral Law, as we shall shew anon; not by fulfilling the evangelical Precepts, but by their vain Repetitions of their Ave-Marias, Beads, Fasts, Feates, Holy-dayes, Adoration of Images, Frequenting of Masses, Praying