2 Timothy — Chapter 4

And vvhen you heare or read any thing in the Scriptures, that may seeme to derogate from mans vvorkes in this case, it is alvvaies meant of vvorkes considered in their ovvne nature and valure, not implying the grace of Christ, by vvhich grace it commeth, & not of the vvorke in itself that vve haue a right to heauen & deserue it vvorthily: vvhich the Apostle in the 6. to the Hebrues more then insinuateth, saying these vvordes, God is not vniust, to forget your vvorke & loue vvhich you haue shevved in his name & c. It is not of vs, but of God's grace, that workes be meriorious. As though he vvould say, that he vvere vniust if he did forget to recompense their vvorkes. *The parable also of the men sent into the vineyard, proueth that heauen is our ovvne right, bargained for and vvrought for, and accordingly paid vnto vs as our hire at the day of iudgement, for that is merces and μισθὸς vvhereby the Scripture so often calleth it. It is the goale, the marke, the price, the hire, of al striuing, running, labouring, due both by promis and by couenant and right dette. To such good vvorkes heauen is due: to say the contrarie, is to derogate from Gods grace. See a notable place in S. Augustine in Psal. 83 in fine: and 100 in initio, & ho. 14 c. 2. li. 50 hom: S. Cyprian also, and namely the later end of his booke de opere & eleemosyna: and thou shalt easily contemne the contrarie falshod, vvhich doth not so much derogate from mans vvorkes, as from Gods grace vvhich is the cause and ground of al vvorthines in mans merites. S. Augustines vvordes be these, Marke that be to vvhom our Lord gaue grace, hath our Lord also his detter. He found him a giuer, in the time of mercie: he hath him his detter in the time of iudgement. See the place and the rest here coted, vvhere he examineth and explicateth the matter at large. Mat. 20. In Ps. 100

3. There shal be a time.) The Apostle prophecied of our new delicate Preachers. If euer this time come (as needes it must that the Apostle foresavv and foretold) novv it is vndoubtedly. for the properties fall so iust in euery point vpon our nevv Maisters and their Disciples, that they may seeme to be pourtered out, rather then prophecied of. Neuer vvere there such delicate Doctors that could so pleasantly clavv and so svveetly rubbe the itching eares of their hearers, as these, vvhich haue a doctrine framed for euery mans phansie, lust, liking and desire, the people not so fast crying, Speake placentia, things that please: but the Maisters as fast vvarranting them to doe placentia. Esa. 30. v. 10.

8. A crowne of iustice.) Workes meritorious. This place conuinceth for the Catholikes, that al good vvorkes done by Gods grace after the first iustification, be truely and properly meritorious, and fully vvorthy of euerlasting life: and that therevpon heauen is the due and iust stipend, crovvne, or recompense, vvhich God by his iustice ovveth to the persons so vvorking by his grace. How heauen is due both of iustice and mercie. for he rendreth or repaieth heauen as a iust iudge, and not onely as a merciful giuer. and the crovvne vvhich he paieth, is not onely of mercie or fauour or grace, but also of iustice. It is his merciful fauour and grace, that vve vvorke vvel & merite heauen: it is his iustice, for those merites to giue vs a crovvne correspondent in heauen. S. Augustine vpon these vvordes of the Apostle, expresseth both breifely thus, Hovv should he repay as a iust iudge, unles he had first giuen as a merciful father? Li. de grat. & lib. arbit. c. 6. And vvhen you heare or read any thing in the Scriptures, that may seeme to derogate from mans vvorkes in this case, it is alvvaies meant of vvorkes considered in their ovvne nature and valure, not implying the grace of Christ, by vvhich grace it commeth, & not of the vvorke in itself that vve haue a right to heauen & deserue it vvorthily: vvhich the Apostle in the 6. to the Hebrues more then insinuateth, saying these vvordes, God is not vniust, to forget your vvorke & loue vvhich you haue shevved in his name & c. It is not of vs, but of God's grace, that workes be meriorious. As though he vvould say, that he vvere vniust if he did forget to recompense their vvorkes. *The parable also of the men sent into the vineyard, proueth that heauen is our ovvne right, bargained for and vvrought for, and accordingly paid vnto vs as our hire at the day of iudgement, for that is merces and μισθὸς vvhereby the Scripture so often calleth it. It is the goale, the marke, the price, the hire, of al striuing, running, labouring, due both by promis and by couenant and right dette. To such good vvorkes heauen is due: to say the contrarie, is to derogate from Gods grace. See a notable place in S. Augustine in Psal. 83 in fine: and 100 in initio, & ho. 14 c. 2. li. 50 hom: S. Cyprian also, and namely the later end of his booke de opere & eleemosyna: and thou shalt easily contemne the contrarie falshod, vvhich doth not so much derogate from mans vvorkes, as from Gods grace vvhich is the cause and ground of al vvorthines in mans merites. S. Augustines vvordes be these, Marke that be to vvhom our Lord gaue grace, hath our Lord also his detter. He found him a giuer, in the time of mercie: he hath him his detter in the time of iudgement. See the place and the rest here coted, vvhere he examineth and explicateth the matter at large. Mat. 20. In Ps. 100