Antonio dalla Paglia

Beloved,

What a treasure I lay before you.  Written in 1543, in the heart of Italy, this excerpt is from "The Benefits of Christ's Death."  It was written by Antonio dalla Paglia, who would be martyred by the Inquisition for having done so.  I found a copy of it published in 1847 by the Religious Tract Society.  As an afterwards, I copied an excerpt from his biography.

What makes this booklet remarkable is that the Bible was outlawed, and the common people were just finding it again after 1200 years.

If you have any appreciation for a man that would give his life in the most hostile environment, in the seat of pagan Catholicism, in the face of the Inquisition, then this is a must read.  

The entire book is probably 30 pages, and is most excellent.  This is the first three chapters. 

 

THE BENEFITS OF CHRIST

 

1. Of Original Sin and the Misery of Man

 

The Holy Scripture says that God created man in His own likeness (Gen 1:26-27), making man's body free of suffering or pain, and his soul righteous, true, godly, merciful, and holy. But man, being overcome with a desire for knowledge of good and evil, ate of the fruit that God had forbidden him. As a result, he lost that image and likeness of God and became like unto beasts and the devil that had deceived him (Gen 3). Therefore, his body became subject unto a thousand evils and infirmities, not only being like the most brute beasts, but also inferior to them, and his soul became unrighteous, deceitful, cruel, ungodly, and the enemy of God. If our first parents had obeyed God, they would have left us an inheritance of righteousness and holiness. But now, because they were disobedient to Him, they have left us an inheritance of unrighteousness, ungodliness, and hatred towards God, making it impossible by our own strength to love God and conform ourselves unto His will. We have become terrible enemies of Him Who is a righteous Judge and will punish our faults; we can trust no more in His mercy. In short, through the sin of Adam, our nature is wholly corrupt; a nature that was superior to all creatures has now become subject to all, yea the bondservant of the devil, sin, and death (Rom 3:10-18). This nature is condemned to the pains of hell, having lost the right judgment or discernment of all things, calling good evil and evil good, counting false things true and true things false (Isa 5:20). In considering this, the prophet David says that every man is a liar, and that there is not one that does good (Psa 53:1-3); thus, the devil reigns peaceably as one strongly armed in his own palace, which is this world where he has become prince and governor.

There is no tongue that can express the thousandth part of our miseries, for though we were made by God as with His own hands, we have lost that image of God and have become like the devil: we are made naturally the same thing with him, both willing all that he wills and refusing all that displeases him. Thus, as we are given as prey to such a wicked spirit, there is no sin too great but that every one of us is ready to do it—unless we are kept by the grace of God. This lack of righteousness, this inclination and readiness to all unrighteousness and ungodliness is called original sin; we bring this with us from our mother's womb, being born children of wrath. Original sin began with our first parents and is the occasion and wellhead of all the sins and iniquities that we commit. In order to return to man's initial innocence whereby we could recover the likeness of God, it is necessary that first we know our miseries. For example, a man seeks a physician only when he knows that he is sick. Without this knowledge, he does not learn of the excellence of the physician, or the bounden1 goodwill that should exist towards him, or if this sickness is dangerously life-threatening. Likewise, no man seeks Christ, the only healer of his soul, unless he knows his soul is sick. He cannot know the excellence of Christ, or the bounden[1] goodwill that he ought to bear towards Him, unless he knows his grievous sins and the deadly infection received from our first parents.

 

2. The Purpose of the Law

 

The Law was given of God that we might first know our sin, and then, distrusting to be justified by our own works, that we might run unto the mercy of God and the righteousness of faith.

 

Therefore, from God's infinite goodness and mercy came His only-begotten Son to deliver the miserable children of Adam. But as it was needful to make them know their own misery, God chose Abraham through whose seed He promised to bless all the generations of the earth (Gen 12:2-3); Abraham's descendants would become God's peculiar[2] and chosen people (Deu 14:2). After God delivered these descendants from the bondage of Pharaoh and brought them out of Egypt, He gave His servant Moses the Law, which forbade concupiscence[3] or lusts and commanded that they should love God with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their power (Deu 6:5; Mar 12:30). This is still true these many generations later, as all our hope should be put in God: we should be ready to depart from our own lives for our good God's sake, to suffer all torments in our bodies, to deprive ourselves of all our goods, dignities, and honors, to honor God by choosing rather to die than to commit anything that would displease Him (Heb 11). These things should be done with all joyfulness and promptness of heart.

The Law commands further that we love our neighbor as ourselves—meaning our enemies as well as our friends—so that we are ready 1) to do to all men that which we should want to be done to us, and 2) to be glad for all things that belong to others the same as we are for that which belongs to us. Looking at this holy Law, a man sees immediately his own likeness as in a mirror—his inability to obey the commandment of God; he sees his failure to give due honor and love unto his Maker. So the first office of the Law is simply this: it makes sin to be known. This is affirmed by the Apostle Paul: "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet" (Rom 7:7). The second office of the Law is that it makes sin to increase: we, being separated from obedience to God and made servants of the devil, full of vicious affections and appetites, cannot tolerate that God forbids concupiscence[4] or lusts; thus, the more they are forbidden, the more they increase. In the verse just mentioned, Paul testifies that above measure he became a sinner; sin was dead, but once the Law came, sin rose up and grew. The third office is that the Law openly declares the wrath and justice of God, which threaten death and everlasting pain to them that do not fully keep His Law. Paul writes in Galations 3:10, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." Therefore, the Apostle says that the Law is the administration of death and brings about wrath (Rom 4:15). These three offices being established by the Law, it must be noted that there is a fourth office, which is the response of man to the first three: man becomes desperate because he wants to satisfy the Law but knows that he cannot. And since he cannot, he is angry with God; he wishes that there were no God at all because he fears to be sharply chastened and punished by Him. The wisdom of the flesh is the enemy of God; wherefore it is not subject to the Law of God, nor can be (Rom 8:7). The fifth office of the Law and its proper, excellent, and necessary end and effect is that it causes a man—out of necessity—to go unto Christ. When the Hebrews were at Mt. Sinai and very much afraid, they said to Moses, "Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it." (Deu 5:27). The Lord answered, "I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken." (Deu 5:28; 18:17). They were praised only for this: they pleaded for a mediator between them and God; Moses was the mediator who typified Jesus Christ, Who would be the Mediator and Advocate between God and man. Therefore, God said unto Moses, "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him (Deu 18:18-19).

 

3. Our Salvation Depends upon Christ

 

The forgiveness of our sins, our justification, and all our salvation depend on Christ.

 

Our Lord God has sent that great Prophet whom He promised—His only-begotten Son— to accomplish these things: He would deliver us from the curse of the Law and reconcile us unto God; He would enable our will to do good works; and He would restore to us that likeness of God which had been lost by the sin of our first parents. Since we know that under heaven there is no other name besides the name of Jesus Christ whereby we may be saved (Act 4:10; 12), let us therefore run into His arms Who calls, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Mat 11:28). In this life, what consolation or joyfulness of heart may be compared to the joy and comfort of one who has been oppressed with the intolerable weight of his sins, and then hears the Son of God say that He will ease and deliver him of so great a burden? It is important that we know from whence our sickness and misery come, for no man tastes or truly discerns that which is good unless first he knows that which is evil. Therefore Christ says, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink" (Joh 7:37). The Lord's words could be understood in this way: except a man know himself a sinner and thirst for righteousness, he cannot taste how sweet our Jesus Christ is, nor how pleasant it is to think and speak of Him and to follow His most holy life. Knowing our sickness, then, by the offices of the Law, we behold our merciful Healer and Savior to Whom John the Baptist points saying, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (Joh 1:29).

The Apostle Paul writes, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (1Co 15:22). Let us not believe that the sin of Adam, which we have inherited, is of greater efficacy than the righteousness of Christ, which we have inherited through faith. It is possible for a man to regret having no influence over his conception in sin through the iniquity of his parents and his birth into the world where death reigns over all men. But now, all lamentation is taken away, for in the same manner—without our influence—the righteousness of Christ has conquered death, bringing eternal life unto us. Paul explains: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom 5:12-21).

This repeats the truth that the Law was given so that sin might be known; but the righteousness of Christ that justifies us before God has greater efficacy than sin. Therefore, since Christ is more powerful than Adam, the righteousness of Christ is more efficacious than the sin of Adam. If the sin of Adam were sufficient to make us sinners, or children of wrath before any sin was actually committed by us, how much more sufficient is the righteousness of Christ to make us righteous—children of grace without any of our good works. As Augustine affirmed, works cannot be good unless a person is made good and righteous by faith. A man is greatly mistaken if he despairs of the mercy of God through believing that He is not able to forgive every sin; God has already chastened all sin in His only-begotten Son and has given a general pardon to all that believe the Gospel. This most happy news, which in Christ's stead the Apostles published throughout the world, calls a man to be reconciled unto God: "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2Co 5:21).

Isaiah, setting forth so well the passion of Jesus Christ and the cause of it, foresees this great benefit of the mercy of God: "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth" (Isa 53:1-7).

The ingratitude and abomination is immeasurably great if we, professing to be Christians, try to justify ourselves and to obtain forgiveness of sins by our own works—all the while knowing that the Son of God has taken upon Himself all our sins and has cancelled them with His precious blood as He allowed Himself to be chastened for us on the cross. It would be the same as saying that the merits, the righteousness, and the blood of Christ were not sufficient without our foolish righteousness, which is spotted with the love of ourselves, respect to rewards, and a thousand other vanities. For this we ought to humbly ask God's pardon, not His reward. We are guilty of not remembering the Apostle's threatening of the Galatians, who being beguiled by false preachers did not believe that justification by faith was sufficient of itself. They pretended that they would be justified still by the Law, to whom Paul said, "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith" (Gal 5:4-5).

So, if seeking after righteousness and forgiveness of sins through keeping the Law—which the Lord gave at Mt. Sinai with great glory and open miracles—results in losing Christ and His grace, what shall we say of them that endeavor to justify themselves before God with their own law and observations? Let those persons consider the following comparison and then give their judgment.

Since God will not give the honor and glory of man's justification to His own Law, will He then give it to the laws and constitutions of men? This honor He gives singularly to Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son: He alone with the sacrifice of His passion has made satisfaction for all our sins—past, present, and future—as is written in chapters 7, 9, and 10 in the book of Hebrews, and stated in chapters 1 and 2 of the Apostle John's first epistle. As we by faith apply this satisfaction of Christ to our souls, we obtain forgiveness of sins, and by His righteousness we become good and righteous before God. Thus Paul writes in the third chapter of his epistle to the Philippians: "Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith" (Phi 3:6- 9).

O words most notable!—every Christian should engrave these in his heart, beseeching God to make him taste them perfectly. Notice how Paul shows clearly that whoever truly knows Christ judges the works of the Law as loss, for they draw a man away from trusting in Christ and cause him to trust in himself. To this Paul adds that he judged all things dung that he might win Christ and be found in Him. In other words, whoever trusts in works and tries to be justified by them neither wins Christ nor is in Him. The whole mystery of faith resides in this truth. Wanting to affirm it boldly, Paul denied all outward justification, all righteousness grounded in observing the Law. His trust was only and assuredly in the righteousness that God gives to them who believe by faith that He has chastened all their sins in Christ, "who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1Co 1:30). Therefore, "According as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" (1Co 1:31).

It is true that there are some evil-minded authorities of Scripture who seem to dispute this doctrine by attributing justification and forgiveness of sins to works and charity (or love). Those who praise such authorities demonstrate that they do not understand justification and forgiveness of sins. Dearly beloved brethren, let us not follow the foolish opinion of the bewitched Galatians, but seek after the verity[5] that the Apostle Paul teaches. Let us give all the praise for our justification to the mercy of God and the merits of His Son, Who with His blood has delivered us from the dominion or danger of the Law, the tyranny of sin and death, and has conducted us into the kingdom of God by giving to us eternal felicity.[6] Christ has delivered us from the dominion of the Law because He has given us His Spirit Who shows us all truth. He has made perfect satisfaction for the requirements of the Law and has given this same satisfaction to all the members of His body: all true Christians may safely come to the judgment seat of God, clothed with the righteousness of Christ; they have been delivered by Him from the curse of the Law, which no longer can accuse or condemn, stir up affections and appetites, or augment sin. Therefore Paul says of Christ, "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, [he] took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross" (Col 2:14). Along with His deliverance from the dominion of the Law, Christ delivered us from the tyranny of sin and death, which no longer can hold us in oppression because Christ conquered death by His resurrection. He was the first to be victorious over death, and He has given this same victory to all that are members of His body: "And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence" (Col 1:18).

On this ground, we may say with the prophet Hosea (Hos 13:14) and with the Apostle Paul, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1Co 15:55-57). He is that most blessed seed Who has trodden down the head of the most venomous serpent, the devil. Therefore, all those who believe in Christ, putting all their hope and confidence in His mercy, are victorious with Christ over sin, death, the devil, and hell. This is that blessed seed of Abraham through Whom God promised to bless all nations.

Every man ought to have trodden down that horrible serpent in order to have delivered himself from the curse; but that undertaking was so great that the force or power of the whole world gathered together was not sufficient to bear it. Thus our God, being the Father of all mercy, was moved with compassion for our miseries and gave us His only-begotten Son, Who has delivered us from the venom of the serpent, becoming our blessing and justification. Let us embrace, beloved brethren, the righteousness of Jesus Christ; let us make it ours through faith. Let us have a sure confidence that we are righteous by the merits of Christ—not by our own works. Let us live with quiet conscience towards God and with assured trust that the righteousness of Christ annihilates all our unrighteousness, making us righteous and holy in the sight of God. Those, who through faith are made one body in His Son, God no longer views as children of Adam, but as His children, and makes them heirs of all His riches with His own legitimate Son (Rom 8:14-17).

 

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[1] bounden – morally obligated.

[2] peculiar – special; one's own, as in God's own special people.

[3] concupiscence – the desire for worldly things; sexual appetite.

[4] 3 concupiscence – the desire for worldly things; sexual appetite

[5] verity – a statement, principle, or belief that is true, especially enduring truth.

[6] felicity – intense happiness; bliss.

[Antonio dalla Paglia, or, as he more generally called himself, Aonio Paleario, was born about the year 1500, at Veroli, in the Campagna di Roma.

 

"Cotta," says he, "asserts that, if I am allowed to live, there will not be a vestige of religion left in the city. Why? Because, being asked one day what was the first ground on which men should rest their salvation? I replied 'Christ!' Being asked what was the second, I replied 'Christ!' and, being asked what was the third, I still replied 'Christ!'"

 

The charges against him were brought to a point by the publication, in 1543, of his treatise of the "Benefit of Christ's Death." The vast reputation which it had, and the eagerness with which it was read, being in the Italian language, increased the virulence of his opponents. Otho Melius Cotta, above mentioned, was his most determined enemy; and with this person three hundred leagued themselves in a resolution to destroy Paleario. And, in order to ensure his condemnation, twelve of these were selected to bear witness against him. He had, in consequence, to defend himself before the senate of Sienna, which he did with so much spirit, that for the moment his defense was successful. "There are some," said he, "so censorious as to be displeased when we give the highest praise to the author and God of our salvation, Christ, the King of all nations and people. For writing in the Tuscan language to shew what great benefits accrue to mankind from his death, a criminal accusation has been made against me. Is it possible to utter or conceive anything more shameful? I said that, since he in whom Divinity resided has poured out his life's blood so lovingly for our salvation, we ought not to doubt the good-will of heaven, but may promise ourselves the greatest tranquility and peace. I affirmed, agreeably to the most unquestionable monuments of antiquity, that those, who turn with their souls to Christ crucified, commit themselves to him by faith, acquiesce in the promises, and cleave with assured faith to him who cannot deceive, are delivered from all evil, and enjoy a full pardon of all their sins. These things appeared so grievous, so detestable, so execrable, to the twelve, I cannot call them men, but inhuman beasts, that they judged that the author should be committed to the flames. If I must undergo this punishment for the aforesaid testimony (for I deem it a testimony, rather than a libel), then, senators, nothing more happy can befall me. In such times as these I do not think a Christian ought to die in his bed. To be accused, to be dragged to prison, to be scourged, to be hung up by the neck, to be sewed up in a sack, to be exposed to wild beasts, is little: let me be roasted before a fire, provided only the truth be brought to light by such a death."

 

In a paper published in the "Edinburgh Review" for October 1840, entitled "The Revolutions of the Papacy," he says, "It was not on moral influence alone that the Catholic Church relied. In Spain and Italy the civil sword was unsparingly employed in her support. The inquisition was armed with new powers, and inspired with a new energy. If Protestantism, or the semblance of Protestantism, shewed itself in any quarter, it was instantly met, not by party teasing persecution, but by persecution of that sort which bows down and crushes all but a very few select spirits. Whoever was suspected of heresy, whatever his rank, his learning, or his reputation, was to purge himself to the satisfaction of a severe and vigilant tribunal, or to die by fire. Heretical books were sought out and destroyed with unsparing rigor. Works which were once in every house were so effectually suppressed, that no copy of them is now to be found in the most extensive libraries. One book in particular, entitled 'Of the Benefit of the Death of Christ,' had this fate. It was written in Tuscan, was many times reprinted, and was eagerly read in every part of Italy. But the inquisitors detected in it the Lutheran doctrine of justification by faith alone."]