A Learned Discourse of Justification, Works, and How the Foundation of Faith is Overthrowne

A landmark Anglican sermon expounding Habakkuk 1:4, this discourse addresses one of the Reformation's most pressing questions: the nature of justification by faith. Hooker carefully distinguishes justifying righteousness (imputed, perfect, external) from sanctifying righteousness (inherent, progressive), then turns to the provocative claim that thousands of pre-Reformation fathers may have been saved despite Popish error — not by ignorance excusing heresy, but by faith holding the foundation of Christ even while erring by consequence. A model of charitable, rigorous theological reasoning.