namely that when the Scripture says that Faith is sufficient to Salvation we are to understand by the word Faith in this Proposition that true Faith which the Gospel requires Now if we ask what that Faith is and by what Marks it may be known All the Apostles will unanimously tell us that true Faith produces a Holy Life and that it discovers it self by all manner of Good Works They assign Good Works as the essential Mark and Character that distinguishes a saving from an Hypocritical Faith By that very thing therefore that the Gospel requires Faith it does likewise require Good Works since Faith cannot be without Works And by consequence the Opinion of those who fancy that Faith is sufficient without Works is evidently absurd and contrary to the Gospel and to the Nature of Faith it self But to set this matter still in a clearer light it is necessary to take notice here of two Mistakes which Men are apt to run into when they speak of Faith and Good Works The first is that they separate Faith from Works they look upon Faith as a thing quite different from Works and which supplies the want of them or rather they oppose Faith to Works as if these two things were contrary to each other A Corrupt Man will say I confess that I have not Good Works but however I have Faith Those who speak thus suppose that they may have Faith tho' they have not Works but St. James has directly confuted this Imagination †Jam. II. What does it profit my Brethren though a man say he has Faith and have not Works can Faith save him If Faith have not Works it is dead being alone Who can after this separate saving Faith from Good Works Can we separate that from Faith which God has declared to be inseparable from it It shews that Men are strangely blinded With Ignorance and Prejudice when at this time of day we are fain to prove things so plain and questionable The Second Illusion is that Men place Faith in Confidence alone and many define it by that They fancy that to have Faith is nothing else but to believe that God is merciful and to rely upon the Merits of Christ because Faith embraces the Promises of the Gospel the natural effect of which Promise is to fill the Heart with assurance and tranquility It is beyond all doubt that for the most part true Faith is attended with Confidence But Confidence is not the Whole of Faith and I cannot Imagine what part of God's Word countenances that Notion which places the Essence of Faith in Confidence alone The Faith which the Gospel speaks of consists in believing that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and the Saviour of the World in embracing his Doctrine as true and in making Profession of it in doing his Commandments and hoping for Salvation from him But the resolving all Faith and Religion into Acts of Confidence is the most extravagant Conceit that can enter into a Man's Head If this Notion was true it would follow from it that in order to be saved it is enough fore Man to believe that he shall be saved Which is the same thing as to say that whoever would have a right to confide in God needs do no more in order to that than actually to trust in him and that is a most ridiculous Thought which turns all Religion into a strong Fancy Before we believe a thing we ought to know why we should believe it and have good reason and solid Grounds for our Belief Before we trust in God we ought to satisfy our selves that we have a Right to confide in him for can a Man be saved only because without any ground or reason he fancies that he shall We ought not to rely upon God but according to his Promise Now God has promised nothing to those who live and are hardned in Sin far from promising any thing to them he threatens them with inevitable ruin What claim or title then can an obdurate Sinner have to the Mercy of God What Confidence can he repose in God's Promises as long as he continues impenitent None at all except we suppose in God a general Decree to save indifferently all sorts of Persons It must not be said that these Considerations are apt to Alarm and Disturb the Peace of Men's Consciences for they will Alarm none of those who are animated with true Faith and sincere Piety And as to others we do them a great piece of service when we awaken and terrify them out of that false Quiet into which a groundless Confidence has betraied them On the other hand it is a dangerous thing to teach that Confidence is the most essential thing to Faith for by this we may alarm some good Men who either through Melancholy or want of Instruction are destitute of Confidence and inward Peace And it has certainly happened that several Pious Persons are fallen into black Thoughts and sad Scruples concerning their Salvation and that they have in some measure desponded because they did not find Confidence and a sense of the love of God in themselves From all these Reflections it does evidently appear that Faith never ought nor can be separated from Good Works and that Christians are as much obliged to aply themselves to Good Works as they are to believe and to have Faith But now if it be asked why St. Paul â—hen opposes Faith to Works and why he excludes Works when he treats of Justification I answer that the Apostle â—ins at two things by this His design â—s to shew 1. That Works are not the Cause and Foundation of Men's Salvation â—ut that it flows from the pure Mercy of God through Jesus Christ This he proves with respect both to the Heathens and the Jews in the first Chapters of his Epistle â—o the Romans But he did not mean to say â—hat Good Works are not necessary under â—he Covenant of Grace His expressions are too clear to leave the least Room for any doubt about this matter To reâ—eject the meritoriousness of Good Works â—s one thing and to deny their necessity is â—nother But 2ly because it may be obâ—ected that St. Paul does intirely exclude Works and that he uses expression which implie that Christians are no longer obliged to the practice of them and that they have no influence on Men's Salvation either as Causes or Conditions but on the contrary are opposed to Faith Therefore I add that he speaks thus with relation to the Works of the ceremonial Law and especially to Circumcision There were many in St. Paul's time who asserted that Christians were bound to observe those Legal Ordinances It was about the Question that the Apostles met a Jerusalem and determined * Acts. XV. that Christians 〈◊〉 justified by Faith only and that the yoke of Mosaical Ordinances ought not to be laid up on them The same Conroverly is handled by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians where
that they offend God at every foot and yet this is what Men would establish from this Maxim That the justest Man sins Seven times a day Those who have a mind to Quote the Scripture should neither add to nor diminish from it they should not alter the Words nor divide Sentences from what goes before and what follows for otherwise there is no Absurdity or Impiety which may not be proved from the Word of God 5. But our Adversaries will say Whether that Place is alledged right or wrong it does not matter much since there are others which say the same thing in stronger Expressions Does not St. Paul say Rom. VII * Rom. VII I am carnal sold under sin for in me dwelleth no good thing for that which I do I allow not and what I would that do I not but what I hate that do I. I see a Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bringing me into captivity to the Law of Sin which is in my Members O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this Death If St. Paul himself speaks after this manner who can deny that the greatest Saints fall into very heinous Sins and have still a large stock of Corruption in them Those who draw this Inference from the Words of St. Paul make him speak that which is quite contrary to his thoughts He is so far from saying any thing that favours the cause of Sinners that on the contrary his design is to prove the necessity of a good Life and to make Men sensible of the Efficacy of the Gospel in reference to Sanctification He has this in his view in the VII Chapter to the Romans where he represents the difference between a Corrupt and a Regenerated Man and between the Condition of Man under the Law and his State under the Gospel So that all he says of the Carnal Man sold under Sin c. is to be understood of a corrupt Man living under the Law I am not ignorant that Divines otherwise Able and Pious Men have thought that St. Paul speaks of himself in this Chapter and that he represents there what passes within a Regenerate Man but I know likewise that a great many Orthodox Divines have rejected that Exposition as contrary to the scope of the Apostle to the constant Doctrine of the New Testament and to the Spirit of the Christian Religion It h a sad thing that when a place is capable of two Senses Men should pitch upon that which comes nearer to the Pretensions of Sinners I do not intend here to enter into a Dispute nor to offend those of a contrary Opinion I am persuaded that they have no design to countenance Corruption but as in all things we ought to seek the Truth and as the Truth here is of great Consequence for the promoting of Piety so I entreat those who might have Scruples concerning those Words to make these following Reflections 1. Let them seriously and impartially consider whether it may be said that St. Paul was a Carnal Man fold under Sin a Man who did no Good but Evil and a Man involved in Death these are the strongest Expressions which can be used and which the Scripture uses to give as the Character of Wicked and Impious Men To believe this of St. Paul is so very hard that a Man must be able to digest any thing who is not startled at it 2. I desire them to attend to the Drift of St. Paul he had undertaken to shew that the Doctrine of Justification by faith did not introduce Licentiousness this he had proved in the whole VI Chapter as may appear by the reading it Is it likely that in the VII Chapter he should overturn all that he had established in the preceding \ and say that the holiest Men are captivated to the Law of Sin If this be St. Paul's Doctrine what becomes of the Efficacy of Faith to produce Holiness and how could he have answered that Objection which he proposes to himself Chap. VI. 1. and 15. Shall we continue in sin shall we sin we that are under Grace St. Paul ought to have granted the Objection if it be true that the most Regenerate are sold to Sin But it is plain that in the VII Chapter he goes on to prove what he had laid down already to wit that the Gospel sanctifies Men and not only this but that the Gospel alone can sanctifie Men and that the Law could not This is the Scope of the whole Chapter In the very first Four Verses he shews that Christians are no longer under the Law nor consequently under Sin and that they are dead to the Law that they may bring forth fruits unto God He expresses himself more clearly yet in the 5th Verse where he says that there is a considerable difference between those who are under the Law and those who are in Jesus Christ He plainly distinguishes these two States and the time past from the present When we were in the flesh says he the motions of sin which were by the Law did work in our Members to bring forth unto death but now we are delivered from the Law that we should serve in newness of Spirit These are the two States The Sate past was a state of Corruption the presect State is a State of Holiness But as it might have been inferred from thence that the Law was the cause of Sin the Apostle refutes that imagination from the 7th to the 14th Verse After this he describes the miserable Condition of a Man who is not Regenerated by Grace and who still is under the Law He begins to do this from the 14th Verse by faying the Law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin c. And here no doubt it will be said that St Paul speaks of himself and not of those who were under the Law for says he I am carnal c. But one may easily see that the Apostle uses here a way of speaking which is very ordidinary in discourse and by which he that speaks puts himself in the room of those he speaks of And St. Paul had the more reason to express himself in this manner because he had been himself under the Law before he was converted to Christianity There are many instances in Scripture of this way of speaking and we find one in this very Chapter which is beyond exception St Paul says in the 9th Verse I was alive without the Law once c. If we do not admit here a figurative expression or if these words are strictly taken then we must say that there was a time when this Apostle was without Law which is both false and ridiculous As therefore it is plain that when he says Ver. 9th I was without Law he speaks of the State of those Men to wliom the Law was not given so it is unquestionalbe that when he says I am carnal c. he describes the State of a
of Religion with relation to Order But having done this already in the beginning of this Second Part I shall only say in general that nothing contributes so much to the maintaining of Disorder as Custom does The most beneficial Laws and Institutions are looked upon as dangerous Innovations when they are not Authorized by Practice Men dare not so much as attempt to introduce them On the other hand useless or ill Practices are thought Sacred Establishments as soon as they are confirmed by Time and Custom If Men do but endeavour to lay aside some Ceremony to make some alteration in a Liturgy or in the Form of Divine-Services It seems to many that the very essence of Religion is struck at Thus it happens that Abuses which are palpable and acknowledge by all Men of Sense subsist for whole Ages and cannot be Reformed The difficulty of reviving the Apostolical Discipline and of restoring Church-Government and the Ministry of Pastors to the State they ought to be in proceeds from the same Cause Because a certain Form of Ecclesiastical Government and Discipline obtains in a Country it is pretended to be the best and most perfect in which nothing is to be altered and those are not so much as heard who propose the establishing of another If any one thinks it a Fault to suffer Scandalous Sinners in the Bosom of the Church if he thinks that they ought to be Excommunicated and that Christians ought to maintain no familiar Intercourse with them tho' such a Man has the Laws of the Apostles on his side yet he shall be called an Innovator Tho' he should plainly shew the Inconveniences of the ordinary Practice and the necessity of Discipline from Scripture from the Pattern of the first Christian Ages and by the most convincing Arguments yet Custom will still be urged against him the Divine Laws shall give place to common Usage and the present Practice shall prevail above that of the Primitive Christians III. Example and Custom have a great force especially in those things which concern Manners Men are not altogether such Slaves to Custom in Matters of Opinion about Religion because Opinions are shut up within the Heart but in Practical Things and in Manners there are few Men who are not carried away by the Stream of the Multitude People think themselves excused from the Observation of the plainest and the most Sacred Duties as soon as they cannot observe them without departing from Custom and so they conform to the common Use how bad soever it may be Those who Condemn the vicious and corrupt Manners of the Age and practice the Rules of the Gospel who for instance abstain from Swearing and reprove those who do it who make scruple of Lying and of transgressing the Rules of their Duty are looked upon in the World as Homoursome People and stigmatized with Odious Names and Imputations If they plead the express Commands of Christ and his Apostles instead of giving up the Cause Men will strain the Scripture and by force Explications and impious Glosses endeavour to fix a Sense upon it which may favour the ordinary Practice While Piety dares not shew it self Vice is respected and bad Men carry it boldly every where because the Numbers are of their side Maxims directly opposite to the Moral Precepts of our Saviour are not only received and tolerated but they are defended as innocent for this single Reasons That the generality of Men approve and practise them This might be confirmed by innumerable Instances We can hardly imagine any thing more contrary to the Precepts of the Gospel than that worldly Life which is led by many Christians They spend their whole time in the Cares of the Body they wear out their Lives in Idleness Gaming Pleasures and Divertisements they deny themselves nothing they make it their study to live Luxuriously and to gratify themselves This kind of Life is inconsistent with Piety but because it obtains among Persons of the higher Rank it is very hard to persuade those who follow it that they ought to quit it It is by alledging common Practice that Men defend a soft and effeminate Life Fashions contrary to Chastity and Modesty the too great familiarity of the Young Persons of both Sexes the reading of ill Books the Plays which would Honesty and Religion scandalous Diversions and those Assemblies where the most inticing baits and allurements to Vice are to be met with and where the Minds of Young People receive the most dangerous Impressions All these Things I say are defended by Custom So that when Luxury and expensiveness and state in Apparel Eating or Furniture are once established we endeavour to no purpose to bring Men to Christian Moderation and to banish that multitude of Scandals and Vices which must needs attend such kind of Excesses Thus in some Nations where Drunkeness is in Vogue it is in vain to oppose so vicious a Custom In spight of all that can be said against Drunkenness and Intemperance People are so far from parting with that Vice that they fancy there is no sin in being Drunk To put up no Injuries to indulge Revenge to be tender and nice upon the Point of false Honour to stick at nothing that can promote one's Fortune to assume all Shapes to disguise one's Sentiments and to supplant others All these are Maxims which are followed without scruple because they are authorized by Use and by the false Opinions of Men. It would signifie nothing to alledge to those who are possessed with such Sentiments what the Gospel enjoins us concerning Patience forgiving of Injuries Humility Sincerity Justice and Charity such Morals will not be so much as hearkened to because these Matters are otherwise determined by Custom By the same reason it it pretended that in Offices in Trade in Arts and in the various Professions of Life every thing which is usually practised by Men in those several Callings may Lawfully be done Nay even an Oath is not sufficient to undeceive People most Men explain their Oaths and regulate their Consciences by the Example of others they use all the Methods of Gain which Custom has introduced without enquiring whether they are justifiable or not When I speak here of Custom and Example I do not only mean that which is established by general Use but that likewise which is authorized by Men in Credit The Quality of Persons produces the same effect that great Numbers do one single Example has sometimes as much force as the united Examples of a Multitude All that is done and approved of by Princes great Men Magistrates and Persons of Quality is a Law to a great many People A small Number of Considerable Persons who join their endeavours to bring a Practice into fashion is enough to make it in a little time to be generally followed how bad soever it may be This is so commonly seen that I think it needless to give Instances of it I shall add Three Considerations which deserve a