of Paul The Conversion of St. Paul himself was so clearly from a Preventing Grace that if it had not been miraculous in so many of its Circumstances it would have been a strong Argument in behalf of it These words of Christ seem also to assert it Without me ye can do nothing ye have not chosen me but I you and no man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him Joh. 1.13.15.5 16. Phil. 2.13 Those who received Christ were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of the will of God God is said to work in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure The one seems to import the first beginings and the other the progress of a Christian Course of Life So far all among us that I know of are agreed though perhaps not as to the force that is in all those places to prove this Point There do yâ—t remain Two Points in which they do not agree the one is the Efficacy of this Preventing Grace some think that it is of its own nature so Efficacious that it never fails of Converting those to whom it is given others think that it only awakens and disposes as well as it enables them to turn to God but that they may resist it and that the greater part of Mankind do actually resist it The examining of this Point and the stating the Arguments of both sides will belong more properly to the Seventeenth Article The other Head in which many do differ is concerning the Extent of this Preventing Grace for whereas such as do hold it to be Efficacious of it self restrain it to the number of those who are Elected and converted by it others do believe That as Christ died for all Men so there is an Universal Grace which is given in Christ to all Men in some degree or other and that it is given to all Baptized Christians in a more eminent degree and that as all are corrupted by Adam there is also a general Grace given to all Men in Christ. This depends so much on the former Point that the discussing the one is indeed the discussing of both and therefore it shall not be further entred upon in this place ARTICLE XI Of the Justification of Man We are accounted Righteous before God only for the Merit of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ by Faith and not for our own Works or Deservings Wherefore that we are justified by Faith only is a most wholsome Doctrine and very full of Comfort as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Iustification IN order to the right understanding this Article we must first consider the true meaning of the Terms of which it is made up which are Iustification Faith Faith only and Good Works and then when these are rightly stated we will see what Judgments are to be passed upon the Questions that do arise out of this Article Iust or Iustified are words capable of two senses the one is a Man who is in the Favour of God by a mere Act of his Grace or upon some Consideration not founded on the Holiness or the Merit of the Person himself The other is a Man who is truly holy and as such is beloved of God The use of this word in the New Testament was probably taken from the term Chasidim among the Iews a designation of such as observed the external parts of the Law strictly and were believed to be upon that account much in the Favour of God an Opinion being generally spread among them that a strict observance of the external parts of the Law of Moses did certainly put a Man in the Favour of God In opposition to which the design of a great part of the New Testament is to shew that these things did not put Men in the Favour of God Our Saviour used the word saved in opposition to condemned Job 3.18 and spoke of Men who were condemned already as well as of others who were saved St. Paul enlarges more fully into many Discourses in which our being justified and the righteousness of God or his grace towards us are all terms equivalent to one another His design in the Epistle to the Romans was to prove that the observance of the Mosaiâ—al Law could not justifie that is could not put a Man under the grace or favour of God or the righteousnâ—ss of God that is into a state of acceptation with him as that is opposite to a state of wrath or condemnation He upon that shews that Abraham was in the Favour of God before he was Circumcised upon the account of his trusting to the Promises of God and obeying his Commands and that God reckoned upon these Acts of his as much as if they had been an entire course of Obedience Gen. 15.6 Rom. 4.3.22 for that is the meaning of these words Aâ—d it was imputed to him for righteousness These Promises were freely made to him by God when by no previous Works of his he had made them to be due to him of debt therefore that Covenant which was founded on those Promises was the justifying of Abraham freely by grace upon which St. Paul in a variety of Inferences and Expressions assumes That we are in like manner justified freely by grace through the redemption in Christ Iesus Rom. 3.24 That God has of his own free Goodness offered a new Covenant and new and better Promises to Mankind in Christ Jesus which whosoever believe as Abraham did they are justified as he was So that whosoever will observe the Scope of St. Paul's Epistles to the Romans and Galatians will see that he always uses Iustification in a sense that imports our being put in the Favour of God The Epistle to the Galatians was indeed writ upon the occasion of another Controversy which was Whether supposing Christ to be the Messias Christians were bound to observe the Mosaical Law or not Whereas the Scope of the first part of the Epistle to the Romans is to shew that we are not justified nor saved by the Law of Moses as a Mean of its own nature capable to recommend us to the Favour of God but that even that Law was a Dispensation of Grace in which it was a true Faith like Abraham's that put Men in the Favour of God yet in both these Epistles in which Iustification is fully treated of it stands always for the receiving one into the Favour of God In this the Consideration upon which it is done and the Condition upon which it is offered are two very different things The one is a Dispensation of God's Mercy in which he has regard to his own Attributes to the Honour of his Laws and his Government of the World The other is the Method in which he applies that to us in such a manner that it may have such Ends as are both perfective of Human Nature and suitable to an infinitely Holy Being
Such a Faith as this justifies but not as it is a Work or meritorious Action that of its own nature puts us in the Favour of God and makes us truly just But as it is the Condition upon which the Mercy of God is offered to us by Christ Jesus For then we correspond to his design of coming into the World that he might redeem us from all Iniquity Tit. 2.14 that is justify us And purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works that is sanctify us Upon our bringing our selves therefore under these Qualifications and Conditions we are actually in the Favour of God Our Sins are pardoned and we are entitled to Eternal Life Our Faith and Repentance are not the valuable Considerations for which God pardons and justifies that is done meerly for the Death of Christ which God having out of the Riches of his Grace provided for us and offered to us Justification is upon those accounts said to be free There being nothing on our part which either did or could have procured it But still our Faith which includes our Hope our Love our Repentance and our Obedience is the Condition that makes us capable of receiving the benefits of this Redemption and Free Grace And thus it is clear in what sense we believe that we are justified both freely and yet through Christ and also through Faith as the Condition indispensably necessary on our part In strictness of words we are not justified till the final Sentence is pronounced Till upon our Death we are solemnly acquitted of our Sins and admitted into the Presence of God this being that which is opposite to Condemnation Yet as a Man who is in that state that must end in Condemnation is said to be condemned already Joh. 3.18 and the wrath of God is said to abide upon him tho' he be not yet adjudged to it So on the contrary a Man in that state which must end in the full Enjoyment of God is said now to be justified and to be at peace with God because he not only has the Promises of that state now belonging to him when he does perform the Conditions required in them but is likewise receiving daily Marks of God's Favour the protection of his Providence the Ministry of Angels and the inward Assistances of his Grace and Spirit This is a Doctrine full of comfort for if we did believe that our Justification was founded upon our Inherent Justice or Sanctification as the Consideration on which we receive it we should have just cause of Fear and Dejection since we could not reasonably promise our selves so great a Blessing upon so poor a Consideration but when we know that this is only the Condition of it then when we feel it is sincerely received and believed and carefully observed by us we may conclude that we are justified But we are by no means to think that our certain persuasion of Christ's having died for us in particular or the certainty of our Salvation through him is an Act of saving Faith much less that we are justified by it Many things have been too crudely said upon this Subject which have given the Enemies of the Reformation great Advantages and have furnished them with much matter of Reproach We ought to believe firmly That Christ died for all Penitent and Converted Sinners and when we feel these Characters in our selves we may from thence justly infer That he died for us and that we are of the Number of those who shall be Saved through him But yet if we may fall from this state in which we do now feel our selves we may and must likewise forfeit those hopes and therefore we must work out our Salvation with fear and trembling Our believing that we shall be Saved by Christ is no Act of Divine Faith since every Act of Faith must be founded on some Divine Revelation It is only a Collection and Inference that we may make from this general Proposition That Christ is the propitiation for the Sins of those who do truly repent and believe his Gospel and from those Reflections and Observations that we make on our selves by which we conclude That we do truly both repent and believe ARTICLE XII Of Good Works Albeit that Good Works which are the fruits of Faith and follow after Iustification cannot put away our Sins and endure the severity of God's Iudgment yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively Faith insomuch that by them a lively Faith may be as evidently known as a Tree discerned by the fruit THat Good works are indispensably necessary to Salvation that without holiness no man shall see the Lord is so fully and frequently exprest in the Gospel that no doubt can be made of it by any who reads it And indeed a greater disparagement to the Christian Religion cannot be imagined than to propose the hopes of God's Mercy and Pardon barely upon Believing without a Life suitable to the Rules it gives us This began early to corrupt the Theories of Religion as it still has but too great an influence upon the Practice of it What St. Iames writ upon this Subject must put an end to all doubting about it and whatever Subtilties some may have set up to separate the consideration of Faith from a holy Life in the point of Iustification yet none among us have denied that it was absolutely necessary to Salvation And so it be owned as necessary it is a nice curiosity to examine whether it is of it self a Condition of Justification or if it is the certain distinction and constant effect of that Faith which justifies These are Speculations of very little consequence as long as the main Point is still maintained That Christ came to bring us to God to change our Natures to mortify the Old man in us and to raise up and restore that Image of God from which we had fallen by Sin And therefore even where the Thread of Men's Speculations of these Matters may be thought too fine and in some Points of them wrong drawn yet so long as this Foundation is preserved that every one who nameth the name of Christ does depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2.19 so long the Doctrine of Christ is preserved pure in this Capital and Fundamental Point There do arise out of this Article only two Points about which some Debates have been made 1st Whether the Good Works of Holy Men are in themselves so perfect that they can endure the severity of God's Judgment so that there is no mixture of imperfection or Evil in them or not The Council of Trent has decreed That Men by their Good Works have so fully satisfied the Law of God according to the state of this Life that nothing is wanting to them The second Point is Whether these Good Works are of their own nature meritorious of Eternal Life or not The Council of Trent has decreed that
of them Yet after all these Approbations and many repeated Desires to me to publish it I do not pretend to impose this upon the Reader as the Work of Authority For even our Most Reverend Metropolitans read it only as private Divines without so severe a canvassing of all Particulars as must have been expected if this had been intended to pass for an Authorised Work under a Publick Stamp Therefore my design in giving this Relation of the Motives that led me first to Compose and now to Publish this is only to justify my self both in the one and in the other and to shew that I was not led by any Presumption of my own or with any design to dictate to others In the next place I will give an account of the method in which I executed this Design When I was a Professor of Divinity Thirty Years ago I was then obliged to run over a great many of the Systems and Bodies of Divinity that were writ by the Chief men of the several Divisions of Christendom I found many things among them that I could not like The stiffness of Method the many dark Terms the Niceties of Logick the Artificial Definitions the heaviness as well as the sharpness of Stile and the diffusive length of them disgusted me I thought the whole might well be brought into less compass and be made shorter and more clear less laboured and more simple I thought many Controversies might be cut off some being only disputes about Words and founded on Mistakes and others being about matters of little consequence in which Errors are less criminal and so they may be more easily born with This set me then on composing a great Work in Divinity But I stayed not long enough in that Station to go through above the half of it I enter'd upon the same Design again but in another method during my stay at London in the privacy that I then enjoyed after I had finished the History of our Reformation These were advantages which made this Performance much the easier to me And perhaps the Late Archbishop might from what he knew of the Progress I had made in them judge me the more proper for this Undertaking For after I have said so much to justify my own engaging in such a Work I think I ought to say all I can to justify or at least to excuse his making choice of me for it When I had resolved to try what I could do in this method of following the Thread of our Articles I considered that as I was to explain the Articles of this Church so I ought to examine the Writings of the chief Divines that lived either at the time in which they were prepared or soon after it When I was about the History of our Reformation I had laid out for all the Books that had been writ within the time comprehended in that Period And I was confirmed in my having succeeded well in that Collection by a Printed Catalogue that was put out by one Mansel in the end of Q. Elizabeth's Reign of all the Books that had been Printed from the time that Printing-Presses were first set up in England to that Year This I had from the present Lord Archbishop of York and I saw by it that very few Books had escaped my search Those that I had not fallen on were not writ by men of Name nor upon Important Subjects I resolved in order to this Work to bring my Enquiry further down The first and indeed the much best Writer of Q. Elizabeth's time was Bishop Iuel the lasting honour of the See in which the Providence of God has put me as well as of the Age in which he lived who had so great share in all that was done then particularly in compiling the Second Book of Homilies that I had great reason to look on his Works as a very sure Commentary on our Articles as far as they led me From him I carried down my search through Reynolds Humphreys Whitaker and the other great men of that time Our Divines were much diverted in the end of that Reign from better Enquiries by the Disciplinarian Controversies and though what Whitgift and Hooker writ on those Heads was much better than all that came after them yet they neither satisfied those against whom they writ nor stopt the Writings of their own side But as Waters gush in when the Banks are once broken so the breach that these had made proved fruitful Parties were formed Secular Interests were grafted upon them and new Quarrels followed those that first begun the Dispute The Contests in Holland concerning Predestination drew on another Scene of Contention among us as well as them which was managed with great heat Here was matter for angry men to fight it out till they themselves and the whole Nation grew weary of it The Question about the Morality of the Fourth Commandment was an unhappy Incident that raised a new strife The Controversies with the Church of Rome were for a long while much laid down The Archbishop of Spalata's Works had appeared with great Pomp in King Iames's Time and they drew the Observation of the Learned World much after them though his unhappy Relapse and fatal Catastrophe made them to be less read afterwards than they well deserved to have been When the Progress of the House of Austria began to give their Neighbours great Apprehensions so that the Protestant Religion seemed to come under a very thick Cloud and upon that Jealousies began to rise at home in King Charles's Reign this gave occasion to two of the best Books that we yet have The one set out by Archbishop Laud writ with great Learning Judgment and Exactness The other by Chillingworth writ with so clear a Thread of Reason and in so lively a Stile that it was justly reckoned the best Book that had been writ in our Language It was about the nicest Point in Popery that by which they had made the most Proselytes and that had once imposed on himself Concerning the Infallibility of the Church and the Motives of Credibility Soon after that we fell into the Confusions of Civil War in which our Divines suffered so much that while they were put on their own defence against those that had broke the Peace of the Church and State few Books were written but on those Subjects that were then in Debate among our selves Concerning the Government of the Church and our Liturgy and Ceremonies The Disputes about the Decrees of God were again managed with a new heat There were also great Abstractions set on foot in those times concerning Iustification by Faith and these were both so subtile and did seem to have such a tendency not only to Antinomianism but to a Libertine course of Life that many Books were writ on those Subjects That Noble Work of the Poliglot Bible together with the Collection of the Criticks set our Divines much on the study of the Scriptures and the Oriental Tongues
Testament answered 84 Concerning the various Readings 85 The nature and degrees of Inspiration 86 Concerning the Historical parts of Scripture 87 Concerning the Reasonings in Scripture 88 Of the Apocryphal Books 89 ARTICLE VII 91 NO difference between the Old and New Testament Ibid. Proofs in the Old Testament of the Messias 92 In the Prophets chiefly in Daniel 94 The Proofs all summed up 95 Objections of the Jews answered 96 The hopes of anotheâ— Life in the Old Testament 97 Our Saviour proved the Resurrection from the words to Moses 98 Expiation of Sin in the Old Dispensation 99 Sins then expiated by the Blood of Christ Ibid. Of the Rites and Ceremonies among the Jews 100 Of their Iudiciary Laws 101 Of the Moral Law Ibid. The Principles of Morality 102 Of Idolatry 103 Concerning the Sabbath Ibid. Of the Second Table 104 Of not coveting what is our Neighbours 105 ARTICLE VIII 106 COncerning the Creed of Athanasius Ibid. And the condemning Clauses in it Ibid. Of the Apostles Creed 107 ARTICLE IX 108 DIfferent Opinions concerning Original Sin Ibid. All men liable to Death by it 109 A Corruption spread through the whole Race of Adam Ibid. Of the state of Innocence 110 Of the effects of Adam's Fall 111 God's Iustice vindicated 112 Of the Imputation of Adam's Sin 113 St. Austin's Doctrine in this Point 114 This is opposed by many others Ibid. Both sides pretend their Doctrines agree with the Article 116 ARTICLE X. 117 THE true Notion of Liberty Ibid. The Feebleness of our present state 118 Inward Assistances promised in the New Covenant 119 The effect that these have on men 120 Concerning Preventing-Grace Ibid. Of its being efficacious or universal 121 ARTICLE XI 122 COncerning Iustification Ibid. Concerning Faith 123 The differences between the Church of England and the Church of Rome in this Point 124 The conditions upon which men are justified 126 The use to be made of this Doctrine 127 ARTICLE XII 128 THE necessity of Holiness Ibid. Concerning Merit 129 Of the defects of Good Works Ibid. ARTICLE XIII 131 ACTIONS in themselves good yet may be sins in him who does them Ibid. Of the Seventh Chapter to the Romans 132 This is not a total Incapacity Ibid. ARTICLE XIV 133 Oâ— the great extent of our Duty Ibid. No Counsels of Perfection 134 Many Duties which do not bind at all times Ibid. It is not possible for man to supererogate 135 Objections against this answered 136 The steps by which that Doctrine prevailed 137 ARTICLE XV. 138 CHrist's spotless Holiness Ibid. Of the Imperfections of the best men 139 ARTICLE XVI 140 COncerning Mortal and Venial Sin Ibid. Of the Sin against the Holy Ghost Ibid. Of the Pardon of Sin after Baptism 141 That as God forgives the Church ought also to forgive 142 Concerning Apostacy and sin unto Death 143 ARTICLE XVII 145 THE state of the Question 146 The Doctrine of the Supralapsarians and Sublapsarians Ibid. The Doctrine of the Remonstrants and the Socinians 147 This is a Controversy that arises out of Natural Religion Ibid. The History of this Controversy both in ancient and modern times 148 The Arguments of the Supralapsarians 152 The Arguments of the Sublapsarians 158 The Arguments of the Remonstrants 159 They affirm a certain Prescience 161 The Socinians Plea 164 General Reflections on the whole matter 165 The advantages and disadvantages of both sides and the faults of both 166 In what both do agree 167 The sense of the Article 168 The Cautions added to it Ibid. Passages in the Liturgy explained 169 ARTICLE XVIII 171 PHilosophers thought men might be saved in all Religions Ibid. So do the Mahometans Ibid. None are saved but by Christ 172 Whether some may not be saved by him who never heard of him Ibid. None are in Covenant with God but through the knowledge of Christ 173 But for others we cannot judge of the extent of the Mercies of God Ibid. Curiosity is to be restrained 174 ARTICLE XIX 175 WE ought not to believe that any are Infallible without good Authority Ibid. Iust prejudices against some who pretend to it 176 No Miracles brought to prove this Ibid. Proofs brought from Scripture 177 Things to be supposed previous to these Ibid. A Circle is not to be admitted Ibid. The Notes given of the true Church 178 These are examined Ibid. And whether they do agree to the Church of Rome 179 The Truth of Doctrine must be first settled Ibid. A Society that has a true Baptism is a true Church 180 Sacraments are not annulled by every Corruption Ibid. We own the Baptism and Orders given in the Church of Rome 181 And yet justify our separating from them Ibid. Objections against private judging 182 Our Reasons are given us for that end Ibid. Our Minds are free as our Wills are 183 The Church is still Visible but not Infallible Ibid. Of the Popes Infallibility 184 That was not pretended to in the first Ages Ibid. The Dignity of Sees rose from the Cities 185 Popes have fallen into Heresy Ibid. Their Ambition and Forgeries Ibid. Their Cruelty 186 The Power of deposing Princes claimed by them as given them by God Ibid. This was not a Corruption only of Discipline but of Doctrine 187 Arguments for the Popes Infallibility 188 No Foundation for it in the New Testament Ibid. St. Peter never clâ—imed it 189 Christ's words to him explained Ibid. Of the Kâ—ys of the Kingdâ—m of Hâ—â—vâ—n 190 Of binding and loosing Ibid. ARTICLE XX. 192 OF Church Power in Rituals Ibid. The Practice of the Jewish Church 193 Changes in these sometimes necâ—ssary Ibid. The Practice of the Ap stles 194 Sâ—bjâ—cts must obey in lawful things Ibid. But Superiâ—rs must not impose too much 195 The Church has Authority though not Infallible Ibid. Great Respâ—ct due to her Decisions 196 But no absâ—lute Submâ—ssion Ibid. The Church is the Depâ—sitary of the Scriptures 197 The Church of Rome run in a Circle Ibid. ARTICLE XXI 199 COuncils cannot be called but by the Consent of Princes Ibid. Tâ—e first were called by the Roman Emperors Ibid. Afterwards the Popes called them 200 Then some Councils thought on methods to fix their meeting Ibid. What makâ—s a Council to be General Ibid. What numbers are necessary 201 Hâ—w thâ—y must he cited Ibid. Nâ— Rules given in Scripture concerning their Constitution Ibid. Nazianzen's Complaints of Councils 202 Councils have been câ—ntrary to one another Ibid. Disâ—rders and Intriguâ—s in Councils Ibid. They judgâ— not by Inspiration Ibid. The Churches may examine their proceedings and judge of them 203 Concerning the Popes Bull confirming them Ibid. Thâ—y have an Authority but not absolute Ibid. Nâ—r do they need the Popes Bulls 204 The several Churches know their Traditions best Ibid. The Fathers do argue for the truth of the decisions but not from their authority Ibid. No prospect of another General Council 205 Popes are jealous of them Ibid. And the World expects little from them Ibid. Concerning the words
to pursue We are never to mix these two together or to imagine that the Condition upon which Justification is offered to us is the Consideration that moves God as if our Holiness Faith or Obedience were the moving Cause of our Justification oâ— that God justifies us because he sees that we are truly just For though it is not to be denied but that in some places of the New Testament Iustification may stand in that Sense because the word in its Signification will bear it yet in these Two Epistles in which it is largely treated of nothing is plainer than that the design is to shew us what it is that brings us to the Favour of God and to a state of Pardon and Acceptation So that Iustification in those places stands in opposition to Accusation and Condemnation The next Term to be explained is Faith which in the New Testament stâ—nds generally for the Complex of Christianity in opposition to the Law which stands as generally for the Complex of the whole Mosaical Dispensation So that the Faith of Christ is equivalent to this the Gospel of Christ because Christianity is a Foederal Religion founded on God's part on Promises that he has made to us and on the Rules he has set us and on our part on our believing that Revelation our trusting to those Promises and our setting our selves to follow those Rules The believing this Revelation and that great Article of it of Christ's being the Son of God and the true Messias that came to reveal his Father's Will and to offer himself up to be the Sacrifice of this New Covenant is often represented as the great and only Condition of the Covenant on our part but still this Faith must receive the whole Gospel the Precepts as well as the Promises of it and receive Christ as a Prophet to Teach and a King to Rule as well as a Priest to Save us By Faith only is not to be meant Faith as it is separated from the other Evangelical Graces and Virtues but Faith as it is opposite to the Rites of the Mosaical Law for that was the great Question that gave occasion to St. Paul's writing so fully upon this Head since many Judaizing Christians as they acknowledged Christ to be the true Messias so they thought that the Law of Moses was still to retain its force In opposition to whom St. Paul says That we are justified by Faith without the works of the Law Rom. 3.28 Gal. 2.16 Rom. 2.12 It is plain that he means the Mosaical Dispensation for he had divided all Mankind into those who were in the Law and those who were without the Law That is into Iews and Gentiles Nor had St. Paul any occasion to treat of any other Matter in those Epistles or to enter into nice Abstractions which became not one that was to Instruct the World in order to their Salvation Those Metaphysical Notions are not easily apprehended by plain Men not accustomed to such Subtilties and are of very little value when they are more critically distinguished Yet when it seems some of those Expressions were wrested to an ill sense and use St. Iames treats of the same matter but with this great difference that though he says expresly That a man is justified by Works and not by Faith only yet he does not say by the Works of the Law Jam. 2.24 so that he does not at all contradict St. Paul the Works that he mentions not being the Circumcision or Ritual Observances of Abraham but his offering up his Son Isaac which St. Paul had reckoned a part of the Faith of Abraham This shews that he did not intend to contradict the Doctrine delivered by St. Paul but only to give a true Notion of the Faith that justifies that it is not a bare believing such as Devils are capable of but such a believing as exerted it self in Good Works So that the Faith mentioned by St. Paul is the Complex of all Christianity whereas that mentioned by St. Iames is a bare believing without a life suitable to it And as it is certainly true that we are taken into the Favour of God upon our receiving the whole Gospel without observing the Mosaical Precepts so it is as certainly true that a bare professing or giving credit to the Truth of the Gospel without our living suitably to it does not give us a right to the Favour of God And thus it appears that these two Pieces of the New Testament when rightly understood do in no wise contradict but agree well with one another In the last place we must consider the signification of Good Works By them are not to be meant some voluntary and assumed pieces of Severity which are no where enjoyned in the Gospel that arise out of Superstition and that feed of Pride and Hypocrisy These are so far from deserving the name of Good Works that they have been in all Ages the Methods of Imposture and of Impostors and the Arts by which they have gained Credit and Authority By Good Works therefore are meant Acts of true Holiness and of sincere Obedience to the Laws of the Gospel The Terms being thus explained I shall next distinguish between the Questions arising out of this Matter that are only about Words and those that are more Material and Important If any Man fancy that the Remission of Sins is to be considered as a thing previous to Iustification and distinct from it and acknowledge that to be freely given in Christ Jesus and that in consequence of this there is such a Grace infused that thereupon the Person becomes truly just and is considered as such by God This which must be confessed to be the Doctrine of a great many in the Church of Rome and which seems to be that established at Trent is indeed very visibly different from the Stile and Design of those Places of the New Testament in which this matter is most fully opened But yet after all it is but a question about words for if that which they call Remission of Sins be the same with that which we call Iustification and if that which they call Iustification be the same with that which we call Sanctification then here is only a strife of words Yet even in this we have the Scriptures clearly of our side so that we hold the form of sound words from which they have departed The Scripture speaks of Sanctification as a thing different from and subsequent to Iustification 1 Cor. 6.11 Now ye are washed ye are sanctified ye are justified And since Justification and the being in the Love and Favour of God are in the New Testament one and the same thing the Remission of Sins must be an Act of God's Favour For we cannot imagine a middle state of being neither accepted of him nor yet under his Wrath as if the Remission of Sins were merely an extinction of the guilt of Sin without any special Favour If therefore this
doubt of the Testimony of our Senses Another presumptive Proof that the Ancients knew nothing of this Doctrine is that the Heathens and the Iews who charged them and their Doctrine with every thing that they could invent to make both it and them odious and ridiculous could never have passed over this in which both Sense and Reason seemed to be so evidently on their side They reproach the Christians for believing a God that was Born a God of Flesh that was crucified and buried They laughed at their belief of a Judgment to come of endless Flames of a heavenly Paradise and of the Resurrection of the Body Those who writ the first Apologies for the Christian Religion Iustin Martyr Tertullian Origen Arnobius and Minutius Felix have given us a large Account of the Blasphemies both of Iews and Gentiles against the Doctrines of Christianity Cyril of Alexandria has given us Iulian's Objections in his own Words who having been not only initiated into the Christian Religion but having read the Scriptures in the Churches and being a Philosophical and Inquisitive Man must have been well instructed concerning the Doctrine and the Sacraments of this Religion And his Relation to the Emperor Constantine must have made the Christians concerned to take more than ordinary Pains on him When he made Apostacy from the Faith he reproached the Christians with the Doctrine of Baptism and laughed at them for thinking that there was an Ablution and Sanctification in it conceiving it a thing Impossible that Water should wash or cleanse a Soul Yet neither he nor Porphiry nor Celsus before them did charge this Religion with the Absurdities of Transubstantiation It is reasonable to believe that if the Christians of that time had any such Doctrine among them it must have been known Every Christian must have known in what Sense those Words This is is my body and This is my blood were understood among them All the Apostates from Christianity must have known it and must have published it to excuse or hide the shame of their Apostacy Since Apostates are apt to spread Lies of them whom they forsake but not to conceal such Truths as are to their Prejudice Iulian must have known it and if he had known it his Judgment was too True and his Malice to the Christian Religion too Quick to overlook or neglect the Advantages which this part of their Doctrine gave him Nor can this be carried off by saying that the eating of human Flesh and the Thyestean Suppers which were objected to the Christians relate to this When the Fathers answer that they tell the Heathens that it was a downright Calumny and Lie And do not offer any Explanations or Distinctions taken from their Doctrine of the Sacrament to clear them from the mistake and malice of this Calumny The Truth is the execrable Practices of the Gnosticks who were called Christians gave the Rise to those as well as to many other Calumnies But they were not at all founded on the Doctrine of the Eucharist which is never once mentioned as the Occasion of this Accusation Another Presumption from which we conclude that the Ancients knew nothing of this Doctrine is that we find Heresies and Disputes arising concerning all the other Points of Religion There were very few of the Doctrines of the Christian Religion and not any of the Mysteries of the Faith that did not fall under great Objections But there was not any one Heresy raised upon this Head Men were never so meek and tame as easily to believe things when there appeared strong Evidence or at least great Presumptions against them In these last Eight or Nine Centuries since this Doctrine was received there has been a perpetual Opposition made to it even in dark and unlearned Ages In which implicite Faith and blind Obedience have carried a great sway And though the Secular Arm has been employed with great and unrelenting Severities to extirpate all that have opposed it Yet all the while many have stood out against it and have suffered much and long for their rejecting it Now it is not to be imagined that such an opposition should have been made to this Doctrine during the nine hundred Years last past and that for the former eight hundred Years there should have been no Disputes at all concerning it And that while all other things were so much questioned that several Fathers writ and Councils were called to settle the Belief of them yet that for about eight hundred Years this was the single Point that went down so easily that no Treatise was all that while writ to prove it nor Council held to establish it Certainly the Reason of this will appear to be much rather that since there have been Contests upon this Point these last Nine Ages and that there were none the first Eight this Doctrine was not known during those First Ages and that the great Silence about it for so long a time is a very strong Presumption that in all that time this Doctrine was not thought of The last of those Considerations that I shall offer which are of the nature of presumptive Proofs is that there are a great many Rites and other practices that have arisen out of this Doctrine as its natural Consequences which were not thought of for a great many Ages but that have gone on by a perpetual progress and have increased very fruitfully ever since this Doctrine was received Such are the Elevation Adoration and Processions together with the Doctrine of Concomitance and a vast number of Rites and Rubricks the first occasions and beginnings of which are well known These did all arise from this Doctrine it being natural especially in the Ages of Ignorance and Superstition for Men upon the supposition of Christ's being Corporally present to run out into all possible Inventions of Pomp and Magnificence about this Sacrament and it is very reasonable to think that since these things are of so late and so certain a date that the Doctrine upon which they are founded is not much ancienter The great Simplicity of the Primitive Forms not only as they are reported by Iustin Martyr and Tertullian in the Ages of the Poverty and Persecutions of the Church but as they are represented to us in the Fourth and Fifth Century by Cyril of Ierusalem the Constitutions and the pretended Areopagite have nothing of that Air that appears in the latter Ages The Sacrament was then given in both kinds it was put in the hands of the Faithful they reserved some portions of it It was given to Children for many Ages The Laity and even Boys were imployed to carry it to dying Penitents what remained of it was burnt in some places and consumed by the Clergy and by Children in other places the making Cataplasms of it the mixing the Wine with Ink to sign the Condemnation of Hereticks are very clear Presumptions that this Doctrine was not then known But above all their not adoring the Sacrament which
they are Yet a long softening is added to the Decree importing That none ought to glory in himself but in the Lord whose goodness is such that he makes his own gifts to us to be merits in us And it adds That because in many things we offend all every one ought to consider the justice and severity as well as the mercy and goodness of God and not to judge himself even tho he should know nothing by himself So then that in which all are agreed about this Matter is 1. That our Works cannot be good or acceptable to God but as we are assisted by his Grace and Spirit to do them So that the real Goodness that is in them flows from those Assistances which enable us to do them 2. That God does certainly reward Good Works He has promised it and he is faithful and cannot lie nor is he unrighteous to forget our labour of love So the Favour of God and eternal Happiness is the reward of Good Works Mention is also made of a full reward of the reward of a righteous Man and of a Prophet's reward Matth. 10.41 42. 2 Cor. 4.17 3. That this Reward is promised in the Gospel and could not be claimed without that by any antecedent Merit founded upon equality Since our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory The Points in which we differ are 1. Whether the Good Works of holy Men are so perfect that there is no defect in them or whether there is still some such defect mixed with them that there is occasion for Mercy to pardon somewhat even in Good Men Those of the Church of Rome think that a Work cannot be called good if it is not entirely good and that nothing can please God in which there is a mixture of Sin Whereas we according to the Article believe that Human Nature is so weak and so degenerated that as far as our Natural Powers concur in any Action there is still some Allay in it and that a Good work is considered by God according to the main both of the Action and of the Intention of him that does it and as a Father pities his Children so God passes over the defects of those who serve him sincerely though not perfectly Gen. 6.5 Jam. 3.2 Phil. 3.13 The imaginations of the heart of man are only evil continually In many things we offend all says St. Iames And St. Paul reckons that he had not yet apprehended but was forgetting the things behind and reaching to these before and still pressing forward We see in fact that the best Men in all Ages have been complaining and humbling themselves even for the sins of their Holy Things for their Vanity and Desire of Glory for the distraction of their Thoughts in Devotion and for the Affection which they bore to Earthly things It were a Doctrine of great Cruelty which might drive Men to despair if they thought that no Action could please God in which they were conscious to themselves of some Imperfection or Sin The Midwives of Egypt feared God yet they excused themselves by a Lye But God accepted of what was good and passed over what was amiss in them and built them houses Exod. 1.21 St. Austin urges this frequently That our Saviour in teaching us to pray has made this a standing Petition Forgive us our Trespasses as well as that Give us this day our daily Bread for we sin daily and do always need a Pardon Upon these Reasons we conclude that somewhat of the Man enters into all that Men do We are made up of Infirmities and we need the Intercession of Christ to make our best Actions to be accepted of by God For if he should straitly mark iniquity who can stand before him Psal. 130.3 4. 2 Chron. 30.18 19. but mercy is with him and forgiveness So that with Hezekiah we ought to pray That though we are not purified according to the purification of the sanctuary yet the good Lord would pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God The Second Question arises out of this concerning the Merit of Good Works for upon the supposition of their being compleatly good that Merit is founded which will be acknowledged to be none at all if it is believed that there are such Defects in them that they need a Pardon since where there is Guilt there can be no pretension to Merit The word Merit has also a sound that is so daring so little suitable to the humility of a Creature to be used towards a Being of Infinite Majesty and with relation to endless Rewards that though we do not deny but that a sense is given to it by many of the Church of Rome to which no just exception can be made yet there seems to be somewhat too bold in it especially when Condignity is added to it And since this may naturally give us an Idea of a buying and selling with God and that there has been a great deal of this put in practice it is certain that on many respects this Word ought not to be made use of There is somewhat in the Nature of Man apt to swell and to raise it self out of measure and to that no Indulgence ought to be given in words that may flatter it for we ought to subdue this Temper by all means possible both in our selves and others On the other hand though we confess that there is a Disorder and Weakness that hangs heavy upon us and that sticks close to us yet this ought not to make us indulge our selves in our sins as if they were the effects of an Infirmity that is inseparable from us To consent to any Sin if it were ever so small in it self is a very great sin We ought to go on still cleansing our selves more and more 2 Cor. 7.1 from all filthiness both of the flesh and of the spirit and perfecting holiness in the fear of God Our readiness to sin should awaken both our diligence to watch against it and our humility under it For though we grow not up to a pitch of being above all sin and of absolute Perfection yet there are many degrees both of Purity and Perfection to which we may arrive and to which we must constantly aspire So that we must keep a just Temper in this Matter neither to ascribe so much to our own Works as to be lifted up by reason of them or to forget our daily need of a Saviour both for Pardon and Intercession nor on the other hand so far to neglect them as to take no care about them The due Temper is to make our calling and election sure Phil. 2.12 Col. 3.17 and to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling but to do all in the name of the Lord Iesus ever trusting to him and giving thanks to God by him ARTICLE XIII Of Works before Justification Works done before the
Grace of Christ and the Inspiration of his Spirit are not pleasant to God forasmuch as they spring not of Faith in Iesus Christ neither do they make men meet to receive Grace or as the School-Authors say deserve Grace of Congruity Yea rather for that they are not done as God hath commanded and willed them to be done we doubt not but that they have the nature of Sin THere is but one Point to be considered in this Article which is Whether Men can without any inward Assistances from God do any Action that shall be in all its circumstances so good that it is not only acceptable to God but meritorious in his sight though in a lower degree of merit If what was formerly laid down concerning a Corruption that was spread over the whole Race of Mankind and that had very much vitiated their Faculties be true then it will follow from thence That unassisted Nature can do nothing that is so good in it self that it can be pleasant or meritorious in the sight of God A great difference is here to be made between an external Action as it is considered in it self and the same Action as it was done by such a Man An Action is called good from the Morality and Nature of the Action it self so Actions of Justice and Charity are in themselves good whatsoever the Doer of them may be But Actions are considered by God with relation to him that does them in another light his Principles Ends and Motives with all the other circumstances of the Action come into this Account for unless all these be good let the Action in its own abstracted nature be ever so good it cannot render the Doer acceptable or meritorious in the sight of God Another distinction is also to be made between the Methods of the Goodness and Mercy of God and the strictness of Justice For if God had suchregard to the feigned Humiliation of Ahab 1 Kings 21.29 as to grant him and his Family a Reprieve for some time from those Judgments that had been denounced against them and him and if Iehu's executing the Commands of God upon Ahab's Family and upon the Worshippers of Baal procured him the Blessing of a long continuance of the Kingdom in his Family though he acted in it with a bad design 2 Kings 10.30 31. and retained still the old Idolatry of the Calves set up by Ieroboam then we have all reason to conclude according to the Infinite Mercy and Goodness of God that no Man is rejected by him or denied inward Assistances that is making the most of his Faculties and doing the best that he can but that he who is faithful in his little shall be made Ruler over more The Question is only Whether such Actions can be so pure as to be free from all sin and to Merit at God's hand as being Works naturally perfect for that is the formal Notion of the Merit of Congruity as the Notion of the Merit of Condignity is That the Work is perfect in the Supernatural Order To establish the Truth of this Article beside what was said upon the Head of Original Sin we ought to consider what St. Paul's words in the 7 th of the Romans do import Nothing was urged from them on the former Articles because there is just ground of doubting whether St. Paul is there speaking of himself in the state he was in when he writ it or whether he is personating a Iew and speaking of himself as he was while yet a Iew. But if the words are taken in that lowest sense they prove this That an Unregenerate Man has in himself such a Principle of Corruption that even a good and a holy Law revealed to him cannot reform it but that on the contrary it will take occasion from that very Law to deceive him and to slay him Rom. 7.12 13. So that all the benefit that he receives even from that Revelation is Ver. 14. that sin in him becomes exceeding sinful as being done against such a degree of Light by which it appears that he is carnal and sold under sin and that though his Understanding may be enlighten'd by the Revelation of the Law of God made to him so that he has some Inclinations to obey it yet he does not that which he would but that which he would not And though his Mind is so far convinced 16 17 18 that he consents to the Law that it is good yet he still does that which he would not which was the effect of sin that dwelt in him and from hence he knew that in him that is in his flesh in his carnal part or carnal state there dwelt no good thing for though to will that is to resolve on obeying the Law was present yet he found not a way how to perform that which was good the good that he wished to do that he did not but he did the evil that he wished not to do which he imputed to the sin that dwelt in him He found then a Law a Bent and Biass within him 21 that when he wished resolved and endeavoured to do good evil was present with him it sprung up naturally within him for though in his rational Powers he might so far approve the Law of God as to delight in it yet he found another Law arising upon his Mind from his Body 23 which warred against the law of his mind and brought him into captivity to the law of sin which was in his members 24 25. All this made him conclude that he was carnal and sold under sin and cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death For this he thanks God through our Lord Iesus Christ And he sums all up in these words So then with the mind I my self serve the Law of God but with the flesh the Law of Sin If all this Discourse is made by St. Paul of himself when he had the Light which a Divinely-inspired Law gave him he being educated in the exactest way of that Religion both zealous for the Law and blameless in his own observance of it we may from thence conclude how little reason there is to believe that a Heathen or indeed an unregenerated Man can be better than he was and do Actions that are both good in themselves which it is not denied but that he may do and do them in such a manner that there shall be no mixture nor imperfection in them but that they shall be perfect in a Natural Order and be by consequence meritorious in a Secondary Order By all this we do not pretend to say That a Man in that state can do nothing or that he has no use of his Faculties He can certainly restrain himself on many occasions he can do many good works and avoid many bad ones he can raise his Understanding to know and consider things according to the Light that he has he can put