metaphor or mystical expression as we are plainly told Isai. 3. Say ye to the Righteous It shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings But Wo to the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him In the other two places Rom. 1.17 and Gal. 3.11 the Emphasis seems to ly on the word Faith The just shall live by Faith or The just by Faith shall live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For here the main point in Question was in both Epistles concerning Justification to Life Whether by Works or by Faith And the Conclusion was That by the Deeds of the Law shall no flesh be Justified in the sight of God for by the Law cometh the knowledge of sin But being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. In confirmation of which truth the Apostle cites this testimony out of Habakkuk For it is written saith he The Just shall live by Faith And proves it further from the examples of Abraham and David Who were Justified he tells us not by Works but by Faith To whom God imputed Righteousness with works Thus in the Epistle to the Romans And in like manner in that to the Galatians He argues That Abraham's Believing was accounted to him for Righteousness And That in him the Gentiles also are Justified by Faith And do thereby become the Children of faithful Abraham And this he there also confirms by the same testimony That no man is Justified by the Law in the sight of God is evident he tells us For the Just shall live by Faith or The Just by Faith shall live That is Being justified by Faith we shall obtain Life or become Happy Being Justified by Faith we have Peace with God So that the stress of the Proof from this Testimony is laid upon those words By Faith Not of Works but by Faith We have now therefore dispatched these two things from these Words First That this Happiness whatever it be belongs only to the Just the Righteous the Godly Person and to no other That is to those whom God in favour shall repute so And therefore it concerns Us if we would partake of this Happiness to make sure to be of this number That we be such as whom God will account Righteous Otherwise how ever we may flatter our selves or what ever opinion others may conceive of us God tells us His Soul shall have no pleasure in us Secondly That it is by true Faith in Jesus Christ and no other way that we can be reputed Just or Righteous in Gods sight Not for any Righteousness of our own not by works of Righteousness which we have done Our Works perhaps may look glorious in the sight of Men but not in the eyes of God that we should in His sight be justified by Them Our Works may serve to justifie our Faith We may shew our Faith by our Works and By Works is Faith made Perfect But it is our Faith must justifie us Abraham believed God as there is follows and it was imputed to him for Righteousness If Abraham were Justified by Works saith S. Paul he had whereof to Glory but not before God But Abraham's Believing God for so it follows was accounted to him for Righteousness And this God would have so to be That Himself might have all the Glory of his Grace And That Man may have nothing to Glory in nothing to boast of Now to him that worketh as there it follows the Reward is not reckoned of Grace but of Debt But to him that worketh not but Believeth on him that justifieth the Vngodly his Faith is counted to him for Righteousness And David allso as he further argues describeth the Blessedness of that Man to whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works that is not upon the account of Works saying Blessed are they who 's Iniquities are forgiven and who 's sins are covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not Impute sin Not He that hath no sin for then no man would be blessed but to whom it is not Imputed Who ever therefore would be thus accounted Righteous in Gods sight must be contented to Disclaim his Own Righteousness as to any thing of Merit therein and accept of this Imputed Righteousness on the account onely of Christs Righteousness and Merits to the benefit of which we are intituled by Faith in him So far is the Doctrine of S. Paul from the Popish Doctrine of Merits and Supererogation as if we were able to do no onely as much as is sufficient but more than is necessary to make us Just on the account of Works But when we thus exclude the Merits of good Works as to our Justification We do not deny the Necessity of them as to our Practice For it is not every Faith or every thing which a presumptuous wicked person shall call Faith that will Justifie us in the sight of God But such a Faith as works by Love and By Works is Faith made perfect Not an Idle Lazy Faith But an Operative a Working Faith a Faith that purifieth the Heart A Living a Lively Faith But Faith without Works is Dead and can in no other sense be called Faith than as a Dead man or the Picture of a man may be called a man A Faith in the Heart which doth produce Holyness in the Life For without Holyness no man shall see God For it was never the design of S. Paul nor of our Church neither when shee saith Wee are Justified by Faith onely to derogate from the Necessity of Good Works But he doth directly Assert it And he doth not without some Indignation Disclaim that consequence that some would slanderously fasten upon his Doctrine of Free Grace and Justification by Faith onely What shall we say then Shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound God forbid And as to those for some such there were who as a consequence of his Doctrine did affirm that he said Let us do evil that good may come thereof He says They do slanderously report it and That their condemnation is just But you will say If we be Justified as our Church tells us by Faith onely what need is there of Holyness or a Godly Life I say Much every way For we must be Sanctified as well as Justified if ever we be saved And though Justification and Sanctification go allways together For God Justifies none whom he doth not also Sanctify yet the Notions of the one and the other are very different And whatever some would slanderously insinuate of those who exclude Good Works from Justification as if they were Enemies to Good Works and held That by Faith a man may be saved let his Life be never so Wicked It will be found in experience That they are not less zealous of good Works who think
not to Trust in them to be Justified by them either in Whole or in Part. As to Justification she tells us in the 11 th Article That we are Justified by Faith onely and that this is a Wholsome Doctrine and full of Comfort And as to Good Works she tells us in the 12 th Article That though they do not Justifie but follow after Justification yet are they pleasing and acceptable unto God are the necessary fruit of a true and lively Faith and by which it s known as a Tree by its Fruit. And in the Homily or Sermon to which the Article refers she tells us the same more fully That there can no man by his own acts works and deeds seem they never so good be justified and made righteous before God But every man of necessity is constrained to seek for another righteousness or justification to be received at Gods own hands That is to say the forgiveness of his sins and trespasses That this justification or righteousness which we so receive of Gods Mercy and Christs Merits embraced by Faith is taken accepted and allowed of God for our Perfect and Full Justification That all the world being wrapped in sin by breaking of the Law God sent his onely Son our Saviour Christ into the World to Fullfill the Law for Vs and by shedding of his most pretious bloud to make a Sacrifice and Satisfaction or as it may be called Amends to his Father for our sins to asswage his Wrath and Indignation conceived against us for the same That sinners when they turn again to God unfeignedly are washed by this Sacrifice from their Sins in such sort that there remaineth not any Spot of Sin that shall be Imputed to their Damnation That this is that Justification or Righteousness which S. Paul speaketh of when he saith No man is justified by the Works of the Law but freely by Faith in Jesus Christ And again he saith We believe in Jesus Christ that we be justified freely by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law because that no man shall be justified by the Works of the Law That Although this Justification be Free to Vs Yet it cometh not So freely to us that there is no Ransom paid therefore at all But God hath tempered his Justice and Mercy together that he would neither by his Justice condemn us to the Everlasting Captivity of the Devil and his Prison of Hell remedyless for ever without Mercy Nor by his Mercy deliver us clearly without Justice or payment of a Just Ransom And whereas it lay not in us that to do He provided a Ransome for us that was the most precious Body and Blood of his own most dear and best beloved Son Jesus Christ. Who beside this Ransome Fullfilled the Law for us Perfectly With much more to the same purpose Shewing That Christ Alone hath payd the Whole Ransome and made Full Satisfaction to God's Justice and that our Righteousness or Good Works come not in for any Share or Part thereof as if by them we should at lest in Part be justified This Doctrine I know is not pleasing to the Socinians nor to the Papists Not to the Socinians Because they Deny that any such Satisfaction is made to Gods Justice at all For if they should allow that Christ alone were able to make a sufficient Satisfaction for the Sins of All they must allow him to be more than Man And therefore in order to the Denying of his Divinity they deny his Satisfaction too Nor to the Papists For though they allow a Satisfaction to Justice Yet they would have this to be done at lest in Part by our selves To make way for Purgatory and consequently for Popish Pardons For if we must pay part of the Debt our selves Christ having not payd the Whole and have not payed it in this Life we must either pay it in Purgatory or else by way of Commutation pay Money for the Popes Pardon to be excused from it But Wee who are not concerned for either of these As neither denying Christs Divinity nor being obliged to maintain Purgatory Have no reason to depart from the Language of our own Church Now to make this the more clear our Church observes further That there are Three things which must go together in our Justification Vpon Gods part his great Mercy and Grace Vpon Christs part Justice that is the Satisfaction of Gods Justice or the Price of our Redemption by offering of his Body and shedding of his Blood with fullfilling the Law perfectly and throughly And upon Our part true and lively Faith in the Merits of Jesus Christ which yet is not ours but by Gods working in us So that in our Justification is not onely Gods Mercy and Grace but his Justice also Which the Apostle calls the Justice of God And it consisteth in Paying the Ransome and fullfilling the Law And so the Grace of God doth not shut out the Justice of God in our Justification but onely shutteth out the Justice of Man that is to say the Justice of our Works as to be Merits of deserving our Justification And therefore S. Paul declareth here nothing upon the behalf of Man concerning his Justification but onely a true and lively Faith which nevertheless is the Gift of God and not Mans onely working without God And yet that Faith doth not shut out Repentance Hope Love Dread and the Fear of God to be joyned with Faith in every man that is justified But it shutteth them out from the Office of Justifying So that though they be all present together in him that is justified yet they justify not all together Nor the Faith allso doth not shut out the Justice of our good Works as necessary to be done afterwards of Duty towards God for we are most bounden to serve God in doing good deeds commanded by him in his holy Scripture all the days of our Life But it excludeth them so that we may not do them to this intent to be made Good by doing them For all the good Works that we can do be unperfect and therefore not able to deserve our Justifiction But our Justification doth come freely by the meer Mercy of God And of so great and free Mercy that whereas all the World was not able of their selves to pay Any Part towards their Ransome it pleased our heavenly Father of his infinite Mercy without any our desert or deservings to prepare for us the most precious Jewels of Christs Body and Blood whereby our Ransome might be fully payd the Law fullfilled and his Justice fully satisfied So that Christ is now the Righteousness of all them that truly do believe in him He for them payd the Ransome by his Death He for them fullfilled the Law in his Life So that now in him and by him every true Christian man may be called a Fullfiller of the Law For as much as that which their Infirmity lacked Christs Justice hath supplied I
the more Rational Without considering If they must at lest allow Eternity to Matter why not rather to a Wise and Knowing Agent Onely because their Wickedness hath made them think it their Interest That there be no God to call them to account for it And therefore would fain perswade themselves That there is none And think there is nothing so Absurd which they would not rather Beleeve than That there is a God And what is sayd of the Creation of the World may be equally applyed to the Immortality of the Soul the Resurrection of the Body and the Eternal state of Bliss or Misery hereafter according as Men have or have not approved themselves to God and others of like nature Of all which what ever faint Conjectures or doubtful Traditions the Heathen might have from the Light of Nature they were yet much in the dark till Immortality was brought to Light by the Gospel Not that I take pleasure to Decry Disparage Depreciate or Invalidate that Light which Nature and Reason afford us toward Reveiled Truthes For this I think we ought rather to Cherish to Enforce and Improve what we can rather than to Enervate or Elude as of great subserviency to that of Faith For while we study to Elude these Arguments we are so far doing their Work who would Elude the Scripture too For even where we cannot from Nature alone conclude an absolute Certainty so as to Stop the Mouths of those that love to Cavil or as the Apostle speaks list to be Contentious Yet if this afford us from considerations Natural and Moral Probable Arguments and a Multitude of them all concurring to shew That it is not Impossible not Improbable but very Likely that these things May be so It is a great Preparative to the Beleeving of a Revelation that says It is so And such Arguments we find the Apostles did oft make use of to very good Purpose and with very good Success A Cloud of Witnesses though each singly may seem but Cloudy may afford a considerable Light like the Stellae Nebulosae in the via Lactea And Probable Arguments though not singly Demonstrative yet where there be Many of them and those Concurrent and Nothing to the Contrary Experience tells us in affaires of all natures create at lest Violent Presumption and oft obtain a firm Assent And 't is seldome we have a greater Evidence either for Determining Civil Affairs or for Stating the Hypotheses of Nature There is none of us can Doubt but that there is such a place as Rome though we have not seen it and though of all those who have Told us so there is no one who might not possibly have told a Ly. But a Concurrence of many Probabilities passeth for a sufficient Proof And such Arguments how ever we now look upon them as not Demonstrative were yet of such force with the Heathens who had no better Light to Determine them at lest with the Wisest of them that they judged it a matter at lest of great Probability if not of absolute Certainty That the Souls of men are Immortal and That there is a State of Rewards and Punishments after this Life Who shall therefore rise up in Iudgement with the men of this Generation and Condemn them who disbeleeve it under a greater Light But when all is done the Fullest and Clearest Evidence is from Revelation Whereby what to Reason was very Probable is to our Faith made Certain The Jews indeed had some better Knowledge of these things than the Gentiles had Not onely their great Rabbi's but even Ordinary persons and those of the other Sex According to that of Martha concerning Lazarus I know that he shall Rise again in the Resurrection at the last day And the Sadduces before the Resurrection of Christ and the full Discovery of the Gospell expostulating with Christ concerning the Resurrection is an Argument that though themselves did disbeleeve it it was an Opinion commonly received by the rest of the Jews That the Dead should rise again But They had it by Revelation not by Natural Light onely Now these Great and Momentous Truthes which God hath vouchsafed thus to make known we are to Beleeve by Faith And that not onely so as to give Credit to them as matters of News for thus the Devils Beleeve and Tremble But so to Beleeve as to Live sutably so to Live as becomes those who Beleeve such things Secondly As we are thus in general to beleeve the Word of God So particularly to beleeve the Commands of God And so to live as becomes those that beleeve these to be God's Commands That is To Obey them and Conform our selves unto them however contrary to our perverse Inclinations If Christ command us To Deny our selves To take up our Cross and follow him To sell all if need be and give to the Poor To Leave House or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Lands for His sake and the Gospell yea or Life it self To pull out a Right Eye or Cut off a Right Hand in case they Offend or part with what is as dear to us as these We must Obey it Thus among the many Examples in the following Chapter By Faith Abraham being Called of God Obeyed and went out he knew not whither forsaking his Countrey and his Fathers House in Obedience to Gods Command and Sojourned in the Land of Promise as in a Strange Land By Faith Abraham when he was Tryed Offered up Isaac And he that had received the Promises Offered-up his onely begotten Son Of whom it was sayd That in Isaac shall thy Seed be Called Without disputing How this was consistent with the Bowels of a Father or How unacceptable News it would be to Sarah when she should hear it or How consistent with that great Promise wherein all the Nations of the Earth were concerned That in his Seed that is in Isaac and what should proceed from him all the Nations of the Earth should be Blessed He presently addressed himself to this hard Task to the Obedience of this unexpected Command Leaving it to God who he knew was able to Reconcile his own Promise with his Command By Faith Moses chose rather to suffer Affliction with the Children of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Season Esteeming the Reproach of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt On the same account the Three Children would rather venture on a Firy Furnace and Daniel on the Lyons Den than not Obey the Commands of God Which here I suppose the Apostle intimates when he tells us of those who by Faith stopped the mouths of Lyons and Quenched violence of Fire Others were Tortured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not accepting deliverance Endured cruell Mockings and Scourgings Bonds and Imprisonments Were Stoned were Sawn-asunder were Tempted or Burned alive were Slain with the Sword they