it at all Remember that the Snail out-went the Eagle and won the goal because she set out betimes To sum up all every good man is a new Creature and Christianity is not so much a Divine institution as a Divine frame and temper of Spirit which if we heartily pray for and endeavour to obtain we shall find it as hard and as uneasie to sin against God as now we think it impossible to abstain from our most pleasing sins For as it is in the Spermatick vertue of the Heavens which diffuses it self Universally upon all sublunary bodies and subtilly insinuating it self into the most dull and unactive Element produces Gold and Pearls Life and motion and brisk activities in all things that can receive the influence and heavenly blessing so it is in the Holy Spirit of God and the word of God and the grace of God which S. John calls the seed of God it is a Law of Righteousness and it is a Law of the Spirit of Life and changes Nature into Grace and dulness into zeal and fear into love and sinful habits into innocence and passes on from grace to grace till we arrive at the full measures of the stature of Christ and into the perfect liberty of the sons of God so that we shall no more say The evil that I would not that I do but we shall hate what God hates and the evil that is forbidden we shall not do not because we are strong of our selves but because Christ is our strength and he is in us and Christs strength shall be perfected in our weakness and his grace will be sufficient for us and he will of his own good pleasure work in us not only to will but also to do velle perficere saith the Apostle to will and to do it throughly and fully being sanctified throughout to the glory of his Holy name and the eternal salvation of our souls through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father c. FIDES FORMATA OR Faith working by Love SERM. III. JAMES II. 24. You see then how that by Works a Man is justified and not by Faith only THat we are justified by Faith S. Paul tells us That we are also justified by Works we are told in my Text and both may be true But that this Justification is wrought by Faith without Works to him that worketh not but believeth saith S. Paul That this is not wrought without Works S. James is as express for his Negative as S. Paul was for his Affirmative and how both these should be true is something harder to unriddle But affirmanti incumbit probatio he that affirms must prove and therefore S. Paul proves his Doctrine by the example of Abraham to whom Faith was imputed for Righteousness and therefore not by Works And what can be answered to this Nothing but this That S. James uses the very same Argument to prove that our Justification is by Works also For our Father Abraham was justified by works when he offered up his Son Isaac Now which of these says true Certainly both of them but neither of them have been well understood insomuch that they have not only made divisions of heart among the faithful but one party relies on Faith to the disparagement of Good Life and the other makes Works to be the main ground of our hope and confidence and consequently to exclude the efficacy of Faith The one makes Christian Religion a lazy and unactive Institution and the other a bold presumption on our selves while the first tempts us to live like Heathens and the other recalls us to live the life of Jews while one says I am of Paul and another I am of S. James and both of them put it in danger of evacuating the institution and the death of Christ one looking on Christ only as a Law-giver and the other only as a Saviour The effects of these are very sad and by all means to be diverted by all the wise considerations of the Spirit My purpose is not with subtle Arts to reconcile them that never disagreed the two Apostles spake by the same Spirit and to the same last design though to differing intermedial purposes But because the great end of Faith the design the definition the state the oeconomy of it is that all Believers should not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit Before I fall to the close handling of the Text I shall premise some preliminary Considerations to prepare the way of holiness to explicate the differing sences of the Apostles to understand the Question and the Duty by removing the causes of the vulgar mistakes of most men in this Article and then proceed to the main Inquiry 1. That no man may abuse himself or others by mistaking of hard words spoken in mystery with alegorical expressions to secret senses wrapt up in a cloud such as are Faith and Justification and Imputation and Righteousness and Works be pleased to consider That the very word Faith is in Scripture infinitely ambiguous insomuch that in the Latine Concordances of S. Hierom's Bible published by Robert Stephens you may see no less then twenty two several senses and accceptations of of the word Faith set down with the several places of Scripture referring to them to which if out of my own own observation I could add no more yet these are an abundant demonstration That whatsoever is said of the efficacy of Faith for Justification is not to be taken in such a sence as will weaken the necessity and our carefulness of good life when the word may in so many other sences be taken to verifie the affirmation of S. Paul of Justification by Faith so as to reconcile it to the necessity of Obedience 2. As it is in the word Faith so it is in Works for by Works is meant sometimes the thing done sometimes the labour of doing sometimes the good will it is sometimes taken for a state of good life sometimes for the Covenant of Works it sometimes means the Works of the Law sometimes the Works of the Gospel sometimes it is taken for a perfect actual unsinning Obedience sometimes for a sincere endeavour to please God sometimes they are meant to be such which can challenge the Reward as of Debt sometimes they mean only a disposition of the person to receive the favour and the grace of God Now since our good Works can be but of one kind for ours cannot be meritorious ours cannot be without sin all our life they cannot be such as need no repentance it is no wonder if we must be justified without Works in this sence for by such Works no man living can be justified And these S. Paul calls the Works of the Law and sometimes he calls them our righteousness and these are the Covenant of Works But because we came into the World to serve God and God will be obeyed and Jesus Christ came into the World to save us from sin and
to redeem to himself a people zealous of good works and hath to this purpose reveal'd to us all his Fathers Will and destroyed the works of the Devil and gives us his holy Spirit and by him we shall be justified in this Obedience therefore when Works signifie a sincere hearty endeavour to keep all Gods Commands out of a belief in Christ that if we endeavour to do so we shall be helped by his grace and if we really do so we shall be pardoned for what is past and if we continue to do so we shall receive a Crown of Glory therefore it is no wonder that it is said we are to be justified by Works always meaning not the Works of the Law that is Works that are meritorious works that can challenge the reward works that need no mercy no repentance no humiliation and no appeal to grace and favour but always meaning works that are an obedience to God by the measures of good will and a sincere endeavour and the Faith of the Lord Jesus 3. But thus also it is in the word Justification For God is justified and Wisdom is justified and Man is justified and a sinner is not justified as long as he continues in sin and a sinner is justified when he repents and when he is pardoned and an innocent person is justified when he is declared to be no criminal and a righteous man is justified when he is saved and a weak Christian is justified when his imperfect Services are accepted for the present and himself thrust forward to more grace and he that is justified may be justified more and every man that is justified to one purpose is not so to all and Faith in divers sences gives Justification in as many and therefore though to every sence of Faith there is not always a degree of Justification in any yet when the Faith is such that Justification is the product and correspondent as that Faith may be imperfect so the Justification is but begun and either must proceed further or else as the Faith will dy so the Justification will come to nothing The like observation might be made concerning Imputation and all the words used in this Question but these may suffice till I pass to other particulars 4. Not only the word Faith but also Charity and Godliness and Religion signifie sometimes particular Graces and sometimes they suppose Universally and mean Conjugations and Unions of Graces as is evident to them that read the Scriptures with observation Now when Justification is attributed to Faith or Salvation to Godliness they are to be understood in the aggregate sence for that I may give but one instance of this when S. Paul speaks of Faith as it is a particular Grace and separate from the rest he also does separate it from all possibility of bringing us to Heaven Though I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have no Charity I am nothing When Faith includes Charity it will bring us to Heaven when it is alone when it is without Charity it will do nothing at all 5. Neither can this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be salved by saying That though Faith alone does justifie yet when she does justifie she is not alone but Good Works must follow for this is said to no purpose 1. Because if we be justified by Faith alone the work is done whether Charity does follow or no and therefore that want of Charity cannot hurt us 2. There can be no imaginable cause why Charity and Obedience should be at all necessary if the whole work can be done without it 3. If Obedience and Charity be not a condition of our Salvation then it is not necessary to follow Faith but if it be it does as much as Faith for that is but a part of the condition 4. If we can besaved without Charity and keeping the Commandments what need we trouble our selves for them if we cannot be saved without them then either Faith without them does not justifie or if it does we are never the better for we may be damned for all that Justification The Consequent of these Observations is briefly this 1. That no man should fool himself by disputing about the Philosophy of Justification and what causality Faith hath in it and whether it be the act of Faith that justifies or the habit Whether Faith as a Good Work or Faith as an Instrument Whether Faith as it is Obedience or Faith as it is an Access to Christ Whether as a Hand or as a Heart Whether by its own innate Vertue or by the efficacy of the Object Whether as a sign or as a thing signified Whether by introduction or by perfection Whether in the first beginnings or in its last and best productions Whether by inherent worthiness or adventitious imputation Vberiùs ista quaeso c. that I may use the words of Cicero haec enim spinosiora priùs ut confiteor me cogunt quam ut assentiar These things are knotty and too intricate to do any good they may amuse us but never instruct us and they have already made men careless and confident disputative and troublesome proud and uncharitable but neither wiser nor better Let us therefore leave these weak wayes of troubling our selves or others and directly look to the Theology of it the direct duty the end of Faith and the work of Faith the conditions and the instruments of our Salvation the just foundation of our hopes how our faith can destroy our sin and how it can unite us unto God how by it we can be made Partakers of Christs death and Imitators of his life For since it is evident by the premises that this article is not to be determined or relyed upon by arguing from words of many significations we must walk by a clearer light by such plain sayings and Dogmatical Propositions of Scripture which evidently teach us our duty and place our hopes upon that which cannot deceive us that is which require Obedience which call upon us to glorifie God and to do good to men and to keep all Gods Commandments with diligence and sincerity For since the end of our faith is that we may be Disciples and Servants of the Lord Jesus advancing his Kingdom here and partaking of it hereafter since we are commanded to believe what Christ taught that it may appear as reasonable as it is necessary to do what he hath commanded since Faith and works are in order one to the other it is impossible that Evangelical Faith and Evangelical works should be opposed one to the other in the effecting of our Salvation So that as it is to no purpose for Christians to dispute whether we are justified by Faith or the works of the Law that is the Covenant of works without the help of Faith and the auxiliaries and allowances of mercy on Gods part and repentance on ours because no Christian can pretend to this so it is perfectly foolish to dispute whether
and returns to it with passion and abides with pleasure This will not do it such a man cannot be justified for all his believing But therefore the Apostle shews us a more excellent way This is a true saying and I will that thou affirm constantly that they who have believed in God be careful to maintain good works The Apostle puts great force on this Doctrine he arms it with a double Preface the saying is true and it is to be constantly affirmed that is it is not only true but necessary it is like Pharaoh's dream doubled because it is bound upon us by the decree of God and it is unalterably certain that every Believer must do good works or his believing will signifie little nay more than so every man must be careful to do good works and more yet he must carefully maintain them that is not do them by fits and interrupted returns but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be incumbent upon them to dwell upon them to maintain good works that is to persevere in them But I am yet but in the general be pleased to go along with me in these particular considerations 1. No mans sins are pardoned but in the same measure in which they are mortified destroyed and taken away so that if Faith does not cure our sinful Natures it never can justifie it never can procure our pardon And therefore it is that as soon as ever Faith in the Lord Jesus was Preached at the same time also they preached Repentance from dead works in so much that S. Paul reckons it among the fundamentals and first principles of Christianity nay the Baptist preached repentance and amendment of life as a preparation to the Faith of Christ. And I pray consider can there be any forgiveness of sins without repentance But if an Apostle should preach forgiveness to all that believe and this belief did not also mean that they should repent and forsake their sin the Sermons of the Apostle would make Christianity nothing else but the Sanctuary of Romulus a device to get together all the wicked people of the world and to make them happy without any change of manners Christ came to other purposes he came to sanctifie us and to cleanse us by his Word the word of Faith was not for it self but was a design of holiness and the very grace of God did appear for this end that teaching us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live holily justly and soberly in this present world he came to gather a People together not like Davids Army when Saul pursued him but the Armies of the Lord a faithful people a chosen generation and what is that The Spirit of God adds a People zealous of good works Now as Christ proved his power to forgive sins by curing the poor mans Palsie because a man is never pardoned but when the punishment is removed so the great act of justification of a sinner the pardoning of his sins is then only effected when the spiritual evil is taken away that 's the best indication of a real and an eternal pardon when God takes away the hardness of the heart the love of sin the accursed habit the evil inclination the sin that doth so easily beset us and when that is gone what remains within us that God can hate Nothing stayes behind but Gods creation the work of his own hands the issues of his holy Spirit The Faith of a Christian is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it destroyes the whole body of sin and to suppose that Christ pardons a sinner whom he doth not also purge and rescue from the dominion of sin is to affirm that he justifies the wicked that he calls good evil and evil good that he delights in a wicked person that he makes a wicked man all one with himself that he makes the members of an harlot at the same time also the members of Christ but all this is impossible and therefore ought not to be pretended to by any Christian. Severe are those words of our Blessed Saviour Every plant in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away Faith ingrafts us into Christ by Faith we are inserted into the vine but the plant that is ingrafted must also be parturient and fruitful or else it shall be quite cut off from the root and thrown into the everlasting burning And this is the full and plain meaning of those words so often used in Scripture for the magnification of Faith The just shall live by Faith No man shall live by Faith but the just man he indeed is justified by Faith but no man else the unjust and the unrighteous man hath no portion in this matter That 's the first great consideration in this affair no man is justified in the least sense of justification that is when it means nothing but the pardon of sins but when his sin is mortified and destroyed 2. No man is actually justified but he that is in some measure sanctified For the understanding and clearing of which Proposition we must know that justification when it is attributed to any cause does not alwayes signifie justification actual Thus when it is said in Scripture We are justified by the death of Christ it is but the same thing as to say Christ dyed for us and he rose again for us too that we might indeed be justified in due time and by just measures and dispositions he dyed for our sins and rose again for our justification that is by his Death and Resurrection he hath obtained this power and effected this mercy that if we believe him and obey we shall be justified and made capable of all the blessings of the Kingdom But that this is no more but a capacity of pardon of grace and of salvation appears not only by Gods requiring Obedience as a condition on our parts but by his expresly attributing this mercy to us at such times and in such circumstances in which it is certain and evident that we could not actually be justified for so saith the Scripture We when we were enemies were reconciled to God by the death of his Son and while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us that is then was our Justification wrought on Gods part that is then he intended this mercy to us then he resolved to shew us favour to give us Promises and Laws and Conditions and Hopes and an infallible Oeconomy of Salvation and when Faith layes hold on this Grace and this Justification then we are to do the other part of it that is as God made it potential by the Death and Resurrection of Christ so we laying hold on these things by Faith and working the Righteousness of Faith that is performing what is required on our parts we I say make it actual and for this very reason it is that the Apostle puts more Emphasis upon the Resurrection of Christ than upon his Death Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that
dyed yea rather that is risen again And Christ was both delivered for our sins and is risen again for our justification implying to us that as it is in the principal so it is in the correspondent our sins indeed are potentially pardoned when they are marked out for death and crucifixion when by resolving and fighting against sin we dye to sin daily and are so made conformable to his Death but we must partake of Christs Resurrection before this Justification can be actual when we are dead to sin and are risen again unto righteousness then as we are partakers of his Death so we shall be partakers of his Resurrection saith S. Paul that is then we are truly effectually and indeed justified till then we are not He that loveth Gold shall not be justified saith the wise Bensirach he that is covetous let his Faith be what it will shall not be accounted righteous before God because he is not so in himself and he is not so in Christ for he is not in Christ at all he hath no righteousness in himself and he hath none in Christ for if we be in Christ or if Christ be in us the Body is dead by reason of sin and the Spirit is life because of righteousness For this the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that faithful thing that is the faithfulness is manifested the Emun from whence comes Emunah which is the Hebrew word for Faith from whence Amen is derived Fiat quod dictum est hinc inde hoc fidum est when God and we both say Amen to our promises and undertakings Fac fidelis sis fideli cave fidem fluxam geras said he in the Comedy God is faithful be thou so too for if thou failest him thy faith hath failed thee Fides sumitur pro eo quod est inter utrumque placitum says one and then it is true which the Prophet and the Apostle said the Just shall live by Faith in both senses ex fide mea vivet ex fide sua we live by Gods Faith and by our own by his Fidelity and by ours When the righteousness of God becomes your righteousness and exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees when the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us by walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit then we are justified by Gods truth and by ours by his Grace and our Obedience So that now we see that Justification and Sanctification cannot be distinguished but as words of Art signifying the various steps of progression in the same course they may be distinguished in notion and speculation but never when they are to pass on to material events for no man is justified but he that is also sanctified They are the express words of S. Paul Whom he did foreknow them he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son to be like to Christ and then it follows Whom he hath predestinated so predestinated them he hath also called and whom he hath called them he hath also justified and then it follows Whom he hath justified them he hath also glorified So that no man is justified that is so as to signifie Salvation but Sanctification must be precedent to it and that was my second consideration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which I was to prove 3. I pray consider that he that does not believe the promises of the Gospel cannot pretend to Faith in Christ but the promises are all made to us upon the conditions of Obedience and he that does not believe them as Christ made them believes them not at all In well doing commit your selves to God as unto a faithful Creator there is no committing our selves to God without well doing For God will render to every man according to his deeds to them that obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath but to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality to them eternal life So that if Faith apprehends any other promises it is illusion and not Faith God gave us none such Christ purchased none such for us search the Bible over and you shall find none such But if Faith layes hold on these promises that are and as they are then it becomes an Article of our Faith that without obedience and a sincere endeavour to keep Gods Commandments no man living can be justified And therefore let us take heed when we magnifie the free Grace of God we do not exclude the conditions which this free Grace hath set upon us Christ freely dyed for us God pardons us freely in our first access to him we could never deserve pardon because when we need pardon we are enemies and have no good thing in us and he freely gives us of his Spirit and freely he enables us to obey him and for our little imperfect services he freely and bountifully will give us eternal life here is free Grace all the way and he overvalues his pitiful services who thinks that he deserves Heaven by them and that if he does his duty tolerably eternal life is not a free gift to him but a deserved reward Conscius est animus meus experientia testis Mystica quae retuli dogmata vera scio Non tamen idcirco scio me fore glorificandum Spes mea crux Christi gratia non opera It was the meditation of the wise Chancellor of Paris I know that without a good life and the fruits of repentance a sinner cannot be justified and therefore I must live well or I must dye for ever But if I do live holily I do not think that I deserve Heaven it is the Cross of Christ that procures me grace it is the Spirit of Christ that gives me grace it is the mercy and the free gift of Christ that brings me unto glory But yet he that shall exclude the works of Faith from the Justification of a sinner by the blood of Christ may as well exclude Faith it self for Faith it self is one of the works of God it is a good work so said Christ to them that asked him What shall we do to work the works of God Jesus said This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent Faith is not only the foundation of good works but it self is a good work it is not only the cause of obedience but a part of it it is not as the Son of Sirach calls it initium adhaerendi Deo a beginning of cleaving unto God but it carries us on to the perfection of it Christ is the Author and finisher of our Faith and when Faith is finished a good life is made perfect in our kind Let no man therefore expect events for which he hath no promise nor call for Gods fidelity without his own faithfulness nor snatch at a promise without performing the condition nor think faith to be a hand to apprehend Christ and to do nothing else for that will but
deceive us and turn Religion into words and Holiness into hypocrisie and the Promises of God into a snare and the Truth of God into a ly For when God made a Covenant of Faith he made also the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law of Faith and when he admitted us to a Covenant of more mercy than was in the Covenant of works or of the Law he did not admit us to a Covenant of idleness and an incurious walking in a state of disobedience but the mercy of God leadeth us to repentance and when he gives us better promises he intends we should pay him a better obedience when he forgives us what is past he intends we should sin no more when he offers us his graces he would have us to make use of them when he causes us to distrust our selves his meaning is we should rely upon him when he enables us to do what he commands us he commands us to do all that we can And therefore this Covenant of Faith and Mercy is also a Covenant of Holiness and the grace that pardons us does also purifie us for so saith the Apostle He that hath this hope purifies himself even as God is pure And when we are so then we are justified indeed this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law of faith and by works in this sense that is by the works of faith by faith working by love and producing fruits worthy of amendment of ife we are justified before God And so I have done with the affirmative Proposition of my Text you see that a man is justified by works But there is more in it than this matter yet amounts to for S. James does not say we are justified by works and are not justified by faith that had been irreconcileable with S. Paul but we are so justified by works that it is not by Faith alone it is faith and works together that is it is by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the obedience of faith by the works of Faith by the Law of faith by Righteousness Evangelical by the conditions of the Gospel and the measures of Christ. I have many things to say in this particular but because I have but a little time left to say them in I will sum it all up in this Proposition That in the question of justification and salvation faith and good works are no part of a distinction but members of one entire body Faith and good works together work the righteousness of God That is that I may speak plainly justifying faith contains in it obedience and if this be made good then the two Apostles are reconciled to each other and both of them to the necessity the indispensible necessity of a good life Now that justifying and saving faith must be defined by something more than an act of understanding appears not only in this that S. Peter reckons faith as distinctly from knowledge as he does from patience or strength or brotherly kindness saying Add to your faith vertue to vertue knowledge but in this also because an error in life and whatsoever is against holiness is against faith And therefore S. Paul reckons the lawless and the disobedient murderers of Parents man-stealing and such things to be against sound Doctrines for the Doctrine of faith is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Doctrine that is according to godliness And when S. Paul prayes against ungodly men he adds this reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for all men have not faith meaning that wicked men are Infidels and Unbelievers and particularly he affirms of him that does not provide for his own that he hath denyed the Faith Now from hence it follows that faith is godliness because all wickedness is infidelity it is an Apostacy from the faith Ille erit ille nocens qui me tibi fecerat hostem he that sins against God he is the enemy to the faith of Jesus Christ and therefore we deceive our selves if we place faith in the understanding only it is not that and it does not well there but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle the Mystery of faith is kept no where it dwells no where but in a pure conscience For I consider that since all moral habits are best defined by their operation we can best understand what faith is by seeing what it does To this purpose hear S. Paul By faith Abel offered up to God a more excellent Sacrifice than Cain By faith Noah made an Ark. By faith Abraham left his Country and offered up his Son By faith Moses chose to suffer affliction and accounted the reproach of Christ greater than all the riches of Aegypt In short the children of God by faith subdued Kingdoms and wrought righteousness To work righteousness is as much the duty and work of faith as believing is So that now we may quickly make an end of this great inquiry whether a man is justified by faith or by works for he is so by both if you take it alone faith does not justifie but take it in the aggregate sense as it is used in the question of Justification by S. Paul and then faith does not only justifie but it sanctifies too and then you need to enquire no further obedience is a part of the definition of faith as much as it is of Charity This is love saith S. John that we keep his Commandments And the very same is affirmed of faith too by Bensirach He that believeth the Lord will keep his Commandments I have now done with all the Propositions expressed and implyed in the Text give me leave to make some practical Considerations and so I shall dismiss you from this Attention The rise I take from the words of S. Epiphanius speaking in praise of the Apostolical and purest Ages of the Church There was at first no distinction of Sects and Opinions in the Church she knew no difference of men but good and bad there was no separation made but what was made by piety or impiety or sayes he which is all one by fidelity and infidelity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For faith hath in it the Image of godliness engraven and infidelity hath the Character of wickedness and prevarication A man was not then esteemed a Saint for disobeying his Bishop or an Apostle nor for misunderstanding the hard sayings of S. Paul about predestination to kick against the laudable Customs of the Church was not then accounted a note of the godly party and to despise Government was but an ill mark and weak indication of being a good Christian. The Kingdom of God did not then consist in words but in power the power of godliness though now we are fallen into another method we have turned all Religion into Faith and our faith is nothing but the productions of interest or disputing it is adhering to a party and a wrangling against all the world beside and when it is asked of what Religion he is of we understand
Christians are to be justified by Faith or the works of the Gospel for I shall make it appear that they are both the same thing No man disparages Faith but he that sayes Faith does not work righteousness for he that sayes so sayes indeed it cannot justifie for he sayes that Faith is alone it is Faith only and the words of my Text are plain You see saith S. James that is it is evident to your sense it is as clear as an ocular demonstration that a man is justified by works and not by Faith only My Text hath in it these two Propositions a negative and an affirmative The negative is this 1. By Faith only a man is not justified The affirmative 2. By works also a man is justified When I have briefly discoursed of these I shall only adde such practical considerations as shall make the Doctrines useful and tangible and material 1. By Faith only a man is not justified By Faith only here is meant Faith without Obedience For what do we think of those that detain the Faith in Unrighteousness they have Faith they could not else keep it in so ill a Cabinet but yet the Apostle reckons them amongst the Reprobates for the abominable the Reprobates and the disobedient are all one and therefore such persons for all their Faith shall have no part with faithful Abraham for none are his Children but they that do the works of Abraham Abraham's faith without Abraham's works is nothing for of him that hath faith and hath not works S. James askes can Faith save him Meaning that it is impossible For what think we of those that did miracles in Christs name and in his name cast out Devils Have not they Faith Yes omnem fidem all faith that is alone for they could remove Mountains but yet to many of them Christ will say Depart from me ye workers of iniquity I know you not Nay at last what think we of the Devils themselves have not they faith yes and this faith is not fides miraculorum neither but it is an Operative faith it works a little for it makes them tremble and it may be that is more than they faith does to thee and yet dost thou hope to be saved by a faith that does less to thee than the Devils faith does to him That 's impossible For Faith without works is dead saith S. James It is manus arida saith S. Austin it is a withered hand and that which is dead cannot work the life of grace in us much less obtain eternal life for us In short a man may have faith and yet do the works of unrighteousness he may have faith and be a Devil and then what can such a faith do to him or for him It can do him no good in the present constitution of affairs S. Paul from whose mistaken works much noise hath been made in this question is clear in this particular Nothing in Christ Jesus can avail but Faith working by Charity that is as he expounds himself once and again nothing but a new creature nothing but keeping the Commandments of God If faith be defin'd to be any thing that does not change our natures and make us to be a new Creation unto God if keeping the Commandments be not in the definition of faith it avails nothing at all Therefore deceive not your selves they are the words of our Blessed Lord himself Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord that is not every one that confesses Christ and believes in him calling Christ Master and Lord shall be sav'd but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven These things are so plain that they need no Commentary so evident that they cannot be denyed and to these I add but this one truth that faith alone without a good life is so far from justifying a sinner that it is one of the greatest aggravations of his condemnation in the whole World For no man can be so greatly damned as he that hath faith for unless he knows his Masters will that is by faith be convinced and assents to the revelations of the will of God he can be beaten but with few stripes but he that believes hath no excuse he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemn'd by the sentence of his own heart and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many stripes the greater condemnation shall be his portion Natural reason is a light to the Conscience but faith is a greater and therefore if it be not followed it damns deeper than the Hell of the Infidels and uninstructed And so I have done with the Negative Proposition of my Text a man is not justified by faith alone that is by faith which hath not in it Charity and Obedience 2. If faith alone will not do it what will The affirmative part of the Text answers not faith alone but works must be an ingredient a man is justified by works and that is now to be explicated and prov'd It will be absolutely to no purpose to say that faith alone does justifie if when a man is justified he is never the nearer to be saved Now that without Obedience no man can go to Heaven is so evident in holy Scripture that he that denyes it hath no faith There is no peace saith my God unto the wicked and I will not justifie a sinner saith God unless faith purges away our sins it can never justifie Let a man believe all the revelations of God if that belief ends in its self and goes no further it is like physick taken to purge the stomach if it do not work it is so far from bringing health that it self is a new sickness Faith is a great purger and purifier of the soul purifying your hearts by Faith saith the Apostle It is the best physick in the World for a sinful soul but if it does not work it corrupts in the stomack it makes us to rely upon weak Propositions and trifling confidences it is but a dreaming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Phantastick dream and introduces Pride or superstition swelling thoughts and presumptions of the Divine favour But what saith the Apostle Follow Peace with all men Holiness without which no man can see God Mark that If Faith does not make you charitable and holy talk no more of justification by it for you shall never see the glorious face of God Faith indeed is a title and relation to Christ it is a naming of his names but what then Why then saith the Apostle Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity For let any man consider can the Faith of Christ and the hatred of God stand together Can any man be justified that does not love God Or can any man love God and sin at the same time And does not he love sin that falls under its temptation and obeyes it in the lusts thereof and delights in the vanity and makes excuses for it
no man for his now or at any time being called a Presbyter or Elder can pretend to it for besides his being a Presbyter he must be an Apostle too else though he be called in partem sollicitudinis and may do the office of assistance and under-stewardship yet the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Government and Rule of the Family belongs not to him But then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who are these Stewards and Rulers over the houshold now To this the answer is also certain and easie Christ hath made the same Governors to day as heretofore Apostles still For though the twelve Apostles are dead yet the Apostolical order is not it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a generative order and begets more Apostles Now who these minores Apostoli are the successors of the Apostles in that Office Apostolical and supream regiment of souls we are sufficiently taught in Holy Scriptures which when I have clearly shewn to you I shall pass on to some more practical considerations 1. Therefore Certain and known it is that Christ appointed two sorts of Ecclesiastick persons XII Apostles and the LXXII Disciples to these he gave a limited commission to those a fulness of power to these a temporary imployment to those a perpetual and everlasting from these two societies founded by Christ the whole Church of God derives the two superiour orders in the sacred Hierarchy and as Bishops do not claim a Divine right but by succession from the Apostles so the Presbyters cannot pretend to have been instituted by Christ but by claiming a succession to the LXXII And then consider the difference compare the Tables and all the world will see the advantages of argument we have for since the LXXII had nothing but a mission on a temporary errand and more then that we hear nothing of them in Scripture but upon the Apostles Christ powred all the Ecclesiastical power and made them the ordinary Ministers of that Spirit which was to abide with the Church for ever the Divine institution of Bishops that is of Successors to the Apostles is much more clear then that Christ appointed Presbyters or Successors of the LXXII And yet if from hence they do not derive it they can never prove their order to be of Divine institution at all much less to be so alone But we may see the very thing it self the very matter of fact S. James the Bishop of Jerusalem is by S. Paul called an Apostle Other Apostles saw I none save James the Lords Brother For there were some whom the Scriptures call the Apostles of our Lord that is such which Christ made by his Word immediately or by his Spirit extraordinarily and even into this number and title Matthias and S. Paul and Barnabas were accounted But the Church also made Apostles and these were called by S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostles of the Churches and particularly Epaphroditus was the Apostle of the Philippians properly so faith Primasius and what is this else but the Bishop saith Theodoret for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those who are now called Bishops were then called Apostles saith the same Father The sense and full meaning of which argument is a perfect commentary upon that famous prophecy of the Church Instead of thy Fathers thou shalt have children whom thou mayst make Princes in all Lands that is not only the twelve Apostles our Fathers in Christ who first begat us were to rule Christs Family but when they were gone their Children and Successors should arise in their stead Et nati natorum qui nascentur ab illis their direct Successors to all generations shall be Principes populi that is Rulers and Governours of the whole Catholick Church De prole enim Ecclesiae crevit eidem paternita◠id est Episcopi quos illa genuit Patres appellat constituit in sedibus Patrum saith S. Austin the Children of the Church become Fathers of the faithful that is the Church begets Bishops and places them in the seat of Fathers the first Apostles After these plain and evident testimonies of Scripture it will not be amiss to say that this great affair relying not only upon the words of institution but on matter of fact passed forth into a demonstration and greatest notoriety by the Doctrine and Practice of the whole Catholick Church For so S. Irenaeus who was one of the most Ancient Fathers of the Church and might easily make good his affirmative We can says he reckon the men who by the Apostles were appointed Bishops in Churches to be their Successors unto us leaving to them the same power and authority which they had Thus S. Polycarp was by the Apostles made Bishop of Smyrna S. Clement Bishop of Rome by S. Peter and divers others by the Apostles saith Tertullian saying also that the Asian Bishops were consecrated by S. John And to be short that Bishops are the Successors of the Apostles in the Stewardship and Rule of the Church is expresly taught by S. Cyprian and S. Hierom S. Ambrose and S. Austin by Euthymius and Pacianus by S. Gregory and S. John Damascen by Clarius à Muscula and S. Sixtus by Anacletus and S. Isidore by the Roman Councel under S. Sylvester and the Councel of Carthage and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or succession of Bishops from the Apostles hands in all the Churches Apostolical was as certainly known as in our Chronicles we find the succession of our English Kings and one can no more be denyed then the other The conclusion from these Premises I give you in the words of S. Cyprian Cogitent Diaconi quod Apostolos id est Episcopos Dominus ipse elegerit Let the Ministers know that Apostles that is the Bishops were chosen by our blessed Lord himself and this was so evident and so believed that S. Austin affirms it with a nemo ignorat No man is so ignorant but he knows this that our blessed Saviour appointed Bishops over Churches Indeed the Gnosticks spake evil of this Order for they are noted by three Apostles S. Paul S. Peter and S. Jude to be despisers of Government and to speak evil of Dignities and what Government it was they did so despise we may understand by the words of S. Jude they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the contradiction or gainsaying of Corah who with his company rose up against Aaron the High Priest and excepting these who were the vilest of men no man within the first 300 years after Christ opposed Episcopacy But when Constantine received the Church into his arms he found it universally governed by Bishops and therefore no wise or good man professing to be a Christian that is to believe the Holy Catholick Church can be content to quit the Apostolical Government that by which the whole Family of God was fed and taught and ruled and beget to himself new Fathers and new Apostles who by wanting succession from the Apostles
then his fingers ends and makes no use of his reason but for ever will be a child he may be deceiv'd in the literal sense of Scripture but then he is not fit to teach others but he that knows words signifie Rhetorically as well as Grammatically and have various proper significations and which of these is the first is not always of it self easie to be told and remembers also that God hath given him reason and observation and experience and conversation with wise men and the proportion of things and the end of the Command and parallel places of Scripture in other words to the same purpose will conclude that since in plain places all the duty of man is contain'd and that the literal sense is always true and unless men be wilful or infortunate they may with a small proportion of Learning find out the literal sense of an easie Moral Proposition will I say conclude that if we be deceiv'd the fault is our own but the fault is so great the man so supine the negligence so inexcusable that the very consideration of humane infirmity is not sufficient to excuse such Teachers of others who hallucinate or praevaricate in this The Anthropomorphites fell foully in this matter and supposed God to have a face and arms and passions as we have but they prevail'd not And Origen was in one instance greatly mistaken and thinking there was no literal meaning but the prime signification of the word understood the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make an Eunuch to his own prejudice but that passed not into a doctrine But the Church of Rome hath err'd greatly in pertinacious adhering not to the Letter but to the Grammar nor to that but in one line or signification of it and Hoc est corpus meum must signifie nothing but Grammatically and though it be not by their own confessions to be understood without divers figures in the whole complexion yet peevishly and perversly they will take it by the wrong handle and this they have pass'd into a doctrine that is against sense and reason and experience and Scripture and Tradition and the common interpretation of things and publick peace and utility and every thing by which mankind ought to be govern'd and determin'd 4. I am to adde this one thing more That we admit in the interpretation of Scripture but one literal sense I say but one prime literal sense for the simplicity and purity of the Spirit and the philanthropy of God will not admit that there should in one single Proposition be many intricate meanings or that his sense should not certainly be understood or that the people be abus'd by aequivocal and doubtful senses this was the way of Jupiter in the sands and Apollo Pythius and the Devils oracles but be it far from the wisdom of the Spirit of God 5. But then take in this Caution to it That although there be but one principal literal sense yet others that are subordinate may be intended subordinately and others that are true by proportion or that first intention may be true for many reasons and every reason applicable to a special instance and all these may be intended as they signifie that is one only by prime design and the other by collateral consequence Thus when it is said Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee the Psalmist means it of the eternal generation of Christ others seem to apply it to his birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary and S. Paul expounds it Hebr. 1. of the Resurrection of Christ This is all true and yet but one literal sense primely meant but by proportion to the first the others have their place and are meant by way of similitude Thus we are the Sons of God by adoption by creation by favour by participation of the Spirit by the laver of regeneration and every man for one or other of these reasons can say Our Father which art in heaven and these are all parts of the literal sense not different but subordinate and by participation but more than one prime literal sense must not be admitted 6. Lastly Sometimes the literal sense is lost by a plain change of the words which when it is discover'd it must be corrected by the fountain and till it be so long as it is pious and commonly receiv'd it may be us'd without scruple In the 41. Psalm the Hebrews read My soul hath longed after the strong the living God Deum fortem vivum In the vulgar Latine it is Deum fontem vivum the living fountain and it was very well but not the literal sense of Gods Spirit But when they have been so often warned of it that they were still in love with their own letter and leave the words of the Spirit I think was not justifiable at all And this was observ'd at last by Sixtus and Clement and corrected in their Editions of the Bible and then it came right again The sum is this he that with this moderation and these measures construes the plain meaning of the Spirit of God and expounds the Articles of Faith and the Precepts of Life according to the intention of God signified by his own words in their first or second signification cannot easily be cousen'd into any Heretical Doctrine but his Doctrine will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pure word and mind of God 2. There is another sense or interpretation of Scripture and that is mystical or spiritual which the Jews call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Midrash which Elias the Levite calls omne commentarium quod non est juxta simplicem literalem sensum every gloss that is not according to their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peschat to the literal sense and this relates principally to the Old Testament Thus the waters of the Deluge did signifie the waters of Baptism Sarah and Agar the Law and the Gospel the brazen Serpent the Passion of Christ the conjunction of Adam and Eve the communion of Christ and his Church and this is called the spiritual sense S. Paul being our warrant Our Fathers eat of the same spiritual meat and drank of that same spiritual rock now that rock was not spiritual but of solid stone but it signified spiritually for that rock was Christ. This sense the Doctors divide into Tropological Allegorical and Anagogical for methods sake and either to distinguish the things or to amuse the persons for these relate but to the several spiritual things signified by divers places as matters of faith precepts of manners and celestial joys you may make more if you please and yet these are too many to trouble mens heads and to make Theology an art and craft to no purpose This spiritual sense is that which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the sense that lies under the cover of words Concerning this I shall give you these short Rules that your Doctrine be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pure and without heretical mixtures and the leaven
of false Doctrines for above all things this is to be taken care of 1. Although every place of Scripture hath a literal sense either proper or figurative yet every one hath not a spiritual and mystical interpretation and g. Origen was blam'd by the Ancients for forming all into spirit and mystery one place was reserv'd to punish that folly Thus the followers of the Family of love and the Quakers expound all the Articles of our Faith all the hopes of a Christian all the stories of Christ into such a clancular and retir'd sense as if they had no meaning by the letter but were only an Hieroglyphick or a Phythagorean Scheme and not to be opened but by a private key which every man pretends to be borrowed from the Spirit of God though made in the forges here below To which purposes the Epistles of S. Hierom to Avitus to Pammachius and Oceanus are worth your reading In this case men do as he said of Origen Ingenii sui acumina putant esse Ecclesiae Sacramenta Every man believes God meant as he intended and so he will obtrude his own dreams instead of Sacraments g. 2. Whoever will draw spiritual senses from any History of the Old or New Testament must first allow the literal sense or else he will soon deny an Article of necessary belief A story is never the less true because it is intended to profit as well as to please and the narrative may well establish or insinuate a precept and instruct with pleasure but if because there is a Jewel in the golden Cabinet you will throw away the inclosure and deny the story that you may look out a mystical sense we shall leave it arbitrary for any man to believe or disbelieve what story he please and Eve shall not be made of the rib of Adam and the Garden of Eden shall be no more then the Hesperides and the story of Jonas a well dress'd fable and I have seen all the Revelation of S. John turn'd into a moral Commentary in which every person can signifie any proposition or any virtue according as his fancy chimes This is too much and therefore comes not from a good principle 3. In Moral Precepts in Rules of Polity and Oeconomy there is no other sense to be inquired after but what they bear upon the face for he that thinks it necessary to turn them into some further spiritual meaning supposes that it is a disparagement to the Spirit of God to take care of Governments or that the duties of Princes and Masters are no great Concerns or not operative to eternal felicity or that God does not provide for temporal advantages for if these things be worthy Concerns and if God hath taken care of all our Good and if godliness be profitable to all things and hath the promise of the life that now is and that which is to come there is no necessity to pass on to more abstruse senses when the literal and proper hath also in it instrumentality enough towards very great spiritual purposes God takes care for servants yea for Oxen and all the beasts of the field and the letter of the Command enjoyning us to use them with mercy hath in it an advantage even upon the spirit and whole frame of a mans soul and g. let no man tear those Scriptures to other meanings beyond their own intentions and provisions In these cases a spiritual sense is not to be inquired after 4. If the letter of the story inferres any undecency or contradiction then it is necessary that a spiritual or mystical sense be thought of but never else is it necessary It may in other cases be useful when it does advantage to holiness and may be safely us'd if us'd modestly but because this spiritual or mystical interpretation when it is not necessary cannot be certainly prov'd but relies upon fancy or at most some light inducement no such interpretation can be us'd as an argument to prove an Article of Faith nor relied upon in matters of necessary Concern The three measures of meal in the Gospel are but an ill argument to prove the Blessed and Eternal Trinity and it may be the three Angels that came to Abraham will signifie no more than the two that came to Lot or the single one to Manoah or S. John this Divine Mystery relies upon a more sure foundation and he makes it unsure that causes it to lean upon an unexpounded vision that was sent to other purposes Non esse contentiosis infidelibus sensibus ingerendum said S. Austin of the Book of Genesis Searching for Articles of Faith in the by-paths and corners of secret places leads not to faith but to infidelity and by making the foundations unsure causes the Articles to be questioned I remember that Agricola in his Book de animalibus subterraneis tells of a certain kind of spirits that use to converse in Mines and trouble the poor Labourers They dig mettals they cleanse they cast they melt they separate they joyn the Ore but when they are gone the men find just nothing done not one step of their work set forward So it is in the Books and Expositions of many men They study they argue they expound they confute they reprove they open secrets and make new discoveries and when you turn the bottom upwards up starts nothing no man is the wiser no man is instructed no truth discover'd no proposition clear'd nothing is alter'd but that much labour and much time is lost and this is manifest in nothing more than in Books of Contrversie and in mystical Expositions of Scripture Quaerunt quod nusquam est inveniunt tamen Like Isidore who in contemplation of a Pen observ'd that the nib of it was divided into two but yet the whole body remain'd one Credo propter mysterium he found a knack in it and thought it was a mystery Concerning which I shall need to say no more but that they are safe when they are necessary and they are useful when they teach better and they are good when they do good but this is so seldom and so by chance that oftentimes if a man be taught truth he is taught it by a lying Master it is like being cur'd by a good witch an evil spirit hath an hand in it and if there be not errour and illusion in such interpretations there is very seldom any certainty What shall I do to my vineyard said God Isai. 5. Auferam sepem ejus I will take away the hedge that is custodiam Angelorum saith the gloss the custody of their Angel guardians and Isai. 9. God says Manasseh humeros suos comedit Manasseh hath devour'd his own shoulders that is gubernatores dimovit say the Doctors hath remov'd his Governours his Princes and his Priests it is a sad complaint 't is true but what it means is the Question but although these senses are pious and may be us'd for illustration and the prettiness of discourse yet