Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	faith_n	godliness_n	temperance_n	4,219	5	11.6041	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A74082	St. Paul and St. James reconcil'd. A sermon preach'd before the Vniversity of Cambridge, at St. Mary's Church, on Commencement-Sunday in the afternoon, June 30. 1700. / By Offspring Blackall, D.D. Chaplain in ordinary to Her Majesty..	Blackall, Offspring, 1654-1716.	1700 (1700)	Wing B3050B; ESTC T48539	17,980	17

Adversaries And that his main Design was to oppose one or other of them in all those Places wherein those Passages are found which so much magnifie Faith and vilifie Works which are especially the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians will I suppose readily appear to any one that shall attentively read them over and I think it will be impossible to make out the Context or to shew how those places do at all tend to the carrying on these Designs if we take the words Faith and Works in any other Sense than I have before said St. Paul does use them in But Secondly That the Apostle St. Paul did not intend to exclude such good Works as St. James here requires viz. Obedience to the Precepts of the Gospel from being necessary to our final Justification at the great day will yet further and more plainly appear if in a reading over those Epistles we do but observe the several Cautions that are here and there intermix'd as it were on purpose to prevent our putting such an Interpretation upon his Words And first in the Epistle to the Romans in Chap. 2. Ver. 6. he tells us plainly that God will render to every Man according to his Works Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul of Man that doth evil and Glory Honor and Peace to every Man that worketh good Which Passage would be very odly put in in a Discourse wherein he was proving the sufficiency of Faith alone for Justification if thereby he had meant such a Faith as might be without good Works But in the 13th Verse of that Chapter he contradicts that Opinion most expresly Not the Hearers of the Law says he shall be just before God but the Doers of the Law shall be justify'd It seems then that St. Paul's Justification by Faith only was not a Justification without Works the Faith that he there speaks of must needs therefore be such a Faith as includes Works in it The Doers of the Law shall be justified And so again Chap. 3. V. 21. after he had said that both Circumcision and Uncircumcision must be justify'd by Faith and that they could not be justify'd any other way that they might not take Faith in such a narrow sense as to exclude good Works he adds Do we then make void the Law through Faith God forbid Yea we establish the Law And to the same purpose again Chap. 6. Ver. 1. What shall we say then shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound God forbid How shall we that are dead to Sin live any longer therein And again Ver. 15. What then shall we sin because we are not under the Law but under Grace God forbid And lastly to name no more in the 8th Chapter of that Epistle Ver. 1. when he was come to the Conclusion of this Controversy having shewn at large the insufficiency of all other ways and the absolute necessity of accepting the Gospel Truths in order to Justification he goes on to shew the Blessedness of those who believ'd in Christ in these words There is therefore now no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus But then left they should mistake him and think that a bare Belief in Christ or the Profession of his Religion only was enough to entitle them to this Blessedness he adds who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit The like Care he has also taken in his Epistle to the Galatians where he handles this Controversy again with a special respect to the Jewish Law where we may observe that to prevent all Misunderstanding of what he had delivered touching the sufficiency of Faith without Works he takes frequent occasion to declare his meaning to be only to exclude the Works of the Law not the obedience of the Gospel Particularly in the two last Chapters he is very large in explaining what kind of Liberty he had been before pleading for Stand fast therefore says he in the Liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the Yoke of Bondage Galat. 5. 1. And what Bondage he meant appears in the next Verse Behold I Paul say unto you that if you be circumcised Christi shall profit you nothing that is if you still trust to be sav'd by your Jewish Observances you disclaim and renounce the Covenant which Christ hath made for you and so can expect no benefit from it Whosoever of you says he are justify'd that is hope to be justify'd by the Law ye are fallen from Grace For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of Righteousness by Faith We that is We Christians no less than you Jews do wait for the Hope of Righteousness that is for a Reward of our Righteousness But then it is not such a Righteousness as yours a Righteousness consisting in the observation of Rites and Ceremonies but thro' the Spirit that is by a Spiritual Righteousness and 'tis by Faith that is 'tis such a Righteousness as is wrought in us by Faith that is by our Belief of the Gospel of Christ For says he Ver. 6. in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but Faith not any Faith but Faith wich worketh by Love or Faith which is made perfect by Love which words he repeats again in Chap. 6. Ver. 15. only instead of Faith putting in another Word not so ambiguous In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but a new Creature And the same Apostle in another parallel place in another of his Epistles puts it out of all doubt what he means in the first of these places by Faith when he expresses the same by Obedience Circumcision is nothing and Uncircumcision but the keeping the Commandments of God 1 Cor. 7. 19. And now by all that hath been said I suppose it sufficiently appears that by Faith St. Paul means something more than only a bare belief of the Gospel-Truths when he makes it the sole Condition of Justification and that by Works he does not mean Works of Evangelical Obedience when he excludes them from being necessary in order to it So that Paul does not any more than St. James exclude such good Works as are the natural Effects of a true lively and Christian Faith from being necessary together with Faith in order to our full and final Justification at the last day And from all that hath or been said I think it appears that St. Paul and St. James agree very well together which was the point that I propos'd to make good St. James indeed says here that Faith alone or a bare Belief of the Gospel will not do without Works answerable to our Belief Ye see how that by Works a Man is justify'd and not by Faith only St. Paul on the other side says that we are justify'd by Faith but tho' this manner of Expression be different from and in the Letter seemingly contradictory to St. James's meaning is plainly the same He affirms indeed that we are justified by Faith but then as I have shewn he means the same thing by Faith that St. James does by Faith and Works too he means such a Faith as a Abraham's was for that is his Example as well as St. James's he means such a Faith as however it is try'd approves it self by a ready Obedience as Abraham's did and the Work which he rejects as useless and unnecessary or as not sufficient are not such as Abraham's were the Fruits of a lively Faith but either meer ritual Observances or else such Works as though materially good are not done out of a good and virtuous Principle In a word he opposes Faith his justfying and saving Faith not to Evangelical Obedience but either to unsinning Obedience by which none can be justify'd because all are Sinners or to an Opinion of Merit which there can never be any Ground for or lastly to the Rites and Ceremonies of Moses's Law which Law he shews was not then obliging and so cou'd not be the Condition of Justification The use we shall make of what hath been said upon this Subject is this we should be hereby incited to the diligent performance of that whole Condition that according to the Doctrine thaught by both these Apostles is requir'd of us in order to Salvation which is not only to believe in Christ and to make profession of the Christian Faith but likewise to live as becomes the Gospel of Christ and to bring forth plenteously all the fruits of Righteousness And this likewise St. Peter teaches in his 2d Epistle 1. 5 c. with whose Words I shall conclude Beside this giving all diligence add to your Faith Virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness Brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness Charity For if these things be in you and abound they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old Sins Wherefore the rather Brethren give diligence to make your Calling and Election sure for if ye do these things ye shall never fall For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Which God of his infinite Mercy grant for the sake of the same our Lord Jesus Christ To whom c. FINIS

Judgment it will be easy to understand all those Places wherein he attributes this to Faith only in a Sense very agreeable to the Doctrine which St. James here teaches it will be easy then to understand what St. Paul means Rom. 4. 5. where he says That God justifies the Ungodly then I say that Passage which hath been thought the strongest will appear to be no Objection at all against St. James's Doctrine the meaning thereof being only this That the Grace of God in Christ Jesus is so large as that he do's not refuse even the vilest and greatest Sinners but readily accepts them to Favour upon their Belief of the Gospel and closing with the Terms of it And there will be then no difficulty at all in understanding how Abraham was justify'd by Faith only according to St. Paul and how he was justify'd by Works that is not by Faith only as St. James expresly affirms he was at the 21st Verse of this Chapter For the Case was thus Upon his giving a fall and hearty Assent to the Truth of the Divine Promises he was immediately receiv'd into God's Favour and Acceptance even before the Sincerity of his Faith has been actually try'd by his Obedience Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for Righteousness Rom. 4. 3. so that he was then in a justify'd state And yet if after this he had declin'd to leave his Country and his Father's House or even to sacrifice his Son at God's Command he wou'd by this Disobedience have fall'n from that state of Divine Favour and not have been finally justify'd by God but then all his former as well as his later sins which had been once remitted to him with a temporary and conditional Remission upon his first entring into the Covenant of Grace by Faith by virtue of which Remission he was while he continu'd in the Covenant a justify'd Person wou'd nevertheless have been imputed to him and he condemn'd for them if he had afterwards swerv'd from his Obedience In short therefore the Justification which St. Paul generally speaks of is that whereby we are made Heirs of Salvation as he himself explains it in the afore cited Text Tit. 3. 7 That being justify'd by Grace we shou'd be made Heirs according to the Hope of eternal Life but the Justification which St. James speaks of is that by which we are actually admitted into the Possession of this Inheritance And therefore tho' in order to the first Justification nothing more be necessary but only that we close with and accept of those Terms of Reconciliation which God offers to us Yet in order to the Second Justification it is moreover necessary that we shou'd make good that Covenant which we before entred into or else tho' we are already justify'd in St. Paul's Sense that is are now already by our embracing and believing and professing the Gospel in such a Capacity and Likelihood of obtaining eternal Life as an Heir is of enjoying his Father's Estate we shall never be justify'd in St. James's Sense that is we shall never actually possess and enjoy the Estate but notwithstanding our present Heirship shall at last be cast off and disinherited for our Disobedience And this Observation concerning the different Senses wherein these two Apostles do sometimes use the Word justify may I suppose be alone sufficient to reconcile them in most if not in all those Passages wherein they seem to differ But II. The Word Faith or Belief which they do both use in treating of this Subject is likewise a Word capable of and frequently in Scripture us'd in different Senses and I believe it may easily be made appear that in those Places wherein St. Paul attributes so much to Faith wherein he is thought to declare that that is the only Condition of our final Justification and admittance into the Promis'd Inheritance he means quite another thing by Faith than St. James does when he says that that alone is not sufficient even all that St. James means by Faith and Works too I will not trouble you now with all the Significations in which the Word Faith or Belief is us'd in Holy Scripture but shall take notice only of two which I suppose most applicable to the Case in Hand 1. The First Sense of it which I shall take notice of is that which indeed is the most obvious and proper meaning of the Word that is when by Faith is meant An assent of the Mind to the Truth of some Reveal'd Proposition And this Sense St. James uses the Word By that Faith which being without Works he says is not sufficient to justifie or save us he plainly means nothing more than only a Belief of those Truths which are reveal'd in the Gospel And the Case that he puts in this That a Man believe there is a God and that those things which he has reveal'd are true and that all his Promises and Threatnings shall be made good but nevertheless takes no care to live well and in this case he says that such a Faith as this is an empty dead Faith and that it will be of no real advantage to us any more than it is to the Devil's who believe all these Truths as firmly as we can do but without any Benefit to themselves because the Promises being not made to them they are not thereby incited to the doing of good But the Promises are made to us and therefore it can hardly be conceived it is scarcely to be supposed that any Man that firmly believes all the Truths of the Gospel and considers his own Interest therein should nevertheless allow himself in a wicked Life Faith is naturally such an active lively and working Principle that it can hardly fail to shew it self by its Effects 2. An for this Reason Secondly the word Faith which most properly signifies nothing but the Cause or Principle is oftentimes in Scripture put to signifie both the Cause and the Effect too that is both a Belief of the Gospel-Truths and also a Life led answerably to such a Belief And in this large and comprehensive sense 'tis clearly evident St. Paul does use the word in divers places and especially in those Epistles where he treats of Justification by Faith as may appear from his oftentimes using of the Words and Phrases instead of the single word Faith For what he sometimes calls Faith he at other times in those same Epistles calls the Law of Faith and the Obedience of Faith Rom. 3. 27. 1. 5. 16. 26. And in Rom. 10. 16. he most clearly explains his own meaning to be to include and comprehend Obedience in the word Faith whenever he attributes so much to Faith But they have not all obeyed the Gospel for Esaias saith Lord who hath believ'd our Report In which words the same thing is plainly meant by obeying the Gospel and believing the Report of the Preachers of it from whence it clearly appears That the Faith or Belief which he so much