but fairly construed and argued upon This by what I have but newly said doth plainly appear might be further evinced by other of their sayings wherein they do acknowledg That that Faith which is alone severed from charity and destitute of good Works doth neither justifie nor save but that there is a necessity of them a necessity of presence though not of efficiency and that they must concur with Faith in the subject or party justified though not in the act of Justification And what 's all this less than that which I have said I say Faith void of Works will not justifie They say that Faith which is alone severed from charity and destitute of good Works will not justifie nor save I say it 's not necessary to hold or say that the same justifying act office or power is placed in them as is in Faith They say they are not necessary by way of efficiency I say God denies the justifying priviledge unto a barren dead Faith and reserves it only for a lively working Faith they say there 's a necessity of presence and that they concur with Faith in the subject or party justified though not in the act of justifying So that a necessity of Gospel-obedience to accompany that Faith which shall justifie is acknowledged on all hands And if men had but laid out themselves as much to possess the people with a thorow sence of this as they have to preserve them from the errors of the Papists on the other hand it might I conceive have been much better with their Souls then now it is For while their ears and eyes have been filled so much with the doctrine of Justification by Faith without Works when they have meant it only in opposition to the Popish sence and so little with the Doctrine touching the unavailablenesse of that Faith unto Justification that does not knit the Soul to Christ with such love as by which men deny themselves of their Lusts and sinful pleasures and follow after righteousnesse and holinesse with them that call upon the Lord with a pure heart hence I fear it hath come to passe that the generality of men among us have had so little sence of the necessity of a godly life and have presumed so much upon their Faith touching Christ which yet hath been but the dead Faith James speaks of as that they have to the sad deceiving of their own Souls thought themselves in safe condition although they have lived sensual and carnal lives and have been strangers to the work of the new Creature the power of Godlinesse and the life of Holinesse without which for all their Faith no man shall see the Lord. But alass how should it be otherwise when as it is too manifest that the Leaders and Guides of the people themselves except here and there one have had little of this sence and savour but have built so much upon the act of beleeving and so little upon a faithful subjection to Christs Doctrine which for ought I can see is as necessary to render Faith available in its place as Faith is necessary to render the blood of Christ available in its place as to a mans personal Justification as if that subjection were not at all necessary unto the being of a mans justification before God but usefull onely to declare him to himself and unto men to be justified And under this Soul-deceiving apprehension and mistaken notion and principle the Ministers too many of them have indulged themselves and people too in a dull heavy cold partial flat and lesse than formal way of professing the Gospel to the hazard of their precious Souls And O that this might but awaken any of them that take upon them the care of Souls to lay this matter more to heart before it be too late and the opportunity past And thus I have now done with the first part of my Text wherein I have shewed in what sence Paul makes no reckoning of Works in the point of Justification Come we now to the handling of that which remains touching the imputation of his Faith for righteousnesse who beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly CHAP. IV. Setting forth the object of justifying Faith and shewing the beleeving in whom and the beleeving of what it is that will be counted for Righteousnesse Sect. 1 IN the handling of the latter part of these words But to him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted for righteousnesse I would open these three things 1. The believing in whom and the believing of what it is to which the promise of Justification or the Imputation of Righteousness is made 2. What or what manner of believing it is that hath the great promise of Justification annexed to it 3. How or in what sence this Faith in men is counted unto them for righteousness Which three things I conceive contain the sum and substance of the Doctrine of Justification Let us now begin with the first of these and see from the Scriptures who and what is the right object of saving Faith Him whom the Apostle here in the Text propounds as the object of this belief is said to be him who justifieth the ungodly Whether by him that justifieth the ungodly we should understand God the Father distinctly or his Son Jesus Christ it will not be so needfull to enquire since as both concur in justifying the ungodly so both are the object of justifying Faith For as in due time Christ dyed for the ungodly Rom. 5.6 that he might justifie them by his blood so God the Father hath set him forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 And as to understand the Apostle as meaning the Father seems to suit best with the precedent verses so to understand him as not excluding the Son will well answer his general design in asserting attonement remission of sins or justification by Christ for the ungodly Gentiles upon their beleeving in opposition to those who appropriated these to the Works of Moses Law It 's true there is a great variety of expression used in Scripture to set forth the object of Faith sometimes making God the Father and his record concerning his Son the object and sometimes Christ as Messiah promised as Son of God as dying as rising again and sometimes the word or doctrine of Christ or his Apostles but all relating to and depending originally upon the Father I shall touch each of these particularly but with much brevity because I hope you are not so much unacquainted with these things as I fear you are in that upon which I principally intend enlargement Sect. 2 I. Justification is ascribed unto God the Father as him in whom we must beleeve and upon whom we must depend for it in many other Scriptures beside my Text Rom. 8.33 and 3.30 Gal. 3.8 Hence justification is called the righteousnesse of God and the righteousnesse which is of God as he being the
A Glass of Justification OR THE VVORK OF FAITH WITH POVVER Wherein the Apostles Doctrine touching Justification without the Deeds of the Law is opened and the sence in which Gospel-obedience as well as Faith is necessary to Justification is stated Wherein also the nature of that dead Faith is detected by which multitudes that hope for Salvation are as is to be feared deceived and the true nature and distinguishing properties of the Faith of Gods Elect is handled Finally the Doctrine of the imputation of Faith for Righteousness is herein also briefly discussed and the great wisdom and folly of men about the proof of their Faith touched Published on purpose to rectifie some dangerous and other damning mistakes of Men about their Faith and expectation of Justification thereby and to awaken and quicken all to the Work of Faith with Power By William Allen a poor Servant to the Lord Jesus What doth it profit my Brethren though a man say he hath Faith and have not Works Can faith save him James 2.14 LONDON Printed by G. Dawson for Francis Smith and are to be sold at his Shop in Flying Horse Court in Fleetstreet near Chancery-Lane end 1658. To that small Remnant of Christs Little Flock which are wont to wait on him in his PUBLICK WORSHIP at their place of Assembly in Loathbury London The Author truly desireth a being filled with all the fulness of God As he does also to all the Churches of like constitution for whose use this Address is secondarily intended Dearly Beloved Brethren Sect. 1 I May truly say that if any others besides your selves shall receive any benefit by the publication of the following Discourse they will be in good part debters unto you for it for that it was never like to have come abroad had not your Desires and Requests prepared its way What sence you had of the usefulness of these Sermons to your selves and what desires and hopes you had of their producing the like effect in others by this publication you your selves best know but this I may say that it was your professed experience of the former and your good perswasion of the latter that induced me to undertake a Work of this nature which circumstances considered in my case I fore-saw as since I have found would be to me a business of no small difficulty You that have had so great a desire hereby to promote the good of others will I hope and am perswaded be very careful to improve this new opportunity of a further inriching your selves with the knowledge sense and savour of the Doctrine contained in this Book as a thing then which I know not wherein you are more concerned But Experience shews that it is not an overly hearing or cursory reading though of things of highest import to the Soul such as are the way means method and terms of mans Justification before God and of the apparent danger that men are in of being mistaken hereabout and through this mistake of missing Justification it self I say it is not a perfunctory doing of these matters that will fill the soul with any due sense of these things For how many are there that frequently hear and sometimes read things that for the nature of them make the spirits of others to burn and boil within them and yet they themselves hardly at all moved thereby or if they do for the present just while they are under the immediate force of them work some little relentings and faint wishes that things were better with them yet such motions soon vanish like a dream when a man awaketh which while he was dreaming of it did somewhat affect him If then you would have this labour of mine which yet is not so much mine as Gods by whose help you have it truly to serve you not only by informing you more perfectly about the termes of your Justification but also in quickening you to more abundant care and diligence about the making good your title to the promise of Justification it self Then in reading hereof let your mind be as much upon the temper of your heart and tenour of your life as your eye is upon the Book and compare the Work of the one with the Doctrine of the other And be often making a pause and putting the question to your Conscience are things so and so with me or does my Faith work thus and thus as there you will find in the discovery of the living and dead Faith The effect of which carriage of yours according to this counsel of mine you will find through the blessing of God to be that when you find the evidence of your faith which is your title to life not to be so clear nor of so perfect an appearance in this and that as in a matter of that consequence were to be desired you will thereby be stirred up to give all diligence to make your calling and election sure by amending what is amiss about the proof of your faith and by adding what is lacking to it And when you shall feel the lively impressions which it may be a close consideration of the Doctrine of this Treatise hath wrought in you in the hearing of it or shall work in you by the reading of it I say when these impressions decay and want reparation your wisdome then will be to get close to that fire again where you had your former heat and that will warm you again stand by those words of eternal life and hear them talk to you a while Prov. 6.22 When thou awakest it shall talk with thee and they speaking with fiery tongues will kindle upon you and put you into a flame Luke 24.32 Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the Scriptures And this do as oft as there is need by calling to mind what you have heard or what you shall have here read in this kind for as the often rubbing of one hand against another will keep them warm in cold weather So the frequent exercising of the mind with this holy and heavenly Doctrine will preserve the spirit from growing chill and more especially from freezing And if the particulars of matter which have or which shall have affected you in this kind shall at any time escape your memory as Nebuchadnezzars dream did his with which he had been so much affected Dan. 2.5 you have here put into your hand that which will be a present help to you at such a pinch So that God hath one way or other abundantly provided you with means for your furtherance in grace in reference both to the information of your judgments quickning of your wills and affections and the helping of your memories and all in order to your godly conversation and Saintly walk Sect. 2 It remains therefore that I as one though but a poor one God knows of the dressers of this little Vineyard of the Lord in which every one of you particularly
preparations The marriage of the Lamb draws nigh and his Wife hath made her self ready be sure you be not at any time found without your Wedding garment By Faith draw nigh to the Judgement Seat of Christ imagine your selves at the next door of being encompassed with the majesty of that day Let thoughts of it and of your accounts then to be taken keep you company all the day long in your buying selling eating drinking yea in all your converse and communication with men Follow God with incessant prayer to fill your souls brim full with a lively sense of these things whose weight is not to be expressed Hold much communion with your own weakness and do not trust your selves at the least distance from God abide under his shadow and in an humble way of pleasing him be alwaies confident of his strength to subdue your spiritual enemies to uphold you and keep you from falling and to carry you on from strength to strength until you appear before him That these and such things as these in the glory of their perfection may be your present portion from the Lord to prepare you upon the best terms for future glory is the true desire Of him who longs for more strength from Christ to serve you upon yet better terms in the dear Concernments of your precious Souls whil'st he is WILLIAM ALLEN April 13. 1658. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Reader I Am not unsensible but that the very name of Works as any ways interressed or concerned in mens Justification before God may possibly prejudice this work in the minds of some good people as if it were no good friend to the free grace of God especially considering that Grace and Works are so frequently opposed one to another in the Scripture as inconsistent in the business of mans Justification To prevent which I shall intreat thee to understand that this Treatise does not in the least interess those Works in mans Justification which the Scripture opposes to Grace which are sometimes called and are usually if not alwayes to be understood as meant of the Works of the Law or deeds of the Law Nor yet does it interesse any other Works I mean the most evangelical Works in the office or service of justifying in that sense in which Works are opposed to Grace and were asserted by the Jews and rejected by the Apostle to wit as doing that to justifie which is proper and peculiar only and alone to Christ Jesus For to hold any thing whether Works or Faith necessary for the doing of the same thing which Christ does in Justification would render Christs undertaking in that behalf incompleat and imperfect and disparage the sufficiency of his saving Grace and so lay the hope of salvation built thereon in the dust which yet it should seem was the errour into which the Galatians were running Gal. 5.4 and 2.21 And therefore all care must he had not to give ought of that to Works or Faith either which is the incommunicable prerogative of Christs bloud Though if it were possible that you could from this instant unto the end of your life become as holy in nature and life as the holy Angels themselves yet it would be damnable folly and wickednesse in you if you should in the least depend upon this holinesse for the benefit of atonement for the sins that are past which is to be had only by Christs bloud And therefore he that hath the most and best of Gospel Works of any man living to commend him to God can reasonably expect no more benefit by them as to this nor may with safety any more depend upon them for this then he that hath none at all but must and ought to cast himself as intirely upon the bloud of Christ for the grace of atonement purgation from sin and justification as the Theif upon the crosse did or as any poor forlorn and miserable sinner does at his first coming to Christ before he hath actually accomplished any workes of sanctification But now because Christs bloud does not actually justifie men though never so full of virtue and power to justifie till they doe believe God having suspended their personal interest in his bloud for their Justification upon their believing hence now in another respect Faith is necessary to Justification in its place and for its use as well as the bloud of Christ it self is in that superiour respect which is proper to it And because Faith also without works is dead Jam. 2.17 26. and so is altogether unserviceable to justifie and that that Faith only hath the honour conferred upon it by God to avail men to justifie and save which worketh by Love and no other Gal. 5.6 Hence the works of a holy life are as necessary to render Faith a living Faith an availing Faith and so a Faith that will justifie or which will interesse men in Christs bloud which doth Justifie as the Grace of Faith it self is necessary in order to such an interest Which as it is the utmost which I assert touching the necessity of Gospel-Obedience unto Justification so it is that which if found true which will avouch this necessity with a high hand For as a man may as soon be Justified without a Saviour as without Faith which gives him an interest in him so he may as soon be Justified without Faith as without those Evangelical Works the absence of which will render Faith uncapable to Justifie And to have no Faith and to have a Faith in no capacity to doe the work or business of Faith will be found the same thing in conclusion So that if the one be necessary so is the other but in different respects All that I shall further add is to desire thee to lay aside prejudice and so proceed to the perusal of the Work it self And as thou findest things built upon the Word and substantially backed by evidence of Scripture Light fairly treated so and no otherwise would I have thee to receive them For I assure thee my design towards thee is to make a match between thy Soul and Truth not my Opinion further then under the countenance of Truth And should count it a happiness if as a recompence of this labour I should hereby deliver though but one Soul from any longer contenting it self with that dead and barren Faith by which too many are and are like to be deceived And that the Lord may give thee a right understanding in this and in all things hath been and I hope the Lord assisting shall be the Prayer of him who loves and longs after the health and prosperity of thy soul W. A. A Table of the principal Matters touched or handled in the precedent Epistle and subsequent Treatise A ARgument of good life most taking generally Ep. S. 10 Argument against the form of profession from the miscarriages of professors not good Ep. S. 11 Assent to the Doctrine of the Gospel as true touching Christs being the Son of God
and Saviour of the world alone not justifying faith the reason why 44 Antinomian Doctrine touching sins past present and to come being pardoned upon mens first being in Christ decryed as erronious and dangerous 95 Apostacy and decay the cause of it what 122 Alms-giving must answer the Estate of the Giver and what to be thought thereabout 145 B BLood of Christ nothing to be joyned with it in merit or atonement making 25 Believing and obeying put one for another 70 Believing and receiving of Christ equivalent 73 Bounty where wanting an argument there 's no right Faith 143 Badness of mens condition no reason why it should not be looked into 160 C COntinue to continue well is harder than to begin well Ep. S. 17 Covenant Attributing that to the blood and obedience of the first Covenant which properly belongs to the Blood Faith and obedience of the Second Covenant was the Jews grand mistake 21 22 Christ in what respects he is the object of justifying Faith 37 Confidence of Salvation without ground whence it proceeds 49 51 Confidence of being saved may be strong in men both while they live and when they dye and yet suffer disappointment in the Resurrection and judgement day 64 Conquer to conquer and more what 134 Conscience Christs Delegate and how to have it on ones side in time of tryal 166 D Decayes of spiritual sense and affection how repaired Ep. § 1 Deceive the Devils craft to deceive Ep. § 4. Dead Faiths being dead what 54 E Esteem of People to their Pastors the mischief of it when it grows low Ep. § 17 Epistle of Christ how the Church is so Ep. § 19 F Fruit upon what account due to God as procured by the labours of men Ep. § 2 Fruit Being yielded to God comes home to ones self Ep. § 2 Fruit yielding fruit the way to enjoy more cost and care from God Ep. § 3 And to be fenced from devourring temptations Ep. § 4 5 Fruit the want of it the cause of Apostacy and Church desolation Ep. § 6 7. Form the danger of turning Religion into Form Ep. § 8 9 Father how and in what respects Justification is ascribed to God the Father 33 154 Faith as it Justifies hath three acts credence adherence and confidence 43 Faith how acted on God the father in relation to Justification 36 Faith how acted on Christs death and bloud in relatioa to Justification 38 Faith a reprobate Judgment concerning it and a Form of godliness oft found in the same person 57 Faith and Love their near affinity 71 Faith without repentance cannot justifie 76 Faith without Love cannot justifie 77 Faith when found in Abrahams seed walks in the steps of Abrahams faith 84 Faith magnifies the word and power of God though crossed with greatest unlikelihood and humane improbability 84 Faith of right kind engageth to obey the hardest precepts 87 Faith eyes and adheres to Gods counsels for the way as well as his promise for the end 98 Faith depends on the Lord for supply of strength to do his will 109 Faith derives from Christ the power by which the Christian life is led 110 Faith how supported in dependance for supplies 114 Faith works by Love and how 127 Faith how it is not and how it is counted for Righteousness 150 Faith in its justifying office or power depends wholly on Gods will and its matter of great comfort that it does so 154 Faith not strictly and properly a mans Righteousness but does him the service of a Righteousness in the account and imputation of grace 156 Forgiving of wrong want of it an argument such have no justifying faith 148 G Grace the womb that bears justification 33 Ground what faith is resembled by the thorny ground hearers 59 H Holiness in men as well as the happiness of men Gods aim in contriving the terms of salvation 68 I Integrity not to be questioned meerly for difference of judgment in the point of Infant-Baptism Ep. § 13 Justification without Works the danger of mistaking the Scripture thereabout 2 Justification by Works in what sense opposed by the Apostle 12 to 17 Justification the necessity of Works thereunto not opposed by the Apostle no not among the Jews in all respects 21 Justification depends upon after acts of faith as well as the first 90 Justification attributed not only to faith but also to those works that flow from faith 94 Justification from eternity or before faith disproved 156 The ill consequence of that opinion touched 158 Judgment day the issue of that dayes proceeding in relation to ones felf to be known now 162 L Love to the Lord how known 121 Love how it casteth out fear 133 Love to men how known 137 M Ministers of the Nation how to be treated by the Baptists Ep. § 14. Maintenance for Gospel Ministers in what respect necessary Ep. § 16 Miscarriages in life proceed from want of faith 106 N Negative Christianity not to be rested in Ep. § 20 O Opinions four Opinions of the Jews contradictious to the Gospel opposed by Paul in opposing their seeking of Justification by Works 7 to 11 Opinion that holds Justification by Faith to be Justification not before God but in mens conscience proved rotten 157 Offence giving when shunned an argument of what 138 P Power to justifie by what means soever depends on the will of God 33 35. Promises indefinitely made to beleeving how to be understood 67 70. Perseverance in grace why found in persons of weak parts when many times those of greater parts fall 123 Power of the creature undue thoughts about it very dangerous 127 Q Quakers how deceitful Ep. § 4 R Reading or hearing how to profit by it Ep. § 1 Reflections unseemly and provoking in controversies condemned Ep. § 12. Relyance on Christ for Salvation not justifying without obedience 49 Resurrection of Christ how excellently it contributes to our Justification 39 Receiving Christ what it imports 73 Result of Scriptures duely compared a wise mans guid 79 S Scandals the mischief of them Ep. § 10 19 Study the necessity of it in order to the most profitable preaching Ep. § 15. Steps of Abrahams Faith what 84 Supplies from Christ how received by Faith 112 Spirit how received by Faith 118 T Terms of Salvation the danger of mistaking them 2 25 Tryal of ones state in Faith backwardness therein an ill sign 159 Temptations about ones present and future good condition not to be vanquished but by substanal evidences of a holy Faith 163 W Works that are the same in themselves differ in respect of different Covenants enjoyning them in different respects 19 Works of what sort they are that accompany true Faith in its first justifying acts 27 Works evangelical in what sense necessary to Justification 26 55. Works evangelical their necessity to Justification a Protestant Doctrine 28 30 Word or Gospel how the object of justifying Faith 36 41 Wresting the Scriptures to destruction what 3 ERRATA PAge 4.
line 27. for for us read far as pag. 11. line 31. for Jews r. Jew page 12. line 5. blot out as A Glass of Justification Wherein the Apostles Doctrine touching JUSTIFICATION without the DEEDS of the LAW is opened and the sence in which Gospel-Obedience is absolutely necessary to Justification is stated CHAP. I. Containing an Introduction to the following Treatise Romans 4. Ver. 5. But to him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted unto him for Righteousnesse AMongst other things in Pauls Epistles which as the Apostle Peter observes 2 Pet. 3.16 are hard to be understood and which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest to their own destruction there is too much cause to suspect the Text now before us to be one For whoever shall but judiciously consider the Epistles of the Apostles James Peter John and Iude besides other Scriptures may easily perceive that many professors of the Gospel then did so bear themselves upon a me form of knowledge and Faith as if the promise of Salvation had been entailed to that alone without respect had to that holy life enjoyned in the Gospel without which no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 Into which most dangerous deadly snare its like enough they might be brought by mis-understanding and wresting such Scriptures as my Text which makes the man that Worketh not but Believeth the capable subject of Justification And is there not cause to fear that multitudes of poor Souls to this day are still under the same desperate and destructive mistake Whence else proceeds that high confidence in the most amongst us of their being saved by Christ although but strangers to the life of God having this saying to defend themselves against the reproof of their sinful life no man shall be saved by his Works or else not by the works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us leaving out that which follows viz. by the washing of regeneration and renewng of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 Whence is it also that multitudes of Professors under various forms as well that which is right as those which are wrong take themselves to be rich and to have need of nothing more than they have to entitle them to remission of sins and Salvation when as they are meer beggars and bankrupts as to a humble sober self-denying life Is it not that they value themselves by that stock of brain-knowledge and barren Faith which they are sure they have and thereupon think themselves sure of those promises which are made to those that know and believe the truth Nay hath not the doctrine of Justification without Works as commonly asserted from that Text which I have chosen on which to found my present Discourse and other of the like nature proved a Temptation even to many good men to have a lighter and lower esteem of good Works and of the necessity of them to Justification and Salvation than of right belongs to them Yea I am perswaded that the strenuous urging of such Texts against the Papists in disputes about Justification without that due care which ought to be had in distinguishing the works which my Text speaks of from those of another nature hath occasioned many honest hearts to content themselves to write but fifty which otherwise would have subscribed an hundred towards the promoting of the Gospel designe in themselves and others had they clearly understood the mind of God in this business What shall I say Christ Jesus himself though sent on purpose to save and not to destroy and not only to shew but to be the very way unto life and glory yet the ignorance and mis-understanding of the counsel of God touching the termes how and after what manner he is so hath rendred him to very many a stone of stumbling a rock of offence a snare and a gin a means of a more dreadful condemnation than ever they should have fallen into had Christ never been offered to them as a Saviour But to whom is he so but as Peter tells us to those that stumble at the Word 1 Pet. 2.8 not understanding but mistaking the nature and temres of the doctrine of grace and the Scripture expressions thereabout either thinking that Faith will save without Works otherwise than the Scripture intends or that this or that Belief is the Faith unto which Justification and Salvation are promised when as it is neither this nor that but another So that when Peter sayes that such as are unlearned and unstable wrest the Scriptures of Paul and others to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 it is not meant of such as are unlearned in humane arts but unlearned in the method and termes of Gods proceeding with men to bring them to Salvation being carried away with a sound of letters and words not being carefull to order themselves in their understanding of Scripture expressions by those principal heads and veins of Doctrine which are but few unto which a great variety of words and scripture expressions do relate A piece of unlearnedness unto which the wise and prudent of the world Doctors and Rabbies of the times have been and may be more liable and in which more intangled than others who in comparison of them have been but Babes and sucklings as these and the like Scriptures do witness Mat. 11.25 John 7.48 49. 1 Cor. 1.26 27. one main reason whereof is this because they I mean the wise and learned of the world by their wisdom and learning being vessels better fitted and prepared for worldly glory than others are are in that respect under the greater temptation to seek and receive honour one of another and not that honour that comes from God onely and consequently by their greater parts to over-master bend and bow wring and wrest under plausible pretences and fair flourishes the holy Scriptures in their several forms of expression so as that they may not so much as seem to contradict but to countenance their designe of worldly glory and interest and their worldly honour and interest likewise as intermixt with their Gospel profession not so much as seem to obstruct but to accomodate the designe of God and the affairs of the Gospel in themselves and others The prevailing of which carnal device of corrupting the Word reducing and accommodating the pure Gospel doctrine and life unto a nearer complyance with the principles of worldly wisdom and interest than would consist with the simplicity which is in Christ was that which proved the bane of those flourishing Churches which were planted by the Apostles and at this day is the great enemy of the life and power of godliness and such as betrayes men into a soul-deceiving way of professing the Gospel as might easily be shewed might I now stand upon it On the other hand whereas the babes and sucklings I mean persons who by reason of their natural capacities education or rank in the world are but
of weak and low parts and in that respect but vessels of dishonour in the worlds eye are not in that danger to be courted by the world nor under any probability or hopes of obtaining honour from the world though they should seek it thence it comes to pass that their minds are more at liberty to look after glory and greatness in the next world since they neither have nor are like to have any in this and so to fall in with the doctrine of the Gospel which both offers and opens the way to the glory to come but makes little of this world calls mens minds off it and teaches self-denial about it And then when such have actually imbraced the truth as it is in Jesus though they themselves are but poor and meane in parts and humane abilities and of shallow capacities yet the Spirit of God now becomes their guide and he takes of the things of Christ viz. his Doctrines contained in the Scriptures and shews them unto them John 16.14 And what ever parts and humane abilities men may have by the power of which they may go for us to the Grammatical sense of the Scriptures yet as to the spiritual designe of them whilst they themselves are strangers to the sense of such a thing upon their own hearts and consequently have not that presence of the spirit of truth who keeps at a distance from the high-minded and worldly-wise they must needs be in greater danger of wresting the Scriptures as unto the spiritual design of them then the poor humble and meek Soul with whom God delights to dwell and whom he hath promised to guide in judgement and teach in his way Psal 25.9 Isai 57.15 though very far inferior in humane accomplishments But since the mis-understanding of the Scriptures about the doctrine of Justification by Faith without the works of the Law hath proved and I exceedingly fear doth still prove a snare of death unto vast multitudes of poor souls as I intimated before therefore to awaken men who have been but in a spiritual dream about this important business and to undeceive many poor souls who are in extream danger of perishing eternally under a mistaken confidence of Salvation I shall as of the ability which is of God by comparing the Scriptures hereabout endeavour to open and further to clear this mighty point upon the practical understanding of which doth depend even the salvation of all our souls CHAP. II. Shewing of what sort or kind of Works those are which Paul in his Epistles excludes in the point of Mans justification before God Romans 4.5 But to him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted unto him for righteousnesse SECT I NOT to meddle with the coherence of these words for the present because I shall have a fit occasion to touch that afterwards You may easily perceive that they do in themselves contain a brief description of the Man whom God will justifie And we have him here described both negatively and affirmatively 1. Negatively he is such an one as worketh not so saith the Text To him that worketh not c. 2. Affirmatively he is such a one as does believe on him that justifieth the ungodly for the Text tells us concerning him that his faith is counted to him for righteousness I shall God willing speak something to both parts of the description and shall begin with that first which is first in the Text. How then is the Apostle to be understood when he affirms the man that works not to be the capable subject of Justification provided otherwise he be such a one as doth beleeve what kind of Works are they which he shuts out from having part and fellowship in this matter and in what respects 1. Whatever they are it is not the presence of them which he excludes as if a man that hath the works he here speaks of could not be justified but it is such a justifying vertue power and property which some supposed to be in them but were deceived which he excludes as having no hand less nor more in any mans Justification for otherwise Paul though whilst he was a Pharisee and to the very time of his beleeving was such a worker as that he could say that as touching the righteousnesse of the law he was blameless Phil. 3.6 yet this was no obstruction to his Justification when he did beleeve indeed 2. But the Apostles meaning is that the absence of the Works here spoken of would not at all hinder a mans Justification in case he did beleeve but that he was in as good a capacity of Justification upon his beleeving though he had none of the works he here speaks of as he would or could have been in case he had them all 3. But then in the next place the main question will be what and what manner sort or kind of Works it is without which a man if he beleeve shall be justified and whether he intends to exclude all and all manner of works in this case or some one sort or kind only For the resolution whereof we must consider upon what occasion these words of the Apostle are here brought in and what people and what opinions they are against which he is here disputing the knowledge of which will be as a key to open the door of this Text and to give us clearly to understand what Works they are without which a man beleeving may be justified That it is not against any such opinion as reckons a Gospel conversation consisting of self-denial mortification of worldly lusts and sinful affections the love of Christ above all and the preferring other mens spiritual interest and profit before their own temporal and a tender caring for others temporal good as well as their own I say that it is not any such opinion against which the face of the Apostles present argumentation is bent will evidently appear 1. By the carriage of other Scriptures which are so far off from affirming any man to be justified by Faith without these Works as that contrarily they do positively and peremptorily conclude and declare that Faith to be dead unprofitable and vain and such as shall never save that is without these And therefore we may by no means understand the Apostle in any such sense as would make him clash with and fall foul upon the general current of the Scripture elsewhere But the further opening and handling of this I must respite unto its proper place afterwards Sect. 2 2. But that the Works here cast out of doors by the Apostle in the matter of mans Justification are precisely of that sort or kind which are elsewhere called by him the deeds of the Law Rom. 3.28 viz. Mosaical ordinances and services especially such as were Circumcision and Sacrifices and the like which were Works required in the Law of Moses I come now to demonstrate And for the clearing of our way to this we will as I
is true in him and in you In him who hath not onely given this new command Iohn 13.34 A new Commandement I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you but also hath given us the pattern of it in his own example having so loved us as to lay down his life and to give himself for us Gal. 2.20 Which thing as it is true in him so in you saith he 1 Iohn 2.8 because we ought therefore not only to love our Neighbour as our selves as before it was commanded but now even to lay down our lives for the brethren 1 Iohn 3.16 as he hath done for us Of all which viz. that the same command though in one respect it was old yet in another it was new and truly verified both in Christ and in the Saints the Apostle gives this reason in the forementioned place 1 Iohn 2.8 Because the darknesse is past and the true light now shineth the different dispensing of the same thing hath made this difference in it it was an old Commandement as it was once enjoyned under the old Covenant but now the darkness and obscutity of that Covenant and dispensation being past as when once it grew old it was then ready to vanish Heb. 8.13 and the true and new light in the Gospel and new Covenant now shining under which the same duties of Love are enjoyned upon other terms then before it might upon this account be well stiled a New Commandement which yet in substance was an old one Sect. 3 2. But Secondly and chiefly the reason why the Works of Love Justice and Mercy as commanded in the Gospel are not opposed to Faith by the Apostle in the point of Justification though these and all other Works commanded in the Law in the sence in which they were asserted by the Jews are opposed to Faith in that case is this because there is so vast a difference between the sence in which we do assert an Evangelical necessity of these to Justification and that sence in which the Jews did assert the availableness of these together with other Works of the Law unto justification as that the Apostle might well withstand the one sence as damnable and yet the other in the mean while remain under his full approbation For our Apostle was so far from denying the necessity of the Works of the Law unto justification saving in that erronious sence in which the Jews maintained them as that he did affirm that during the time in which they were enjoyned by God justification was not to be had without them as conjoyned with Faith Rom. 2.13 For not the hearers of the Law are just before God but the doers of the Law shall be justified It was no more mens hearing of the Law and leaning upon God as some did Mic. 3.11 without sincere obedience to the Law in one thing as well as in another that would render them acceptable to God then than mens barren formal and dead Faith under the profession of the Gospel will without an upright and careful conformity to the doctrin of Christ render them acceptable to God now As concerning that sence in which the Jews asserted and the Apostle denied the necessity of the works of the Law to justification take it thus They being ignorant of Gods Righteousness Rom. 10.3 and of his designe to teach men by the types and figures of the Law as by a school-master to expect justification by the death of Christ and Faith in his blood For by reason of the vail that was upon their hearts they could not see to the end of that which is abolished 2 Cor. 3.13 14 15. I say they being herein altogether ignorant were on the other hand highly confident that God had ordained their legal Sacrifices to purge them from their sins and their obedience in them and other points of the Law to be the only means to invest them with all the good that ever the Lord intended them not only in things temporal but also spiritual and eternal So that that which the Gospel attributes to the New Covenant to the blood of it to the faith of it to the obedience of it they attributed and ascribed all of it to the blood and obedience of the Old Covenant So that the question between the Apostle and them was but this Whether Eternal Redemption were to be had upon the First Covenant termes or the Second whether by the Works of the Law or the Faith of the Gospel the beleeving in and subjecting to the Lord Jesus as that only name way and means in which Salvation is to be had The Apostle he affirms that Salvation is to be had by the latter without the former by the New Covenant termes without the Old the Jews on the contrary they held that Salvation was to be had by the former without the latter by the Works of the Law without beleeving in or obeying of Jesus It is most evident and certain that thus and thus as hath been declared is the true sence in which the Jews held the Works of the Law available to justification and salvation and it is as clear likewise that in the very same sence the Apostle doth deny and reject them charging the whole stresse of all upon Christ and beleeving in and following of him Sect. 4 This is easie to be discerned in the Apostles Writings of which I have given an account in my Second Chapter to which I refer you and shall here add two or three Texts more Phil. 3.7 8 9. But what things were gain to me those I counted losse for Christ yea doubtlesse and I do count all things but losse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the losse of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousnesse which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by Faith He had shewed before what the Jews trusted in boasted of and which he himself also whilst he was as they were did count his gain viz. Circumcised the eight day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin an Hebrew of the Hebrews touching the righteousnesse of the Law blamelesse But when he became a Christian he let go all these things which he held so fast before took off and removed that confidence and stresse which he had placed in these and now laies all upon Christ and Faith in him That which he now expected by Christ he did indeed expect by his righteousness in the Law before but that which was his hope and his confidence his joy and his glory before is now but loss and dung with him when once the excellency of the knowledge of the way of Salvation by Christ does appear Now all his desire is to be found in Christ rejoycing in Christ trusting in Christ cleaving to Christ not
Mercy yea or the act of Faith it self or any other work commanded in the Gospel does justifie as Christs blood justifies by way of attonement for sin let him be accursed It is the prerogative royal peculiarly and alone belonging to Christ thus to justifie in which no creature in Heaven or Earth or any action of any creature bears any the least share Heb. 1.3 When he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high To purge from sin is the self-work of Christ Heb. 7.27 and 9.26 28. and 10 12 14. When some of the Galatians were but about to attribute the same justifying power unto the Law which they had acknowledged to be in Christ Paul testifies to them that in doing so they would render Christ of none effect to them and fall from grace Gal. 5.4 So dangerous a thing is it to joyn any in competition or co-partnership with Christ in this work or to attribute the same justifying vertue to any beside him And if any among the Papists should ascribe any such operation or vertue to any of their works though as dipt in the blood of Christ and receiving their vertue from that it would doubtlesse be found a piece of high presumption and a sin of a daring nature before the Lord. But alass how far off are we from ascribing any such power operation or vertue unto any work which a Christian can do Nay Faith it self though it be so necessary unto justification as that without which the blood of Christ will not justifie and save men yet it is far from being necessary upon any such account as if it could in the least operate as Christs blood does or add any thing unto the saving vertue thereof and yet necessary it is because such is the Will of God as that the saving benefit of that blood shall not be made over unto any man but upon condition of his beleeving So I say of Works I mean Gospel-obedience though we say they are so necessary as that no mans Faith shall justifie him that is void of them or which is all one that no mans Faith shall justifie him without them yet we say also that they are far from being necessary upon any such score as Christs blood is necessary or as if they could contribute any thing unto its atoneing vertue Nor is it necessary in this case to suppose them to be formally of the nature of Faith nor to be essential to the act of beleeving nor that the same justifying act office or power is placed in them by God as is in Faith Yet necessary they are unto justification because such is the will and good pleasure of God as that though he will have Faith to entitle men to the justifying and saving benefit of Christs blood yet he will not interess an unprofitable dead barren fruitless formal Faith in that saving benefit and priviledges of the New Covenant but reserves this honour for that Faith only which is an active lively working Faith and which makes a man as well ready and desirous to give honour and glory unto the Lord in doing his will as to receive honour and glory from him in the way of beleeving his promise This God willing I shall make fully evident when I come to treat of the doctrine of Faith and Justification by it in the handling of the second part of my Text. Sect. 6 In the mean while if this burden any mans mind how to think or conceive that Faith in its first justifying act in closing with Christ should be accompanied with Works when as that first act is done in an instant but Faiths bearing of Fruit and producing of good works is a work of time and shal therefore think that sure Faith must needs be alone and without works in the first act of its justifying work whatever it be after I shall ease this burden and answer this objection by distinguishing of Works There are two sorts of Works 1. Such as consist in will purpose and desire 2. Such as consist in the actual execution of those resolutions and desires That those motions resolutions and desires that are transacted in the wil by way of preparation of turning them into actions of another nature when opportunity shall serve I say that these are works in Gods account who is as well privy to them as to external actions is most evident Mic. 2.1 Wo to them that devise iniquity and work evill upon their beds when the morning is light they practice it because it is in the power of their hand Their devising and resolving upon evill in the night in order to the practice of it in the day is called a working of evill upon their beds Again Psalm 58.2 Yea in heart ye work wickedness you weigh the violence of your hands in the earth The evill actions and motions of the mind and will are called a working of wickednesse in the heart as the looking on a Woman to lust after her is called the committing adultry with her in the heart Mat. 5.28 All which is as true of good intentions resolutions and desires as of evill the resolving upon good when opportunity presents is a working of good in the soul as well as the resolving upon evill upon like termes is the working of evill Now then that Faith which is not accompanied with good Works of this kind in the souls first fastening upon Christ by Faith for salvation I say that soul that does not come to Christ with a sence of such worthinesse in him as to desire and resolve through the strength of his grace to give up it self to him and to be commanded by him that Faith that soul by all the light that I can get from Scripture is never like to be accepted or to pass for currant in Christs account Nor will such desires and resolutions do it neither that are but airy and of the nature of false Conceptions and which spend themselves and languish and vanish in desiring and resolving like the sluggard Solomon speaks of Prov. 13.4 Whose soul desireth and hath nothing No unlesse they have that truth and reality that strength and substance as to be delivered of such conceptions and to bring forth fruit to perfection when opportunity comes and not like that corn that groweth upon the house-top that withereth before it come to maturity they are never like to obtain the honour and reputation of such desires and resolutions as will passe for good works in Gods account But if the soul in its first closing with Christ by Faith go armed and the Faith of the soul attended with real hearty and unfeigned desires and purposes to render unto the Lord in love honour and service according to the benefit it expects to receive from him and that nothing but lack of opportunity hinders the real acting and executing these desires and resolves with suitable endeavours doubtlesse that soul that faith is accepted with the Lord as
well as if all those purposes inclinations and desires of the soul were so many visible works so many actual performances For if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not 2 Cor. 8.12 If it hath but passed the will in good earnest it is not the want of more ability or more opportunity that will hinder the mans acceptation but accepted he is and shall be with the Lord with what he hath in this kind be it more or be it lesse And now having shewed you both in what sence the unbeleeving Jews did and in what sence we do hold Works necessary unto Justification and salvation I now pray you to make judgement upon the whole and let your own conscience speak whether there be the least or lightest probability that when the Apostle rejecteth the works of the Law from Justification in the sence in which the Jews asserted them that then and therein he should also reject the christian resolutions and endeavours commanded in the Gospel upon pain of damnation from justification in the sence in which I have supposed them absolutely necessary thereunto Sect. 7 Neither is this any new Doctrine only it may be I have used a little more liberty of expression in asserting the necessity of Works to justification then many others who have been over-awed by a misunderstanding of Pauls saying in my Text have adventured to do Otherwise though there seems to be an over-tenderness and shiness in our Protestant Authors while engaged against the Papists to say in plain words that any Works are necessary to justification yet in the mean while they confidently and boldly assert in other words that which amounts to as much and signifies the same thing For that they might not be thought by denying the necessity of good works unto justification to open a gap unto carnal liberty and to lay a temptation upon men to be lesse carefull in the great work of Sanctification they are wont to assert over and over that though they do not hold good Works necessary to justification yet they do hold them necessary unto salvation so that though men may be justified without them yet they cannot be saved without them But I demand what Justification is that which will not put men into an immediate capacity of salvation but that there is a necessity of Works to do this for men Can any call this a justification unto life as the Scripture calls that justification which is of the Gospelkinds Rom 5.18 And does it not come to the same issue to say that Faith without Works will not justifie and to say that justification without works will not save for is justification any thing else then a discharging or setting a man free from condemnation and consequently bringing him into a condition of life so that whether the defect lie in the Faith that should justifie because of the absence of Works or whether in the justification it self because of the absence of Works it matters not for it seems there is the same necessity of Works unto Salvation on which side soever it fall with the sence of which necessity to fill the hearts and souls of men is the thing I drive at in this discourse But that to grant Works necessary unto salvation is all one in effect as to grant them necessary unto justification and that there is no more danger in the one then in the other and that the difference between the one and the other is but in a sound of words and not in substance of matter and consequently that they that deny the necessity of Works in the one sence and yet grant it in the other do but restore with the right hand what they unduly took away with the left is a thing clear and evident from the Scriptures as well as from the reason of the thing which I thus declare 1. Our Apostle Paul uses these two phrases to be justified and to live as words equivolent and importing the same thing and reckons it a good demonstration to prove that men are not justified by the works of the Law but by Faith inasmuch as that the Scripture saith The just shall live by Faith Gal. 3.11 But that no man is justified by the Law in the sight of God it is evident for the just shall live by Faith Which would be a defective way of arguing if to be justified and to live were not the same thing with the Apostle So again vers 21. of the same Chapter For if there had been a Law given which could have given life verily righteousnesse should have been by the Law Here we see again that righteousnesse and life are convertable termes with the Apostle if life then righteousnesse if righteousnesse then life by the Law And so to be justified and to be blessed is all one thing with the same Apostle Gal. 3.8 9. Rom. 4.7 8 9. And to be saved or to be justified is the same thing which the Apostle James according to the tenour of his reasoning James 2. from verse the fourteenth to the four and twentieth 2. Justification and condemnation are in Scripture put in direct opposition one to another Rom. 5.18 and 8.33 So that he that is justified is free from condemnation and to be free from condemnation and to be in a state of Salvation is as much one as not to dye is to live 3. Salvation as well as Justification is promised to beleeving John 3.16 Acts 16.31 Heb. 10.39 therefore to be in a salvable condition is the immediate effect of Faith as well as to be justified and consequently that a man is as soon in a salvable condition as in a justified condition and if so then look what is necessary to the being of the one is necessary to the being of the other also with a necessity sine qua non without which neither will be And now what doth all this prove but that if men cannot be in a salvable condition without Works which is the thing granted then neither can they be in a justified condition without them because there is no separating of these But I still desire you that when I thus speak of the necessity of good Works unto Justification that you will do me and your selves too that right as to understand me in the sence in which I have explained my self before viz. that they are necessary so as to render that Faith by which men are justified to be of the right kind and such unto which Justification is promised Under which sence I am far enough from complying with the Papists who if they be not wronged hold Works to be satisfactory Propitiatory and meritorious for that 's their charge see Dr. Downam's Treatise Justi lib. 7. cap. 1. § 1. And as I am far from complying w th them so am I far enough from differing from those that oppose them if their own concessions about the necessity of Works may be
or as he had said vers 14. to save For that clearly is the sence of Faiths being dead in this place and not its barrenness of good Works Though that 's true likewise that Faiths being dead in another sence i. e. void of spiritual vigour force and power is the cause why it is alone and not accompanied with the goodness of conversation yet here in this place the deadness of Faith is the effect of its being alone and not the cause of it the deadness of Faith proceeds from the absence of Works as here spoken of and not the absence of Works from the deadness of Faith Faith is dead being alone saith he that is because it is alone for so it is plain that its being alone carries the force of a reason why it is dead And therefore Faiths being dead here notes it utter inability to justifie or save which answers the scope of the Apostle which is to convince the carnal professor that his Faith without Works would not save him as is manifest by the fourteenth Verse upon which the following Discourse to the end of the Chapter depends He sayes after Verse 26. That as the body without the spirit is dead so Faith without Works is dead also In which comparison or similitude as the body answers Faith so the Spirit answers Works and as the absence of the spirit from the body is the cause why the body is dead and does not the service unto which a living man is appointed so the absence of Works from Faith is the cause why Faith is dead and does not him in whom it is the service unto which the true Faith is appointed to wit to justifie or save him that hath it Sect. 4 And here by the way we have clearly set before us the true sence in which Works are necessary to justification as well as Faith and that is as they do qualifie Faith for that Work or Office of justifying unto which God of his meer Grace hath designed it For so is the will of God that though he will so magnifie his grace in the salvation of men as to justifie and save them by Christ upon or upon condition of their believing in him yet hath he therein made such provision to magnifie his holiness and his love of it in his Creature as that he will not confer the grace of Justification upon any other Faith or entitle any other believing unto that attonement which Christ hath made by his blood than such as hath its fruit unto Holiness the end of which will be everlasting life In which sence I conceive it is that Faith is said to be made perfect by Works James 2.22 that is as I understand put into a compleat capacity of attaining its end which is to justifie as a house is then said to be perfected when nothing is wanting in it as to the end and service for which it is built 2 Chron. 8.16 So is Faith when nothing is wanting to it to answer the end whereto it is to serve But now as long as Faith is alone or by it self without Works it is dead as we heard before and so in no capacity to justifie or reach its end Nor does it come under the saving influence of the Promise till it Work by Love that being the only kind of Faith that hath the promise to avail Gal. 5.6 and therefore Works added to Faith as children are added to their Mother being the same thing that makes the difference between that Faith that will justifie and that which will not and which brings that kind of believing under the promise without which all other believing is excluded hence it is I conceive that Works may well and truly be said to perfect Faith as putting it into a right capacity of reaching its end But thus much on the by in this place Sect. 5 As Iames so Iohn opposeth the vain confidence that is built upon the dead Faith 1 Iohn 1.6 If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth This doubtless he wrote in opposition to some professors of the Christian Faith who though they walked in darkness led lives disagreeing to the light of Christs Doctrine yet said profest and were confident that they had fellowship partnership with God and with his Son Jesus Christ in his Love Saving-mercy and promises of Grace as if as these were Gods to give so they were all theirs to enjoy But as he would take them off their vain confidence in this so he directs them how to be better built in the next Vers 7. saying But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Iesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin Meaning I suppose that if that perswasion which they had of fellowship with God interest in his Grace Love and Mercy and share in Christs blood were but accompanied with an upright endeavour of purifying themselves as he is pure and of being holy in all manner of conversation as he that had called them is holy which I think is the same thing as to walk in the light as he is in the light then they might be confident indeed that they had fellowship with God in his Grace and Love and share in Christs blood to cleanse them from all sin But otherwise and without this what ever their opinion pretence or confidence was of their good condition they did but lie and falsifie the truth Of which delusion and dangerous deceit he admonisheth the Christians Chap. 3.7 8. saying Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous as he is righteous he that committeth sin is of the Devil By which saying he suggests that there were some amongst them of another opinion and perswasion and that they were in danger of being deceived by them to think that though they did indulge themselves in some sin yet they might be counted and dealt withall as righteous persons as being in Christ and knowing of him as they supposed In opposition to which vain conceit and lying imagination he had said in the verse before Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him neither known him The like admonition ministred by Paul to the Ephesians implyeth like danger from men of the same profession Eph. 5.6 Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience .. Implying that there were some among them that were otherwise perswaded than that those unholy wayes from which he had newly before dehorted them would expose them to the wrath of God who trusted in Christ for salvation For of such he prophecied whilst he was yet with them Acts 20.30 That of their own selves should men arise speaking perverse things wrested or swerving things to draw away Disciples after them Men professing the same Faith and expecting
of reward to this eminent act of his Faith and Obedience And when Abraham renews his Faith as God did his Promise Gen. 15.5 6. this was counted to him for Righteousness as well as his first Faith was And so again when God by another command of his to offer his Son as hard as the first tryes his Faith whether it would hold out to carry him through all difficulties to follow and obey him and finds his Faith enabling him to depend upon him still and to obey his Will in this as in his former Commands hereupon he counts this to him for Righteousness as well as his former Faith and graciously grounds his approbation of him from that act of his Faith which last occurred Jam. 2.21 Sect. 7 2. This may be made further manifest in Noahs case as well as Abrahams Noah we know was a righteous man before God admonished him to make an Ark for the saving of him and his houshold For the Scripture saith That Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations and that Noah walked with God Gen. 6.9 And because he was so therefore God directed him to make the Ark for the securing of him and his Family Gen. 7.1 And the Lord said unto Noah Come thou and all thy house into the Ark for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation And yet for all this though Noah were in a justified accepted estate before God and highly approved of him before ever God commanded him to make the Ark yet his becoming an Heir of that Righteousness which is by Faith is attributed unto that act of his Faith by which he beleeved God when he declared to him his Resolution to drown the World and by means whereof he was moved to obey God in making an Ark for the salvation of himself and Family Heb. 11.7 By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith A clear proof that justification depends upon after acts of Faith as well as the first and is and may be as well ascribed to the one as to the other And I pray you let it not be passed over un-observed That though these works that of Abrahams offering Isaac and this of Noahs preparing an Ark at the command of God be attributed unto the Faith of each respectively yet their justification before God hereupon is attributed unto these Works themselves as well as unto their Faith in the Scripture passages And therefore the Apostle James speaking of Abraham saith Seest thou how Faith wrought with his Works and by Works was Faith made perfect Jam. 2.22 His Faith and Works they wrought or laboured together as two Beasts in a yoke about the producing the same effect and that was the rendring him capable of the continuance of Gods Favour and Approbation his Faith alone would not have done it if these Works being called for should have been knowingly neglected 3. After acts of Faith are absolutely necessary to the continuance and carrying on of the work of Justification as the first act was to begin it and set it a foot and therefore the Author to the Hebrews speaking of the just man that lives by Faith saith of him That if he draw back the soul of the Lord shall have no pleasure in him Heb. 10.38 As his beleeving so long as he continues it renders him acceptable and well pleasing to God upon Christs account so his with-drawing those acts of Faith which interested him in Gods favourable acceptation provoke God to with-draw his delight in him and acceptation of him And when Christ in the Parable of the Debtor and Creditor sets forth this That a Servant who having had a great Debt forgiven him by his Lord yet afterward had it exacted of him again upon his cruel and unworthy carriage towards his fellow Servant with this Application of it to his Disciples to whom it was spoke So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not every man his Brother their trespasses Matth. 18.35 Doth he not plainly teach that if such as do beleeve as they did and thereupon have their sins forgiven as they had shall yet for all that afterward come to want those after acts of Faith that should produce a merciful and loving carriage towards others for the right Faith works by love that then their Justification should become unjustification to them the pardon which till then had continued should then be recalled and withdrawn Sect. 8 By the way then note That this Doctrine which makes a mans standing and continuing in a justified state to depend upon after acts of his Faith as his enterance thereinto did upon the first doth discover that most dangerous Doctrine of the men called Antinomians to be rotten and stark nought which teacheth that when a man is once in Christ or which is the same when he does once beleeve all his sins are pardoned both past present and to come and that he alwayes stands accepted upon the account of his first beleeving A Doctrine which most assuredly hath proved an occasion of manies taking to themselves a great deal more liberty than that which is Christian and hath betrayed many hopeful Souls into a broader way than that narrow path that leads to life A fine Doctrine it would have been if it had been true To prove that Paul knew not what he said when he exhorted the Christians to work out or to work through their own Salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 And I do the rather here admonish all in the fear of the Lord to take heed of this snar for that I my self having above twenty years ago been taken in it did sadly experience the evil tendency of it and I verily think had not the Lord in much mercy pluck'd me out of it it would have proved no less than utter ruine and destruction to my poor Soul and how then should I upon this occasion refrain to warn all men of this deep ditch No sure it is not one act of beleeving that carries the business of a mans Justification quite through if there be opportunity of after acts afforded The Righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel from Faith to Faith Rom. 1.17 The Gospel reveals Righteousness or Justification upon condition of the latter Faith as well as the former and therefore let no man think he hath done his whole dayes work when as he hath but only begun it for if he do it 's a thousand to one but he will grow idle and remiss before night And therfore as you desire expect that your Faith should do you the same service as Abrahams did him see to it that your Faith be found walking in his Faiths steps by which and not otherwise you will prove your selves his Children and Heirs to the
large enough to support themselves and houshold-relations in a free if but in a sober and moderate way of living and yet withall to strengthen the hands and to refresh the bowels and ease the burdens of many poor so neither is it necessary nor as I think Christian for them whose Estates are grown to their full stature so as to be in a competent capacity of answering all a mans truly necessary and convenient occasions according to the rules of Christian moderation and sobriety for them still to be every year making their heap higher Joyning house to house and laying field to field the thing of which the Lord complains Isai 5.8 Surely when Christ saith Lay not up for your selves treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and Thieves break through and steal Mat. 6.19 He would have men to set some bounds unto themselves in heaping treasure together for the last dayes James 5.3 And therefore it may be necessary for one whose Estate is of competent growth to dispose in a way of charity so much of his yearly Income as is found to be the whole surplusage of necessary expences in a sober way of living though it should amount to as much or more than the whole of his expences do when the same thing cannot be thought to be the duty of another whose occasions as a Christian may call for some augmentation of his Estate if providence vouchsafe opportunity As for those who when they have more then enough already and so much as proves far more frequently a sad occasion of destruction to their Childrens souls as there is cause to fear and many times of bodies too than of any spiritual advantage to them shall yet make it their business to their dying-day to be heaping up more and more while in the mean time many Families are in great distress through want and they contributing little to their relief I dread to think what account they will be able to make unto the Lord who hath directed them to make themselves Friends in a spiritual sence of their unfaithful Mammon and charged them to be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate and hath declared them stark Fools that lay up treasures for themselves and are not rich towards God Luke 12.20 21. and 16.9 1 Tim. 6.17 18. But now since the different circumstances of mens cases do render any one rule of proportion as unlike to suit every man in this case as it 's impossible for the same shooe to fit every mans foot therefore we must leave this matter of proportion to every mans Conscience which faithfully consulted with it having it self first faithfully consulted with the Word of God and the arguments and motives unto bounty which are there will be a competent guide unto a man herein Only let it be remembred to take aime by that before the Law the principles of Love and Godly devotion dictated to the Patriarch Jacob to give the Tenth of what God gave him unto God Gen. 28.22 And under the Law 1. Every third years tenth was to be put apart for charitable uses Deut. 14.28 29. and 26.12 13. 2. Part of the corners of the fields were purposely to be left unreaped Levit. 19.9 10. and 23.22 And 3. Besides this a certain proportion for gleaning was to be left for the poor both in the field and Vineyard Levit. 19.9 10. 4. The forgotten sheaves in the Field Deut. 24.19 And 5. Besides all this a special Law for Relieving with that which was sufficient for his need any poor Brother that was fallen to decay Deut. 15.7 8 9. All which put together did arise to a considerable proportion of a mans yearly increase which was also deeply charged with a Tenth for the Priests and with Sacrifices and oblations otherwise And the law of Love under the Gospel is not lessened but rather much improved and heightened by the great example and obligation of Christs signal love which is propounded as our pattern John 13.34 1 John 3.16 And therefore Christs precepts for charity run very high saying Sell that ye have and give Alms Luke 12.33 And again Give to every man that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn thou not away Luke 6.30 Mat. 5.42 Yea as the case may be our very Lives which are more than Estates must be laid down for the Brethren 1 John 3.16 All which considered though a just proportion cannot be set as a Tenth of the whole proceed of the capital stock or the like which is the rule of proportion which some Christians of a middle rank in the world do set unto themselves yet in ordinary lesse than a liberal free and frequent distribution of Alms according in proportion to every mans ability cannot be understood to be the expresse will of our Lord besides what is to be done extraordinarily in extraordinary cases I cannot stand so much as to touch the variety of motives and great encouragements that belong to this duty But if such as profess themselves to be Christians indeed and would be thought to be none of the lowest rank of them neither would but convert their superfluous expences upon back and belly and other bravery and vain delights wherein too too many of the professors of this Age do abound to the great scandal of Religion into works of charity and mercy it would turn to a thousand times better account both in point of evidence of the goodnesse of their Faith and Charity and in procuring reverence and respect to their profession in the Consciences of men and as being that also which would abound to their account Phil. 4.17 in that great day of account which is shortly to come wherein what good soever any man hath done the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free But while their superfluity and vanity instead of their moderation Phil. 4.5 is made known unto all men and their worldly glory instead of the light of their good works shines before men Mat. 5.16 I am sure they make but bad provision for that spiritual assurance of the soundnesse of their title to the promise of Justification by Faith and Eternal Life the worth whereof when they come to dye will be discerned and the vanity of the other discovered to the Conscience and their present folly in sowing so liberally to the flesh and so sparingly to the Spirit will then be lamented and bewailed Sect. 17 8. Moreover as giving so forgiving is such an act of love and mercy and so necessary to the evidencing of a mans Faith to be right as without which no man can prove his Faith to be such as by which he shall be justified For when Christ declares this to be the Law of Heaven saying But if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses Mat. 6.15 and 18.35 He does as good as tell all such in plain words whose hearts serve them not to
nature and not sinners of the Gentiles knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have beleeved in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law for by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified By which the Apostle plainly intimates that it was so far from being necessary to compel the believing Gentiles to keep the law of the Jews to make them capable of justification as that the Jews themselves who had the Law and the works of it must needs lay aside the consideration thereof in their coming to God for justification and must be content to receive it upon like termes of grace with the Gentiles themselves as Paul himself did Phil. 3.9 who desired to be found in Christ not having his own righteousness which was of their law as he was a Jew but that which was through the Faith of Christ as he was a Christian CHAP. III. Shewing how Love Iustice and Mercy though commanded both in Law and Gospel are to he rejected in the Iewish sense and yet imbraced in the Christians as necessary unto Iustification Shewing also in what sence Works are necessary unto Iustification Sect. 1 HAving thus far shewed what Works they are which the Apostle in our Text excludes from Justification as unnecessary thereunto viz. such Works as were proper to the Jews in contra-distinction to the Gentiles which are in Scripture usually called the works of the Law for about them did the controversie grow as we have seen before all that I shall now add by way of use as to this matter shall be for caution To take heed how we oppose Faith to Works and that when we do so be we sure to keep the Scripture road which I have been now tracing out It is true Faith and Love are often in the New Testament distinguished or mentioned as things distinct in a strict sence Ephes 6.23 1 Tim. 1.14 and 2.15 2 Tim. 1.13 Philem. 5. c. but I am not without much confidence that they are never opposed as Faith and the Works of the Law are as if a man that hath no Love might be justified by his Faith as he that worketh not or which hath no Works in our Apostles sence may It is no where neither in words nor sence said But he that loveth not but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted to him for righteousnesse but the contrary in substance is flatly affirmed by the Apostle James chap. 2. besides other Scriptures as I shall God willing come afterwards to shew And therefore I do think that our Protestant Writers have given too much advantage to the Papists whilst in asserting justification by Faith alone without any Works at all they have in the mean while chiefly if not only built this their assertion upon such Scriptures as my Text with others of like nature which treat not of all Works in generall but of such as did belong unto the Jews in special and therefore are usually called the Works of the Law or the Deeds of the Law Works of what Law I pray you but of that Law which as the Apostle saith pertained to the Israelites Rom. 9.4 and which as the same Apostle saith also the Gentiles had not Rom. 2.12.14 1 Cor. 9.21 Objection Sect. 2 But when the Apostle opposeth this Law that was given unto the Jews unto Faith and when he denies Justification to be by the works of that Law is it not all one as if he should oppose Faith unto Works commanded in the Gospel for the same Works of Love Justice and Mercy that are enjoyned in the Gospel are also commanded in the Law Answer This indeed is an Objection that deserves consideration but for answer take it thus Though it be very true that the same Works of Love Justice and Mercy be enjoyned both in Law and Gospel yet it will not follow that when the Apostle opposeth the Works of the Law to Faith that then he opposeth Gospel-works to Faith likewise for these two Reasons 1. Because those Works as they were enjoyned the Jews in the Law were part of the first Covenant but as they are enjoyned in the Gospel so they are part of the second Covenant But now the Law or first Covenant in the letter of it was not of Faith saith the Apostle the things promised in it were suspended not upon the condition of beleeving but of doing But the man that doth them shall live in them Gal. 3.12 Upon which account and in respect whereof the Works even of Love Justice and Mercy as enjoyned under that Covenant may possibly be opposed to Faith Whereas the Gospel or new Covenant which also contains in it precepts of Love Equity and Mercy as well as promises of pardon acceptation and salvation and not promising the enjoyment of the one without obedience in the other as is further to be shewed afterwards I say this Gospel or New Covenant is so of Faith and all the conditional part of it so relating to and depending upon Faith as that it is so far from being opposed to Faith as the other Covenant is as that the whole Gospel New-Testament or Covenant both in its precepts and promises bears the denomination of Faith being sometimes stiled the Faith Gal. 1.2 3. and 3.23 Acts 6 7. Romans 1.5 Iude 3. Sometimes the Law of Faith Romans 3.27 And when we suppose the duties and Works of Love to be opposed to Faith under one Covenant for reasons proper to it and yet yet the same Works not to be opposed to Faith in the other Covenant for reasons peculiar to it let it not seem strange to any man for it is no new thing to affirm and deny the same thing under several circumstances and different considerations As the Apostle Iohn for example touching this great Commandement of Love of which we now speak he affirms it to be no New Commandement but an old and yet presently again sayes the same is a New Commandement 1 Iohn 2.7 8. Brethren I write no new Commandement unto you but an old Commandement which ye had from the beginning the old Commandement is the word which ye have heard from the beginning Again a new Commandement I write unto you which thing is true in him and in you because the darknesse is past and the true light now shineth The Law of Love is an old Commandement as it is part of the old Covenant and yet the same is a new commandement as it is part of the new Covenant being given a new by Christ the Mediator thereof and now upon new termes too not as opposed to Faith as in the former but as in a collateral and subservient way joyned with it in the latter And besides this the same Commandement under this new edition of it comes out with inlargement which makes it new Which thing saith the Apostle
any more to be found in the dress of his own righteousness which was of the Law the first Covenant righteousness that righteousness in the Law touching which as he sayes he was blameless vers 6. Which whilst he expected Salvation by it was a righteousness or way of justification of his own setting up never of Gods appointing In opposition whereto he desires now to be found in that righteousness which is of God through Faith in that state of justification and salvation which God in the Gospel hath setled and established upon beleeving in Jesus So that here in this Contexture of Scripture you have the Jews righteousness or justification and the Christians through both which this Apostle had passed and of both which he had made tryal the Jews claim was by the Law and the works thereof but the Christians by the Gospel and the Faith and obedience thereof the act of his conversion was his renouncing of the former and cleaving to the latter Romans Chapter 9. Verse 30 31 32. What shall we say then that the Gentiles which followed not after righteousnesse have attained to righteousnesse even the righteousnesse which is of Faith but Israel which followed after the Law of righteousnesse hath not attained to the Law of righteousnesse Wherefore because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the works of the Law for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone Here we have two manner of people the Gentiles and the Jews and two sorts of righteousness the one of the Law the other of Faith or of the Gospel The Gentiles who had not followed after righteousness but lived in Idolatry Sin and Wickedness and without God in the World being altogether strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel and that Covenant of Promise yet attained to righteousness a state of justification and acceptation before God upon their receiving the Gospel the doctrine of life and salvation when it was brought among them The Jews though they followed after the law of righteousness those laws wherein a righteous conversation was commanded by God and did many of the things that were commanded therein having a zeal towards God yet for all that did not arrive at that justification and acceptation with God which the Gentiles attained and the reason was because they did not seek it in the Gospel-way in which the Gentiles found it they should have let go the doctrine of Moses and have imbraced the doctrine of Christ and have reckoned themselves but in the same capacity with the Gentiles for all their Works of the Law and have said as some of them did We beleeve that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they Acts 15.11 But instead of this they stumbled at that stumbling-stone Christ Jesus and him crucified and the offer of salvation by him and did adhere unto the works of the Law for all things pertaining to salvation and would have Justification upon the Law termes this ran in their mind if a man do those things he shall live in them and so ventured all upon that score It was quite beyond their expectation that the Messiah when ever he should come should turn them out of their way of Sacrificing by becoming a Sacrifice himself or that their expectation of remission of sin should be taken off the former and placed on the latter and therefore they cleaving to the letter of the Law for eternal salvation which so far was ordained by God but for a temporal and rejecting Christ and the termes of salvation by him which the Law pointed them to in the spiritual signification of it of which they were wholly ignorant hence it came to pass that for all their labouring seeking and striving after righteousness justification and salvation yet they missed it as seeking it out of Gods way upon their own termes not Gods Gal. 2.21 For if righteousnesse come by the Law then Christ is dead in vain How could that be but that they did attribute and ascribe the same attoning virtue and sin-purging efficacy unto the works of the Law which the Gospel does attribute unto the blood of Jesus And then indeed if it had been so as they supposed it was that sacrifices or any other works of the Law could have purged sin so as Christ does by his death and blood then the death of Christ would have been in vain God would never have put himself to that charge as to give his Son to death to take away the sin of men if the works of the Law had been a competent means to bring it about If there had been a Law saith the same Apostle which could have given life verily righteousnesse should have been by the Law Gal. 3.21 If the Law and the Wotks therein commanded could have done the same thing towards the conferring of life and salvation upon men which is now brought to passe by the coming and dying of Jesus then righteousness and life should have been by that But now inasmuch as that God hath given his Son to dye for here he writes to those that did acknowledge Christ and his death but withall inclined to that opinion Acts 15. that except men kept the law of Moses they could not be saved since God hath given his Son to dye it is as if he should say manifest that the Law fell short in ability of doing that for men for the doing of which God sent his own Son Rom. 8.3 For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sent his own Son in the similitude of sinfull flesh and for sin or by a sacrifice for sin as it is in the margent condemned sin in the flesh What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh that is I conceive through or by reason of the sins of the flesh the sinful condition of man was so great as that it quite over-topt the purging power of the Law the disease was too strong to be cured with such a purge the sins of the flesh overmatched the Law in this kind and rendred it weak and therefore God was fain to send his own Son to condemn sin to take away the destroying power of sin by the sacrifice of himself for that the Law could not do it by its sacrifice In that the Apostle writes so much and in so many places for there are many more besides these touching the weaknesse and dis-ability of the Law to do that for men which God sent Christ to do for them it is in opposition to those who magnified the Law as if it had been able to do all that for them which the Apostle doth ascribe to Christ as done by him By what hath been now said I think it doth fully appear in what sence the Jews asserted the Works of their Law in the point of Justification and likewise in what sence the Apostle denies them Sect. 5 And now if any man shall say that Love Iustice and