same natural Spirit Nor do we deny but that Faith is the first Act that disposeth a Man to the Receipt of this Divine Spirit dwelling in him whereby it may be said to effect or procure our Union with Christ whereby we partake both of the Nature and the Effects and Benefits of his Righteousness But the imputation of Christs Righteousness to us is no Scriptural Phrase but differs very much from that of St. Paul asserting not the Righteousness of Christ but Faith working by Charity to be imputed for Righteousness to them that believe Rom. 4.5 24. But if it be the act or habit of Faith which is imputed to us for Righteousness according to the express literal Sense of the Apostles words then 't is not the Personal Righteousness of Christ that is imputed to us for our Faith is no part of his Righteousness But because the Phrase of Christs Righteousness imputed to us hath been commonly used by Divines of very good Note amongst Protestants though no man can be obliged to admit it in a strict Sense it being not found in Scripture yet I think for Peace sake it should not be absolutely rejected much less with any reflections of Reproach or Disparagement to them that have used it but rather admitted in such a Candid Sense as it may fairly bear As if the Son of a Prince or some other Person of Great Merit and Favour with him should undertake to be Mediator for some Rebel that had justly incurred the Displeasure of his Prince and rendred himself obnoxious to the highest penalty of Law should of his own Good Will by the Appointment and Will of the Prince act or suffer something for and on the behalf of the Delinquent and thereby obtain by the Grace of the Prince a free Pardon for him under some equitable Conditions required of the Delinquent In this case the Merits Act and Sufferings of such a Mediator might in a reasonable Sense be said to be imputed to the Redeemed Person Such an Interpretation of this Phrase of Christs Righteousness imputed to us I think should not be quarrel'd but may fairly agree with the Scripture phrases of Propitiation Expiation and Attonement of Christ made for us and with the Discourse of the Apostle Rom. 5. from the 15 Verse to the end of the Chapter Other Senses there are of this Phrase insisted upon by some Divines which cannot be maintained without gross and absurd Consequences as hath been shewed by some that have lately written sharply concerning this Point This Explication of the Question what is meant by that Efficacy which any act that can be done by us towards the Remission of our sins or our Justification can have being premised and cleared from the most usual Objections against it I proceed in my Reply to the fore-mentioned Answer to the Arguments for the Confirmation of the Doctrine in hand drawn from the Promises and Exhortations of Scripture as followeth To the First part of that Answer alledging only the necessity of Presence of Charity and Good Works together with Faith in order to the obtainment of the Benefits propounded as a sufficient Account for the use of those Motives contained in the said Promises and Exhortations I reply by demanding whether the Charity and Good Works supposed to be necessary do concurr to the Qualification of the Person that is to receive these Benefits or not If they do concurr as any Part of the Qualification of the Person for the Receipt of those Benefits it cannot be denied by the Explication of the forementioned Question but that they are as truly available to the Obtainment of those Benefits as Faith or any thing else can be If they do not concurr as any Part of Qualification for these Benefits the bare necessity of their Presence upon any other account can be no reasonable ground of Exhortations to such Actions in order to the Advantages thereunto promised Nor can those Advantages or Benefits be any reasonable Motives to such Actions whiles they are supposed to contribute nothing at all to the Obtainment of them And consequently the only design of propounding those Motives to such Actions would be utterly frustrate For all Exhortations Counsels or Advices to any Act or Practice do include this general Supposition to common Understanding that the things advised or exhorted to are of some Use and Validity to the End that is propounded either by removing some Impediment or by some kind of Causality or other else the Advice is altogether vain and a Man should be never the nearer his End by following it And therefore it hath been said that although Charity and Good Works be in themselves of no Validity or Efficacy to the Covering of sin Justification or Salvation of a sinner nor do contribute any thing towards the Obtaining of these Benefits yet they have the nature of a Causa sine quâ non that is of something without which a thing is not to be effected or gained but if that Something hath no manner of Causality at all in it it cannot be called a Causa sine quâ non without a real Contradiction in the Terms For to be a Cause without which a thing cannot be and yet to have no manner of Causality in reference to the Effect is to be a Cause and no Cause But suppose the design of the Holy Ghost in the forementioned Promises and Exhortations had been as we really suppose it was to instruct men what they should do or what things possible to be done by them would be available to the ends propounded I demand how such a Design could have been expressed more significantly then it is by the Terms used in the Exhortations and Promises alledged And as for the bare necessity of presence of Charity and Good Works together with Faith in the Persons which are to be justified and saved that 's no more then is equally true of the faculties of Life Sense and Reason there being a perfect necessity of the presence of all these things to the act of Faith which is supposed to be the only thing that justifies a man But would it therefore be reasonable to exhort men to take care to preserve these faculties in order to their Justification or might the Promises of Pardon of Sin Life and Salvation be reasonably annexed to such a care of preserving these Faculties upon the bare account of their necessary presence or concomitancy with a justifiing Faith Now where it hath been said that Charity and Good Works are necessary to the verification of that Faith by which we are justified i. e. to declare and manifest the truth of it but have otherwise no concurrent Efficacy to the Justification of the Believer and that is a sufficient account of the reasonableness of all Promises made to the habit and exercise of this Vertue as also of the Exhortations before mentioned I answer that if indeed these things be necessary to the verification of that Faith that justifies us so
make use of Texts and Sayings in the Old Testament in a different Sence from that which did belong to them there As in Mat. 2.15 and 23. 2 Cor. 8.15 and elsewhere frequently And this Answer I take to be sufficient for this first Objection against our Interpretation of St. Peters words 2. Objection But another main Objection and that which is most like to be insisted upon against this Interpretation is that it seems to favour the Popish Doctrines of Merit Satisfaction and Justification by Works and to be repugnant to the Evangelical Doctrine of the most full perfect and sufficient Expiation and Satisfaction for the sins of the whole World made only by the Sacrifice of Christs death and applied only by Faith The covering and pardon of sin is the Effect of Gods grace granted only upon the consideration of Christs death upon condition of a true Faith in him wrought by the Spirit of God through the hearing of the Gospel Answer To this Objection I answer 1. That although some Papists interpreting this Text as I do may be found to alledge it among other Texts for the confirmation of some of the Doctrines mentioned in the Objection yet neither is this Sense vouched by all Interpreters of their Profession nor can any of those Doctrines be further evinced or confirmed from this Text so understood then it may be from other Texts before alledged for the Confirmation of the Doctrine against which the Objection is made Nor is the free grace of God or the sufficiency of that Expiation or Satisfaction which was made by the death of Christ any more abated by this Doctrine than it is by that which all the forementioned Texts import 2. The words Merit and Satisfaction are known to have been familiarly used in reference to Good Works by the most ancient of the Latin Fathers and particularly by St. Cyprian one of the most Primitive in a Catholick Orthodox Sense Both the words are Innocent in the Sense of the Fathers though they have been perverted by the Schoolmen And Justification by Works is certainly as true in St. James's Sence as 't is false in St. Pauls The late Controversies that have been concerning these Points do not so much respect the words as the extravagant Sense that hath been put upon them by the Schoolmen who have intangled and corrupted a great part of Christian Doctrine by their misinterpreting the Fathers determining the simplicity of their Popular Expressions by their own Capricious and Litigious Conceits into such Dogmatical Sense as was never thought of by the Antients But in the particular Controversies about Merit Satisfaction and Justification by Works there hath been so much of Logomachy or word-bate as might in my opinion be fairly compromised or accorded by Judicious Arbitratours whose minds were free from all prejudice but that against Contention and Division and were more zealous for Unity and Concord than for disputable and opinionative Truth But for to undertake that task in this place would not be reasonable That all Pardon of sin is founded upon the Expiation or Propitiation made by the Bloud of Christ and granted or obtained only by the Free Grace of God is not denied by any Sect or Party of Christians that I know of Although some Differences have been about the Conditions of this Grant For to say that this Grace is granted without any Condition or Qualification of the Receiver is in my Judgment to deny a great part of the Scriptures as well of the New Testament as of the Old destructive as well of the New Covenant as of the Old no more Antinomian than Anti-evangelical Doubtless it is of Free Grace that God will pardon a sinner upon any Condition Nor is it possible for us to do any thing sufficient to make Satisfaction for our sins or to merit the Forgiveness of them in rigor of Justice because all that is in our Power to do is no more then our Duty if God requires it And all that we do is much less And as the duty of Well doing in the utmost Extent is a just Debt of Thankfulness at least if not of Preceptive Obligation to Almighty God to whom we owe our selves and all that we have or can do So the Punishment we are liable to for neglecting our Duty or acting contrary thereunto in our Evil doings is another Debt by our Saviours account signified to us in that Form of Prayer which he hath taught us to use Forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtors Mat. 6.12 But it is altogether unreasonable one Debt can be discharged by the Payment of another especially when the Payment falls so much short of the old Debt as it doth in any thing we do Besides that upon a due account Charity it self and every Good Work that can be done by us doth increase our debt to God because it cannot be done without his Grace Nevertheless God of his Free Grace hath promised the Remission of sin upon certain Conditions declared in his Word amongst which this of Charity is one that by a common Synechdoche of a Part for the Whole includes all the rest And whereas in the New Testament Faith in Christ is more commonly propounded as the Condition of Justification importing the Remission of sin it is to be considered that this Faith is so far from excluding Charity that it is expressly said to include it by St. Paul himself the supposed Author of the Doctrine of Justification by Faith without Works Gal. 5.6 For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be to be understood in a Passive sense as most commonly it is elsewhere in Scripture and in other Books and as it is here rendred by the Syriack Translator and so meaning that Faith is actuated perfected and made effectual by Love or in the Active sense as our English Translation gives it signifying the Efficacy Energy or Operation of Faith only The Meaning of the Apostle by the Addition of these Words can be no other then to limit and distinguish the nature of that Faith which is available to Justification from an hypocritical dead and ineffectual Faith which is altogether invalid availing nothing at all to the Effect of Justification The Active sense of the Word as well as the Passive serving to declare the true Nature and Notion of a Justifying Faith to be Energetical and Practical i. e. producing such effects of the Will as are agreeable to the entire Object of it that is to the Authority of Christ his Doctrine and Precepts as well as such as respect only the Effect of Redemption or Expiation of sin by his Death And such is the necessity of this Charity by the Doctrine of the same Apostle that he elsewhere saith Though I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing 1 Cor. 13.3
Where by all Faith undoubtedly is meant all the Faith that can be had without Charity and needs not to be restrained to the particular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or extraordinary Gift of the Faith of Miracles whereof he speaks in the former Chapter ver 12. To this Purpose St. James Chap. 2.22 saith Faith is made perfect by Works not excluding any sort of Good Works but specially treating of the works of Charity as appears by the Context from verse the 13. to the 18. And whereas he saith Faith is made perfect by Works he speaks not only of a Gradual Perfection or of the Consummation or Preservation of Faith or of the Ornament Demonstration or signal evidence of Faith as some would have it but of such an essential and formal Perfection as is necessary to the nature of Truth and sincerity of Faith as appears by that repeated Sentence both before and after these Words ver 17. Faith without Works is dead and ver 26. As the Body without the Spirit is dead so Faith without Works is dead also Whether by the Spirit he means the Breath as some take it because the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritus sometime signifies no more or rather the Soul which is the most usual Sense of the word in Scripture the Meaning comes all to one signifying that an idle or fruitless Faith hath no more of Spiritual Life or Reality in it than a Body can have without Breath or without a Soul and therefore is no more a true and unfeigned Faith than a dead Carcass is a human Body Indeed the true justifying saving Faith in the practical Notion which is the only true Notion of it includes Charity together with all other Good Works as I have elsewhere largely shewed So that if Faith be necessary to the Covering or Remission of sin Charity is so too But the common Answer to these and all other Texts produced to evince the Necessity of Charity and Good Works to the Salvation of a sinner is that they prove only a necessity of Presence and Concomitancy or at most a necessity of Consequence not of Efficacy that is that this Necessity doth not respect the End or Effect of Faith in the Justification or Salvation of the Believeer but proceeds only from the common nature and principle of that Faith which is an effect of the Spirit of God the necessary Fruits whereof do consist in Love Joy Peace Long-suffering c. which distinct Vertues with their proper Works do not contribute any thing to the Effect of our Justification but are meer Concomitants or at most but gratefull Effects of that Faith which justifieth us Which useth to be illustrated by a Similitude borrowed from the natural and animal Life wherein the particular faculties of Seeing or taking hold of a thing by the Touch do necessarily imply such a common Principle of sensitive Life as doth also comprehend the powers and faculties of Hearing Smelling and Tasting yet none of these Faculties or any act of them do or can contribute any thing efficiently to the effect of Seeing Apprehending or laying hold of an Object So the Grace of Charity or Love to God and Man together with all those other Fruits of the Spirit which are mentioned by the Apostle and all the Effects and Works which do proceed from them are indeed necessary Concomitants of such a Faith as justifies or saves a Man but do contribute no more nor have any more Efficacy to this effect of Justification and Salvation than the distinct Faculties of other Senses do to the effect of Seeing This I take to be a true Account of their Sense that assert the Doctrine of Justification and Pardon of sin by Faith only as that imports a habit or act really distinct though not separated from other Christian Vertues In opposition to this Opinion contradicting the Doctrine which I maintain to be the Sense of the Apostle in this Text confirmed as hath been seen by many others I am engaged to prove that Charity and Good Works are necessary to the Justification of a sinner that is to the Remission of his sin not only by way of Concomitancy or joint Presence with Faith or consequent to it but also by way of moral Efficacy as a Condition or Means to obtain that Effect This I hope will be sufficiently done by the following Arguments this one postulate or conclusion which I suppose will not be denied being first granted me viz. That if any thing else beside the habit or act of Faith considered as really distinct from other Christian Vertues or Acts be effectual or available to the Remission of sin then Charity is or may be so in as much as that is one of the most Excellent of Christian Vertues most agreeable to the Nature of God and consequently most pleasing to him So that if that be not available to this End nothing else besides Faith can be so This Proposition being granted I argue as followeth 1. Argument If it be certain from Scripture and we be bound to believe that nothing which can be done by us besides such a Faith as is supposed to be really distinct though not separate from all Good Works can be of any Efficacy towards the remission of our sins then ought nothing else to be done by us towards that end because every such other act done to this end would by this supposition be perfectly vain and unreasonable and not so only but also contrary to our obliged belief And then to pray for the forgiveness of our sins that being an act distinct from Faith would be not only needless and useless but unlawful especially if it should be acted with any opinion hope or belief that such a prayer could avail us any thing in order to this end or that this end could any way be promoted by our Prayers But this is directly contrary to our Saviours Precept in that Form of Prayer which he hath taught us to use wherein we are directed to pray that God will forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And contrary to the advice of St. Peter to Simon Magus Acts 8.22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee Where also it is to be noted that the Apostle adviseth him not only to pray for the forgiveness of his sin but also to repent of it in order to the same end The same advice is given by the same Apostle to the Jews in the first Sermon which he made unto them after the reception of the Holy Ghost Acts 2.37 38. Having convinced them of their hainous sin in the murder of the Lord Jesus and made them sensible of it Now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles men and brethren what shall we do Then Peter said unto them repent and be baptizid every one of you in the