it is no wonder that it is said we are to be justified by works alwayes meaning not the works of the law that is works that are meritorious works that can challenge the reward works that need no mercy no repentance no humiliation and no appeal to grace and favour but alwayes meaning works that are an obedience to God by the measures of good will and a sincere endeavour and the faith of the Lord Jesus 3. But thus also it is in the word Justification For God is justified and wisdom is justified and man is justified and a sinner is not justified as long as he continues in sin and a sinner is justified when he repents and when he is pardoned and an innocent person is justified when he is declared to be no criminal and a righteous man is justified when he is saved and a weak Christian is justified when his imperfect services are accepted for the present and himself thrust forward to more grace and he that is justified may be justified more and every man that is justified to one purpose is not so to all and faith in divers senses gives justification in as many and therefore though to every sense of Faith there is not alwayes a degree of justification in any yet when the faith is such that justification is the product and correspondent as that Faith may be imperfect so the justification is but begun and either must proceed further or else as the faith will dy so the justification will come to nothing The like observation might be made concerning imputation and all the words used in this question but these may suffice till I pass to other particulars 4. Not only the word Faith but also charity and godliness and religion signifie sometimes particular graces and sometimes they suppose Universally and mean conjugations and Unions of graces as is evident to them that read the Scriptures with observation Now when justification is attributed to Faith or Salvation to godliness they are to be understood in the aggregate sense for that I may give but one instance of this when S. Paul speaks of faith as it is a particular grace and separate from the rest he also does separate it from all possibility of bringing us to Heaven Though I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have no charity I am nothing When Faith includes charity it will bring us to Heaven when it is alone when it is without charity it will do nothing at all 5. Neither can this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be salved by saying that though Faith alone does justifie yet when she does justifie she is not alone but good works must follow for this is said to no purpose 1. Because if we be justified by faith alone the work is done whether charity does follow or no and therefore that want of charity cannot hurt us 2. There can be no imaginable cause why charity and obedience should be at all necessary if the whole work can be done without it 3. If obedience and charity be not a condition of our Salvation than it is not necessary to follow faith but if it be it does as much as faith for that is but a part of the condition 4. If we can be sav'd without charity and keeping the Commandments what need we trouble our selves for them if we cannot be saved without them then either faith without them does not justifie or if it does we are never the better for we may be damned for all that justification The Consequent of the these observations is briefly this 1. That no man should fool himself by disputing about the Philosophy of Justification and what causality faith hath in it and whether it be the act of faith that justifies or the habit Whether faith as a good work or faith as an instrument Whether Faith as it is Obedience or faith as it is an access to Christ Whether as a hand or as a heart Whether by its own innate vertue or by efficacy of the object Whether as a sign or as a thing signified Whether by introduction or by perfection Whether in the first beginnings or in its last and best productions Whether by inherent worthiness or adventitious imputation Vberiùs ista quaeso c. that I may use the words of Cicero haec enim spinosiora priùs ut confiteor me cogunt quam ut assentiar These things are knotty and too intricate to do any good they may amuse us but never instruct us and they have already made men careless and confident disputative and troublesom proud and uncharitable but neither wiser nor better Let us therefore leave these weak wayes of troubling our selves or others and directly look to the Theology of it the direct duty the end of Faith and the work of Faith the conditions and the instruments of our Salvation the just foundation of our hopes how our faith can destroy our sin and how it can unite us unto God how by it we can be made Partakers of Christs death and imitators of his life For since it is evident by the premises that this article is not to be determined or relyed upon by arguing from words of many significations we must walk by a clearer light by such plain sayings and Dogmatical Propositions of Scripture which evidently teach us our duty and place our hopes upon that which cannot deceive us that is which require Obedience which call upon us to glorifie God and to do good to men and to keep all Gods Commandments with diligence and sincerity For since the end of our faith is that we may be Disciples and Servants of the Lord Jesus advancing his Kingdom here and partaking of it hereafter since we are commanded to believe what Christ taught that it may appear as reasonable as it is necessary to do what he hath commanded since Faith and works are in order one to the other it is impossible that Evangelical Faith and Evangelical works should be opposed one to the other in the effecting of our Salvation So that as it is to no purpose for Christians to dispute whether we are justified by Faith or the works of the law that is the Covenant of works without the help of Faith and the auxiliaries and allowances of mercy on Gods part and repentance on ours because no Christian can pretend to this so it is perfectly foolish to dispute whether Christians are to be justified by Faith or the works of the Gospel for I shall make it appear that they are both the same thing No man disparages faith but he that sayes Faith does not work righteousness for he that sayes so sayes indeed it cannot justifie for he sayes that faith is alone it is faith only and the words of my Text are plain you see saith S. James that is it is evident to your sense it is as clear as an ocular demonstration that a man is justified by works and not by Faith only My Text hath it in these two
insinuating it self into the most dull and unactive Element produces Gold and Pearls Life and motion and brisk activities in all things that can receive the influence and heavenly blessing so it is in the Holy Spirit of God and the word of God and the grace of God which S. John calls the seed of God it is a law of righteousness and it is a law of the Spirit of Life and changes nature into Grace and dulness into zeal and fear into love and sinful habits into innocence and passes on from grace to grace till we arrive at the full measures of the stature of Christ and into the perfect liberty of the sons of God so that we shall no more say The evil that I would not that I do but we shall hate what God hates and the evil that is forbidden we shall not do not because we are strong of our selves but because Christ is our strength and he is in us and Christs strength shall be perfected in our weakness and his grace will be sufficient for us and he will of his own good pleasure work in us not only to will but also to do velle perficere saith the Apostle to will and to do it throughly and fully being sanctified throughout to the glory of his Holy name and the eternal salvation of our Souls through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with the Father c. FIDES FORMATA OR Faith working by Love James II. 24. You see then how that by works a Man is justified and not by Faith only THat we are justified by Faith S. Paul tells us that we are also justified by works we are told in my Text and both may be true But that this justification is wrought by Faith without works to him that worketh not but believeth saith S. Paul that this is not wrought without works S. James is as express for his negative as S. Paul was for his affirmative and how both these should be true is something harder to unriddle But affirmanti incumbit probatio he that affirms must prove and therefore S. Paul proves his Doctrine by the example of Abraham to whom faith was imputed for righteousness and therefore not by works And what can be answered to this Nothing but this that S. James uses the very same argument to prove that our justification is by works also For our Father Abraham was justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac Now which of these sayes true Certainly both of them but neither of them have been well understood insomuch that they have not only made divisions of heart among the faithful but one party relies on faith to the disparagement of good life and the other makes works to be the main ground of our hope and confidence and consequently to exclude the efficacy of faith The one makes Christian Religion a lazy and unactive institution and the other a bold presumption on our selves while the first tempts us to live like Heathens and the other recals us to live the life of Jews while one sayes I am of Paul and another I am of S. James and both of them put it in danger of evacuating the institution and the death of Christ one looking on Christ only as a law-giver and the other only as a Saviour The effects of these are very sad and by all means to be diverted by all the wise considerations of the Spirit My purpose is not with subtile arts to reconcile them that never disagreed the two Apostles spake by the same Spirit and to the same last design though to differing intermedial purposes but because the great end of Faith the design the definition the State the Oeconomy of it is that all believers should not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit before I fall to the close handling of the Text I shall premise some preliminary considerations to prepare the way of holiness to explicate the differing senses of the Apostles to understand the question and the duty by removing the causes of the vulgar mistakes of most men in this Article and then proceed to the main inquiry 1. That no man may abuse himself or others by mistaking of hard words spoken in mystery with allegorical expressions to secret senses wrapt up in a cloud such as are Faith and Justification and Imputation and Righâ—eousness and Works be pleased to consider that the very word Faith is in Scripture infinitely ambiguous in so much that in the Latin Concordances of S. Hieroms Bible published by Robert Stephens you may see no less than twenty two several senses and acceptations of the word Faith set down with the several places of Scripture referring to them To which if out of my own observation I could add no more yet these are an abundant demonstration that whatsoever is said of the efficacy of Faith for Justification is not to be taken in such a sense as will weaken the necessity and our carefulness of good life when the word may in so many other senses be taken to verifie the affirmation of S. Paul of Justification by Faith so as to reconcile it to the necessity of Obedience 2. As it is in the word Faith so it is in works for by works is meant sometimes the thing done sometimes the labour of doing sometimes the good will it is sometimes taken for a state of good life sometimes for the Covenant of works it sometimes means the works of the Law sometimes the works of the Gospel sometimes it is taken for a perfect actual unsinning obedience sometimes for a sincere endeavour to please God sometimes they are meant to be such which can challenge the reward as of Debt sometimes they mean only a disposition of the person to recieve the favour and the grace of God Now since our good works can be but of one kind for ours cannot be meritorious ours cannot be without sin all our life they cannot be such as to need no repentance it is no wonder if we must be justified without works in this sense for by such works no man living can be justified And these S. Paul calls the works of the Law and sometimes he calls them our righteousness and these are the Covenant of works But because we came into the world to serve God and God will be obeyed and Jesus Christ came into the world to save us from sin and to redeem to himself a people zealous of good works and hath to this purpose revealed to us all his Fathers will and destroyed the works of the Devil and gives us his holy Spirit and by him we shall be justified in this obedience therefore when works signifie a sincere hearty endeavour to keep all Gods commands out of a belief in Christ that if we endeavour to do so we shall be helped by his grace and if we really do so we shall be pardoned for what is past and if we continue to do so we shall receive a Crown of Glory therefore
Propositions a negative and an affirmative The negative is this 1. By Faith only a man is not justified The affirmative 2. By works also a man is justified When I have briefly discoursed of these I shall only adde such practical considerations as shall make the Doctrines useful and tangible and material 1. By faith only a man is not justified By faith only here is meant faith without Obedience For what do we think of those that detain the faith in Unrighteousness they have faith they could not else keep it in so ill a Cabinet but yet the Apostle reckons them amongst the Reprobates for the abominable the Reprobates and the disobedient are all one and therefore such persons for all their faith shall have no part with faithful Abraham for none are his Children but they that do the works of Abraham Abraham's faith without Abraham's works is nothing for of him that hath faith and hath not works S. James askes Can Faith save him Meaning that it is impossible For what think we of those that did miracles in Christs name and in his name cast out Devils Have not they Faith Yes omnem fidem all faith that is alone for they could remove Mountains but yet to many of them Christ will say Depart from me ye workers of iniquity I know you not Nay at last what think we of the Devils themselves have not they faith yes and this faith is not fides miraculorum neither but it is an Operative faith it works a little for it makes them tremble and it may be that is more than thy faith does to thee and yet dost thou hope to be saved by a faith that does less to thee than the Devils faith does to him That 's impossible For Faith without works is dead saith S. James It is manus arida saith S. Austin it is a wither'd hand and that which is dead cannot work the lâ—fe of grace in us much less obtain eternal life for us In short a man may have faith and yet do the works of unrighteousness he may have faith and be a Devil and then what can such a faith do to him or for him It can do him no good in the present constitution of affairs S. Paul from whose mistaken words much noise hath been made in this question is clear in this particular Nothing in Christ Jesus can avail but Faith working by Charity that is as he expounds himself once and again nothing but a new creature nothing but keeping the Commandments of God If faith be defin'd to be any thing that does not change our natures and make us to be a new Creation unto God if keeping the Commandments be not in the definition of faith it avails nothing at all Therefore deceive not your selves they are the words of our Blessed Lord himself Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord that is not every one that confesses Christ and believes in him calling Christ Master and Lord shall be sav'd but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven These things are so plain that they need no Commentary so evident that they cannot be denyied and to these I add but this one truth that faith alone without a good life is so far from justifying a sinner that it is one of the greatest aggravations of his condemnation in the whole World For no man can be so greatly damned as he that hath faith for unless he knows his masters will that is by faith be convinced and assents to the revelations of the will of God he can be beaten but with few stripes but he that believes hath no excuse he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemn'd by the sentence of his own heart and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many stripes the greater condemnation shall be his portion Natural reason is a light to the Conscience but faith is a greater and therefore if it be not followed it damns deeper than the Hell of the Infidels and uninstructed And so I have done with the Negative Proposition of my Text a man is not justified by faith alone that is by faith which hath not in it Charity and Obedience 2. If faith alone will not do it what will The affirmative part of the Text answers not faith alone but works must be an ingredient a man is justified by works and that is now to be explicated and prov'd It will be absolutely to no purpose to say that faith alone does justifie if when a man is justified he is never the nearer to be sav'd Now that without Obedience no man can go to Heaven is so evident in holy Scripture that he that denyes it hath no faith There is no peace saith my God unto the wicked and I will not justifie a sinner saith God unless faith purges away our sins it can never justifie Let a man believe all the revelations of God if that belief ends in its sâ—lf and goes no further it is like physick taken to purge the stomach if it do not work it is so far from bringing health that it self is a new sickness Faith is a great purger and purifier of the soul purifying your hearts by Faith faith the Apostle It is the best physick in the World for a sinful soul but if it does not work it corrupts in the stomach it makes us to rely upon weak Propositions and trifling confidences it is but a dreaming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Phantastick dream and introduces Pride or superstition swelling thoughts and presumptions of the Divine favour But what saith the Apostle Follow Peace with all men and holiness without which no man can see God Mark that If faith does not make you charitable and holy talk no more of justification by it for you shall never see the glorious face of God Faith indeed is a title and relation to Christ it is a naming of his names but what then Why than saith the Apostle Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity For let any man consider can the Faith of Christ and the hatred of God stand together Can any man be justified that does not love God Or can any man love God and sin at the same time And does not he love sin that falls under its temptation and obeyes it in the lusts thereof and delights in the vanity and makes excuses for it and returns to it with passion and abides with pleasure This will not do it such a man cannot be justified for all his believing But therefore the Apostle shews us a more excellent way This is a true saying and I will that thou affirm constantly that they who have believed in God be careful to maintain good works The Apostle puts great force on this Doctrine he arms it with a double Preface the saying is true and it is to be constantly affirmed that is it is not only true but necessary it is like Pharaoh's dream doubled because it is bound upon
us by the decree of God and it is unalterably certain that every believer must do good works or his believing will signifie little nay more than so every man must be careful to do good works and more yet he must carefully maintain them that is not do them by fits and interrupted returns but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be incumbent upon them to dwell upon them to maintain good works that is to persevere in them But I am yet but in the general be pleased to go along with me in these particular considerations 1. No mans sins are pardoned but in the same measure in which they are mortified destroyed and taken away so that if faith does not cure our sinful Natures it never can justifie it never can procure our pardon And therefore it is that as soon as ever faith in the Lord Jesus was preached at the same time also they preached repentance from dead works in so much that S. Paul reckons it among the fundamentals and first Principles of Christianity nay the Baptist preached repentance and amendment of life as a preparation to the faith of Christ. And I pray consider can there be any forgivness of sins without repentance But if an Apostle should preach forgiveneâ—s to all that believe and this belief did not also mean that they should repent and forsake their sin the Sermons of the Apostle would make Christianity nothing else but the Sanctuary of Romulus a device to get togethâ—r all the wicked people of the world and to make them happy without any change of manners Christ came to other purposes he came to sanctifie us and to cleanse us by his Word the word of faith was not for it self but was a design of holiness and the very grace of God did appear for this end that teaching us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live holily justly and soberly in this present World he came to gather a People together not like Davids army when Saul pursued him but the armies of the Lord a faithful people a chosen generation and what is that The Spirit of God adds a People zealous of good works Now as Christ prov'd his power to forgive sins by curing the poor mans palsie because a man is never pardoned but when the punishment is removed so the great act of justification of a sinner the pardoning of his sins is then only effected when the spiritual evil is taken away that 's the best indication of a real and an eternal pardon when God takes away the hardness of the heart the love of sin the accursed habit the evil inclination the sin that doth so easily beset us and when that is gone what remains within us that God can hate Nothing stayes behind but Gods creation the work of his own hands the issues of his holy Spirit The faith of a Christian is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it destroyes the whole body of sin and to suppose that Christ pardons a sinner whom he doth not also purge and râ—scue from the dominion of sin is to affirm that he justifies the wicked that he calls good evil and evil good that he delights in a wicked person that he makes a wicked man all one with himself that he makes the members of a harlot at the same time also the members of Christ. But all this is impossible and therefore ought not to be pretended to by any Christian. Severe are those words of our Blessed Saviour Every plant in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away Faith ingrafts us into Christ by faith we are inserted into the vine but the plant that is ingrafted must also be parturient and fruitful or else it shall be quite cut off from the root and thrown into the everlasting burning And this is the full and plain meaning of those words so often used in Scripture for the magnification of faith The just shall live by Faith No man shall live by faith but the just man he indeed is justified by faith but no man else the unjust and the unrighteous man hath no portion in this matter That 's the first great consideration in this affair no man is justified in the least sense of justification that is when it means nothing but the pardon of sins but when his sin is mortified and destroyed 2. No man is actually justified but he that is in some measure sanctified For the understanding and clearing of which Proposition we must know that justification when it is attributed to any cause does not alwayes signifie justification actual Thus when it is said in Scripture We are justified by the death of Christ it is but the same thing as to say Christ dyed for us and he rose again for us too that we might indeed be justified in due time and by just measures and dispositions he dyed for our sins and rosâ— again for our justification that is by his death and Resurrection he hath obtained this power and effected this mercy that if we believe him and obey we shall be justified and made capable of all the blessings of the Kingdom But that this is no more but a capacity of pardon of grace and of salvation appears not only by Gods requiring Obedience as a condition on our parts but by his expresly attributing this mercy to us at such times and in such circumstances in which it is certain and evident that we could not actually be justified For so saith the Scripture We when we were enemies were reconciled to God by the death of his Son and while we were yet sinners Christ died for us that is then was our Justification wrought on Gods part that is then he intended this mercy to us then he resolved to shew us favour to give us Promises and Laws and Conditions and hopes and an infallible Oeconomy of Salvation and when faith layes hold on this Grace and this Justification then we are to do the other part of it that is as God made it potential by the death and resurrection of Christ so we laying hold on these things by Faith and working the Righteousness of Faith that is performing what is required on our parts we I say make it actual and for this very reason it is that the Apostle puts more Emphasis upon the Resurrection of Christ than upon his Death Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again And Christ was both delivered for our sins and is risen again for our justification implying to us that as it is in the principal so it is in the correspondent our sins indeed are potentially pardoned when they are mark'd out for death and crucifixion when by resolving and fighting against sin we dy to sin daily and are so made conformable to his death but we must partake of Christs Resurrection before this Justification can be actual when we are dead to sin and are risen again unto righteousness then as we are partakers of
pay him a better obedience when he forgives us what is past he intends we should sin no more when he offers us his graces he would have us to make use of them when he causes us to distrust our selves his meaning is we should rely upon him when he enables us to do what he commands us he commands us to do all that we can And therefore this Covenant of Faith and mercy is also a Covenant of holiness and the grace that pardons us does also purifie us for so saith the Apostle He that hath this hope purifies himself even as God is pure And when we are so then we are justified indeed this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the law of Faith and by works in this sense that is by the works of Faith by Faith working by love and producing fruits worthy of amendment of life we are justified before God And so I have done with the affirmative Proposition of my Text you see that a man is justified by works But there is more in it then this matter yet amounts to For S. James does not say we are justified by works and are not justified by Faith that had been irreconcileable with S. Paul but we are so justified by works that it is not by Faith alone it is Faith and works together that is it is by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the obedience of Faith by the works of Faith by the law of Faith by righteousness Evangelical by the conditions of the Gospel and the measures of Christ. I have many things to say in this particular but because I have but a little time left to say them in I will sum it all up in this Proposition That in the question of justification and salvation Faith and good works are no part of a distinction but members of one intire body Faith and good works together work the righteousness of God That is that I may speak plainly justifying faith contains in it obedience and if this be made good then the two Apostles are reconciled to each other and both of them to the necessity the indispensable necessity of a good life Now that justifying and saving Faith must be defined by something more than an act of understanding appears not only in this that S. Peter reckons Faith as distinctly from knowledge as he does from patience or strength or brotherly kindness saying Add to your faith vertue to vertue knowledge but in this also because an error in life and whatsoever is against holiness is against faith And therefore S. Paul reckons the lawless and the disobedient murders of Parents man-stealing and such things to be against sound doctrines for the doctrine of Faith is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the doctrine that is according to godliness And when S. Paul prayes against ungodly men he adds this reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for all men have not Faith meaning that wicked men are Infidels and Unbelievers and particularly he affirms of him that does not provide for his own that he hath denyed the Faith Now from hence it follows that faith is godliness because all wickedness is infidelity it is an Apostacy from the Faith Ille erit Ille nocens qui me tibi fecerat hostem he that sins against God he is the enemy to the Faith of Jesus Christ and therefore we deceive our selves if we place faith in the understanding only it is not that and it does not dwell there but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle the Mystery of Faith is kept no where it dwells no where but in a pure conscience For I consider that since all moral habits are best defined by their operations we can best understand what faith is by seeing what it does To this purpose hear S. Paul By faith Abel offered up to God a more excellent Sacrifice than Cain By faith Noah made an Ark. By faith Abraham left his Country and offered up his Son By faith Moses chose to suffer affliction and accounted the reproach of Christ greater than all the riches of Aegypt In short the children of God by faith subdued Kingdoms and wrought righteousness To work righteousness is as much the duty and work of faith as believing is So that now we may quickly make an end of this great inquiry whether a man is justified by Faith or by works for he is so by both if you take it alone faith does not justifie but take it in the aggregate sense as it is used in the question of Justification by S. Paul and then faith does not only justifie but it sanctifies too and then you need to inquire no further obedience is a part of the definition of faith as much as it is of Charity This is love saith S. John that we keep his Commandments And the very same is affirmed of Faith too by Bensirach He that believeth the Lord will keep his Commandments I have now don with all the Proposiâ—ions expressed and implyed in the Text give me leave to make some practical Considerations and so I shall dismiss you from this Attention The rise I take from the words of S. Epiphanius speaking in praise of the Apostolical and purest Ages of the Church There was at first no distinction of Sects and Opinions in the Church she knew no difference of men but good and bad there was no separation made but what was made by piety or impiety or sayes he which is all one by fidelity and infidelity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For Faith hath in it the Image of godliness engraven and infidelity hath the character of wickedness and prevarication A man was not then esteemed a Saint for disobeying his Bishop or an Apostle nor for misunderstanding the hard sayings of S. Paul about predestination to kick against the laudable customs of the Church was not then accounted a note of the godly party and to despise Government was but an ill mark and weak indication of being a good Christian. The Kingdom of God did not then consist in words but in power the power of godliness though now we are fallen into another method we have turned all Religion into Faith and our Faith is nothing but the productions of interest or disputing it is adhering to a party and a wrangling against all the world beside and when it is asked of what Religion he is of we understand the meaning to be what faction does he follow what are the articles of his Sect not what is the manner of his life and if men be zealous for their party and that interest then they are precious men though otherwise they be Covetous as the grave factious as Dathan Schismatical as Corah or proud as the falling Angels Alas these things will but deceive us the faith of a Christian cannnot consist in strifes about words and perverse disputings of men These things the Apostle calls prophane and vain Bablings and mark what he sayes of them these things will encrease 〈◊〉
and the fundamentals of our faith that it was a material consideration of our Blessed Saviour When the Son of man comes shall he find faith upon the earth Meaning it should be very hard and scant every man shall boast of his own goodness sed virum fidelem saith Solomon but a faithful man who can find Some men are very good when they are afflicted Hanc sibi virtutem fractâ facit urceus ansâ Et tristis nullo qui tepet igne focus Et teges cimex nudi sponda grabati Fit brevis atque eadem nocte dieque toga When the gown of the day is the mantle of the night and cannot at the same time cover the head and make the feet warm when they have but one broken dish and no spoon then they are humble and modest then they can suffer an injury and bear contempt but give them riches and they grow insolent fear and pusillanimity did their first work and an opportunity to sin undoes it all Bonum militem perdidisti Imperatorem pessimum creâsti said Galba you have spoiled a good Trooper when you made me a bad Commander Others can never serve God but when they are prosperous if they lose their fortune they lose their Faith and quit their Charity Non rata fides ubi jam melior fortuna ruit If they become poor they become liars and deceivers of their trust envious and greedy restless and uncharitable that is one way or other they shew that they love the world and by all the faith they pretend to cannot overcome it Cast up therefore your reckonings impartially See what is what will be required at your hands Do not think you can be justified by faith unless your faith be greater then all your passions you have not the learning not so much as the common notices of faith unless you can tell when you are covetous and reprove your self when you are proud but he that is so and knows it not and that is the case of most men hath no faith and neither knows God nor knows himself To conclude He that hath true justifying faith believes the power of God to be above the powers of nature the goodness of God above the merit and disposition of our persons the bounty of God above the excellency of our works the truth of God above the contradiction of our weak arguings and fears the love of God above our cold experience and ineffectual reason and the necessities of doing good works above the faint excuses and ignorant pretences of disputing sinners But want of faith makes us so generally wicked as we are so often running to despair so often baffled in our resolutions of a good life But he whose faith makes him more than Conqueror over these difficulties to him Isaac shall be born even in his old age the life of God shall be perfectly wrought in him and by this faith so operative so strong so lasting so obedient he shall be justified and he shall be saved THE END A SERMON Preached at the Consecration of Two Archbishops and Ten Bishops in the Cathedral Church of S. Patrick in DVBLIN January 27.1660 By Jeremie Taylor D. D. LORD Bishop of Down and Connor Sal liquefit ut condiat LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to the Kings most Excellent Majesty 1663. To the CHRISTIAN READER MY Obedience to the Commands of the Right Honourable the Lords Justices and the most Reverend and Learned Primate and to the desires of my Reverend Brethren put it past my inquiry whether I ought to publish this following Sermon I will not therefore excuse it and say it might have advantages in the Delivery which it would want in the Reading and the ear would be kind to the Piety of it which was apparent in the design when the eye would be severe in its censure of those arguments which as they could not be longer in that measure of time so would have appeared more firm if they could have had liberty to have been pursued to their utmost issue But reason lies in a little room and Obedience in less And although what I have here said may not stop the mouths of Men resolved to keep up a faction yet I have said enough to the sober and pious to them who love Order and hearken to the voice of the Spouse of Christ to the Loving and to the Obedient And for those that are not so I have no argument fit to be used but Prayer and readiness to give them a reason when they shall modestly demand it In the mean time I shall only desire them to make use of those trutâ—s which the more Learned of their party have by the evidence of fact been forced to confess Rivet affirms that it descended ex veteris aevi reliquiis that Presbyters should be assistants or conjoyned to the Bishops who is by this confessed to be the principal in the imposition of hands for Ordination Walo Messalinus acknowledges it to be rem antiquissimam a most ancient thing that these two Orders viz. of Bishops and Presbyters should be distinct even in the middle or in the beginning of the next age after Christ. Dd. Blondel places it to be 35. years after the death of S. John Now then Episcopacy is confessed to be of about 1600. years continuance and if before this they can shew any Ordination by mere Presbyters by any but an Apostle or an Apostolical man and if there were not visibly a distinction of powers and persons relatively in the Ecclesiastical Government or if they can give a rational account why they who are forced to confess the Honour and distinct Order of Episcopacy for about 16. ages should in the dark interval of 35. years in which they can pretend to no Monument or Record to the contrary yet make unlearned scruples of things they cannot colourably prove if I say they can reasonably account for these things I for my part will be ready to confess that they are not guilâ—y of the greatest the most unreasonable and inexcusable schism in the World But else they have no colour to palliat the unlearned crime For will not all wise men in the world conclude that the Church of God which was then Holy not in title only and design but practically and materially and persâ—cuted and not immerged in secular temptations could not all in one instant joyn together to alter that form of Church Government which Christ and his Apostles had so recently established and without a Divine warrant destroy a Divine institution not only to the confusion of the Hierarchy but to the ruine of their own Souls It were strange that so great a change should be and no good man oppose it In toto orbe decretum est so S. Hierom. All the world consented in the advancement of the Episcopal Order And therefore if we had no more to say for it yet in prudence and piety we cannot say they would innovate in so great a matter But
DIEV ET MON DROIT HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE ἙΒΔΟΜᾺΣ ἘΜΒΟΛΙΜΙΟΣ A Supplement TO THE ΕÎΙΑΥΤΟΣ Or Course of Sermons for the whole year BEING SEVEN SERMONS Explaining the Nature of Faith and Obedience in relation to God and the Ecclesiastical and Secular Powers respectively All that have been Preached and Published since the Restauration By the Right Reverend Father in God JEREMY Lord Bishop of Down and Connor To which is adjoyned His Advice to the Clergy of his Diocese LONDON Printed for Richard Royston Bookseller to the Kings most Sacred Majesty 1663. THE Righteousness Evangelical DESCRIB'D THE CHRISTIANS CONQUEST Over the Body of Sin FIDES FORMATA OR FAITH working by LOVE IN THREE SERMONS PREACHED AT CHRIST CHURCH DVBLIN By the Right Reverend Father in God JEREMIAH Lord Bishop of Down and Connor The second Edition London Printed for R. Royston Book-seller to the Kings most Excellent Majesty 1663. Imprimatur M. Franck. S. T. P. R. in Christ. Pat. ac D. D. Archiep. Cant. à Sac. Dom. Sept. 21. 1663. TO THE Most Noble and Vertuous Princess The Lady Dutchess OF ORMONDE HER GRACE Madam I Present your Grace here with a Testimony of my Obedience and of your own Zeal for the good of Souls You were in your great Charity not only pleased to pardon the weakness of this discourse but to hope it might serve as a memorial to thâ—se that need it of the great necessity of living vertuously and by the measures of Christianity Madam you are too Gâ—eat and too good to have any ambition for the things of this World but I cannot but observe that in your designs for the other World you by your Charity and Zeal adopt your self into the portion of those Ecclesiasticks who humbly hope and truly labour for the reward that is promised to those wise persons who convert souls If our prayers and your desires that every one should be profited in their eternal concerns cast in a Symbol towards this great work and will give you a title to that great reward But Madam when I received your commands for dispersing some Copies of this Sermon I perceived it was too little to be presented to your Eminence and if it were accompanied with something else of the like nature it might with more profit advance that end which your Grace so piously designed and therefore I have taken this opportunity to satisfie the desire of some very Honourable and very Reverend Personages who required that the two following Sermons should also be made fit for the use of those who hop'd to receive profit by them I humbly lay them all at your Graces Feet begging of God that even as many may receive advantages by the perusing of them as either your Grace will desire or He that preached them did intend And if your Grace will accept of this first Testimony of my concurrence with all the World that know you in paying those great regards which your piety so highly merits I will endeavour hereafter in some greater instance to pursue the intentions of Your zeal of souls and by such a service endeavour to do more benefit to others and by it as by that which is most acceptable to your Grace endear the Obedience and Services of Madam Your Graces most humble and Obedient Servant J. D. The Titles and Texts of the several Sermons SERM. I. The Righteousness Evangelical Matth. 5.20 For I say unto you that except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven SERM. II. The Christians Conquest over the Body of Sin Rom. 7.19 For the good that I would I doe not but the evil which I would not that I doe SERM. III. Faith working by Love James 2.4 You see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith alone SERM. IV. Preached at an Episcopal Consecration Luke 12.42 And the Lord said Who then is that faithful and wise steward whom his Lord shall make ruler over his houshold to give them their portion of meat in due season 43. Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing SERM. V. Preached at the Opening the Parliament of Ireland 1 Sam. 15.22 Behold to obey is better then sacrifice and to hearken then the fat of rams 23. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry SERM. VI. Via Intelligentiae John 7.17 If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self SERM. VII Preached at the Funeral of the L. Primate of Ireland 1 Cor. 15.23 But every man in his own order Christ the first fruits and after they that are Christ's at his coming Rules and Advices to the Clergy of the Diocese of Down and Connor THE Righteousness Evangelical DESCRIB'D MATTH V. 20. For I say unto you that except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven REwards and Punishments are the best Sanction of Laws and although the Guardians of Laws strike sometimes with the softest part of the hand in their Executions of sad Sentences yet in the Sanction they make no abatements but so proportion the Duty to the Reward and the Punishment to the Crime that by these we can best tell what Value the Law-giver puts upon the Obedience Joshuah put a great rate upon the taking of Kiriath-Sepher when the Reward of the Service was his Daughter and a Dower But when the Young men ventured to fetch David the waters of Bethlehem they had nothing but the praise of their Boldness because their Service was no more than the satisfaction of a Curiosity But as Law-givers by their Rewards declare the value of the Obedience so do Subjects also by the grandeur of what they expect set a value on the Law and the Law-giver and do their Services accordingly And therefore the Law of Moses whose endearment was nothing but temporal goods and transient evils could never make the comers thereunto perfect but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Superinduction of a better Hope hath endeared a more perfect Obedience When Christ brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel and hath promised to us things greater than all our explicit Desires bigger than the thoughts of our heart then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle then we draw near to God and by these we are enabled to do all that God requires and then he requires all that we can do more Love and more Obediâ—nce than he did of those who for want of these Helps and these Revelations and these Promises which we have but they had not were but imperfect persons and could do but little more than humane Services Christ hath taught us more and given us more and promis'd to us more than ever was in the world known or believ'd before
his Death so we shall be partakers of his Resurrection saith S. Paul that is then we are truly effectually and indeed justified Till than we are not He that loveth Gold shall not be justified saith the wise Bensirach he that is covetous let his faith be what it will shall not be accounted righteous before God because he is not so in himself and he is not so in Christ for he is not in Christ at all he hath no righteousness in himself and he haâ—h none in Christ for if we be in Christ or if Christ be in us the body is dead by reason of sin and the Spirit is life because of righteousness For this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that faithful thing that is the faithfulness is manifested the Emun fâ—om whence comes Emunah which is the Hebrew word for Faith from whence Amen is deriv'd Fiat quod dictum est hinc inde hoc fidum est when God and we both say Amen to our promises and undertakings Fac fidelis sis fideli cave fidem fluxam geras said he in the Comedy God is faithful be thou so too for if thou failest him thy faith hath failed thee Fides sumitur pro eo quod est inter utrunque placitum sayes one and then it is true which the Prophet and the Apostle said the Just shall live by faith in both senses ex fide mea vivet ex fide sua we live by Gods Faith and by our own by his Fidelity and by ours When the righteousness of God becomes your righteousness and exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees when the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us by walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit then we are justified by Gods truth and by ours by his Grace and our Obedience So that now we see that Justification and Sanctification cannot be distinguished but as words of Art signifying the various steps of progression in the same course they may be distinguished in notion and speculation but never when they are to pass on to material events for no man is justified but he that is also sanctified They are the express words of S. Paul Whom he did foreknow them he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son to be like to Christ and then it follows Whom he hath predestinated so predestinated them he hath also called and whom he hath called them he hath also justified and then it follows Whom he hath justified them he hath also glorified So that no man is justified that is so as to signifie Salvation but Sanctification must be precedent to it and that was my second consideration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which I was to prove 3. I pray consider that he that does not believe the promises of the Gospel cannot pretend to Faith in Christ but the promises are all made to us upon the conditions of Obedience And he that does not believe them as Christ made them believes them not at all In well doing commit your selves to God as unto a faithful Creator there is no committing our selves to God without well-doing For God will render to every man according to his deeds to them that obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath but to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality to them eternal life So that if faith apprehends any other promises it is illusion and not faith God gave us none such Christ purchased none such for us search the Bible over and you shall find none such But if faith layes hold on these promises that are and as they are then it becomes an Article of our faith that without obedience and a sincere endeavour to keep Gods Commandments no man living can be justified And therefore let us take heed when we magnifie the free Grace of God we do not exclude the conditions which this free Grace hath set upon us Christ freely died for us God pardons us freely in our first access to him we could never deserve pardon because when we need pardon we are enemies and have no good thing in us and he freely gives us of his Spirit and freely he enables us to obey him and for our little imperfect services he freely and bountifully will give us eternal life here is free Grace all the way and he overvalues his pitiful services who thinks that he deserves Heaven by them and that if he does his duty tolerably eternal life is not a free gift to him but a deserved reward Conscius est animus meus experientia testis Mystica quae retuli dogmata vera scio Non tamen idcirco scio me fore glorificandum Spes mea crux Christi gratia non opera It was the meditation of the wise Chancellor of Paris I know that without a good life and the fruits of repentance a sinner cannot be justified and therefore I must live well or I must dy for ever But if I do live holily I do not think that I deserve Heaven it is the cross of Christ that procures me grace it is the Spirit of Christ that gives me grace it is the mercy and the free gift of Christ that brings me unto Glory But yet he that shall exclude the works of faith from the Justification of a sinner by the blood of Christ may as well exclude faith it self for faith it self is one of the works of God it is a good work so said Christ to them that asked him What shall we do to work the works of God Jesus said This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent Faith is not only the Foundation of good works but it self is a good work it is not only the cause of obedience but a part of it it is not only as the Son of Sirach calls it initium adhaerendi Deo a beginning of cleaving unto God but it carries us on to the perfection of it Christ is the Author and finisher of our Faith and when Faith is finished a good life is made perfect in our kind Let no man therefore expect events for which he hath no promise nor call for Gods fidelity without his own faithfulness nor snatch at a promiâ—e without performing the condition nor think faith to be a hand to apprehend Christ and to do nothing else for that will but deceive us and turn Religion into words and holiness into hypocrisy and the promises of God into a snare and the truth of God into a ly For when God made a Covenant of faith he made also the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the law of Faith and when he admitted us to a Covenant of more mercy than was in the Covenant of works or of the law he did not admit us to a Covenant of idleness and incurious walking in a State of disobedience but the mercy of God leadeth us to repentance and when he gives us better promises he intends we should
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are in themselves ungodliness and will produce more they will encrease unto more ungodliness But the faith of a Christian had other measures that was faith then which made men faithful to their vows in Baptism The faith of a Christian was the best security in contracts and a Christians word was as good as his bond because he was faithful that promised and a Christian would rather dy then break his word and was alwayes true to his trust he was faithful to his Friend and loved as Jonathan did David This was the Christian Faith then their religion was to hurt no man and to do good to every man and so it ought to be True Religion is to visit the Fatherless and Widow and to keep our selves unspotted of the World That 's a good religion that 's pure and undefiled so S. James and S. Chrysostom defines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 true religion to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pure faith and a godly life for they make up the whole mystery of godâ—iness and no man could then pretend to Faith but he that did do valiantly and suffer patiently and resist the Devil and overcome the world These things are as prâ—perly the actions of Faith as alms is of Charity and therefore they must enter into the moral definition of it And this was truly understood by Salvian that wiâ—e and godly Priest of Massilia what is Faith and what is believing saith he hominem fideliter Christo credere est fidelâ—m Deo esse h. e. fideliter Dei mandata servare That man does faithfully believe in Christ who is faithful unto God who faithfully keeps Gods commandments and therefore let us measure our Faith here by our faithfulness to God and by our diligence to do our Masters Commandments For Christianorum omnis religio sine scelere mâ—culâ vivere said Lactantius The whole religion of a Christian is to live unblameably that is in all holiness and purity of conversation 2. When our faith is spoken of as the great instrument of justification and salvation take Abraham's faith as your best pattern and that wâ—ll end the dispute because that he was justified by Faith when his faith was mighty in effect when he trusted in God when he believed the promises when he expected a resurrection of the dead when he was strong in Faith when he gave glory to God when against hope he believed in hope and when all this past into an act of a most glorious obedience even denying his greatest desires contradicting his most passionate affections offering to God the best thing he had and exposing to death his beloved Isaac his laughters all his joy at the command of God By this faith he was justified saith S. Paul by these works he was justified saith S. James that is by this faith working this obedience And then all the difficulty is over only remember this your faith is weak and will do but little for you if it be not stronger then all your secular desires and all your peevish angers Thus we find in the holy Gospels this conjunction declared necessary Whatsoever things ye desire when ye pray believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them Here is as glorious an event promised to Faith as can be expressed Faith shall obtain any thing of God True but it is not Faith alone but faith in prayer faith praying not faith simply believing So S. James the prayer of Faith shall save the sick but adds it must be the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man so that faith shall prevail but there must be prayer in faith and servour in prayer and devotion in fervour and righteousness in devotion and then impute the effect to faith if you please provided that it be declared that effect cannot be wrought by Faith unless it be so qualified But Christ adds one thing more When ye stand praying forgive but if ye will not forgive neither will your Father forgive you So that it will be to no purpose to say a man is justified by faith unless you mingle charity with it for without the charity of forgiveness there can be no pardon and then justification is but a word when it effects nothing 3. Let every one take heed that by an importune adhering to and relying upon a mistaken Faith he do not really make a shipwrack of a right Faith Hymenaeus Alexander lost their faith by putting away a good conscience and what matter is it of what religion or faith a man be of if he be a Villain and a cheat a man of no truth and of no trust a lover of the World and not a lover of God But I pray consider can any man have faith that denyes God That 's not possible and cannot a man as well deny God by an evil action as by an heritical Proposition Cannot a man deny God by works as much as by words Hear what the Apostle sayes They profess that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate Disobedience is a denying God Nolumus hunc regnare is as plain a renouncing of Christ as nolumus huic credere It is to no purpose to say we believe in Christ and have faith unless Christ reign in our hearts by faith 4. From these premises we may see but too evidently that though a great part of mankind pretend to be saved by Faith yet they know not what it is or else wilfully mistake it and place their hopes upon sand or the more unstable water Believing is the least thing in a justifying faith For faith is a conjugation of many Ingredients and faith is a Covenant and faith is a law and faith is obedience and faith is a work and indeed it is a sincere cleaving to and closing with the terms of the Gospel in every instance in every particular Alas the niceties of a spruce understanding and the curious nothings of useless speculation and all the opinions of men that make the divisions of heart and do nothing else cannot bring us one drop of comfort in the day of tribulation and therefore are no parts of the strength of faith Nay when a man begins truly to fear God and is in the Agonies of mortification all these new-nothings and curiosities will neglected by as baubles do by children when they are deadly sick But that only is faith that makes us to love God to do his will to suffer his impositions to trust his promises to see through a cloud to overcome the World to resist the Devil to stand in the day of tryal and to be comforted in all our sorrows This is that precious faith so mainly necessary to be insisted on that by it we may be Sons of the free woman liberi à vitiis ac ritibus that the true Isaac may be in us which is Christ according to the Spirit the wisdom and power of