you not." Nay, at last, what think we of the devils | evident in Holy Scripture, that he that denies it, themselves? Have not they faith? Yes; and this hath no faith. "There is no peace, saith my God, faith is not "fides miraculorum" neither; but it is unto the wicked;" and "I will not justify a sinner,"i an operative faith, it works a little; for it makes saith God; unless faith purges away our sins, it them tremble; and it may be, that is more than thy can never justify. Let a man believe all the revelafaith does to thee: and yet dost thou hope to be tions of God; if that belief ends in itself, and goes saved by a faith that does less to thee than the no further, it is like physic taken to purge the devil's faith does to him? That is impossible. For stomach; if it do not work, it is so far from bringing "faith without works is dead," saith St. James. It health, that itself is a new sickness. Faith is a is "manus arida," saith St. Austin; "it is a withered great purger and purifier of the soul; "purifying hand;"—and that which is dead cannot work the your hearts by faith," saith the apostle. It is the life of grace in us, much less obtain eternal life for best physic in the world for a sinful soul; but if it us. In short, a man may have faith, and yet do the does not work, it corrupts in the stomach, it makes works of unrighteousness; he may have faith and us to rely upon weak propositions and trifling conbe a devil; and then what can such a faith do to him fidences, it is but a dreaming μetà ñoλλñs pavraoias, or for him? It can do him no good in the present "a phantastic dream," and introduces pride or superconstitution of affairs. St. Paul, from whose mis- stition, swelling thoughts and presumptions of the taken words much noise hath been made in this ques- Divine favour: but what saith the apostle? "Follow tion, is clear in this particular: "Nothing in Christ peace with all men, and holiness, without which no Jesus can avail, but faith working by charity; "f man can see God:"k mark that. If faith does not that is, as he expounds himself once and again, make you charitable and holy, talk no more of "nothing but a new creature, nothing but keeping justification by it, for you shall never see the glorious the commandments of God." If faith be defined face of God. Faith indeed is a title and relation to to be any thing that does not change our natures, Christ; it is a naming of his names; but what and make us to be a new creation unto God; if then? Why then, saith the apostle, "Let every keeping the commandments be not in the definition one that nameth the name of Christ depart from of faith, it avails nothing at all. Therefore deceive iniquity." not yourselves; 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 saved; “but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven." things are so plain, that they need no commentary; so evident, that they cannot be denied: 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 Master's 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 avroκατάκριτος, “ condemned by the sentence of his own heart," and therefore wоλλaì #λŋyaì, "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. These 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 proved. It will be absolutely to no purpose to say that faith alone does justify, if, when a man is justified, he is never the nearer to be saved. Now that without obedience no man can go to heaven, is so f Gal. v. 6. g Gal. vi. 15. 1 Cor. vii. 19. h Isaiah lvii. 21. 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 obeys 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 shows 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 signify 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 apoioraolai, 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 man's 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 justify, it never can procure our pardon. And therefore it is, that as soon as ever faith in the Lord Jesus was preached, i Exod. xxv. 7. k Heb. xii. 14. Titus iii. 8. 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 always signify 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 died 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 died for our sins, and rose again for our justification;" that is, by his death and resurrection he hath obtained this power, and effected this mercy, that if we believe him and obey, we shall be justified and made capable of all the blessings of the kingdom. But that this is no more but a capacity of pardon, of grace, and of salvation, appears not only by God's requiring obedience as a condition on our parts, but by his expressly 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 God's part; that is, then he intended this mercy to us, then he resolved to show us favour, to give us promises, and laws, and conditions, and hopes, and an infallible economy of salvation; and when faith lays 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? is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again.” r And "Christ was both delivered for our sins, and is risen again for our justification;"s implying to us, that as it is in the principal, so it is in the correspondent; our sins indeed are potentially pardoned, when they are marked out for death and crucifixion; when, by resolving and fighting against sin, we die to sin daily, and are so made conformable to his at the same time also they preached repentance from dead works insomuch that St. Paul reckons it among the fundamentals and first principles of christianity;m nay, the Baptist preached repentance and amendment of life as a preparation to the faith of Christ. And I pray consider; can there be any forgiveness of sins without repentance ? But if an apostle should preach forgiveness to all that believe, and this belief did not also mean that they should repent and forsake their sin,-the sermons of the apostle would make christianity nothing else but the sanctuary of Romulus, a device to get together all the wicked people of the world, and to make them happy without any change of manners. Christ came to other purposes; he came "to sanctify us and to cleanse us by his word:"n the word of faith was not for itself, 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 David's army, when Saul pursued him, but the armies of the Lord, " a faithful people, a chosen generation ;" and what is that? The Spirit of God adds, "a people zealous of good works." Now as Christ proved his power to forgive sins, by curing the poor man's palsy, 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 is 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 stays behind, but God's creation, the work of his own hands, the issues of his Holy Spirit. The faith of a christian is ráonc àμaprádos àvaupeTun," it destroys the whole body of sin;" and to suppose that Christ pardons a sinner, whom he doth not also purge and rescue from the dominion of sin, is to affirm that he justifies the wicked; that he calls good evil, and evil good; that he delights in a wicked person; that he makes a wicked man all one with himself; that he makes the members of 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 :"p faith ingrafts us into Christ; by faith we are in-death; but we must partake of Christ's resurrection serted 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. | It before this justification can be actual; when we are "dead to sin, and are risen again unto righteousness," then, as we are "partakers of his death," so we shall be partakers of his resurrection," saith St. Paul; that is, then we are truly, effectually, and indeed justified; till then we are not. t "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 righteThat is the first great ous before God, because he is not so in himself, and Rom. viii. 28. n 1 John iii. 8. P John xv. 2. 4 Rom. v. 8, 10. s Rom. iv. 25. t Ecclus. xxxi. and, therefore, let us take heed, when we magnify Conscius est animus meus, experientia testis, he is not so in Christ, for he is not in Christ at all; | obedience and a sincere endeavour to keep God's he hath no righteousness in himself, and he hath commandments, no man living can be justified; 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:" u for this is the rÒ TOTÒv," that faithful thing," that is, the faithfulness is manifested; the “emun," from whence comes "emunah," which is the Hebrew word for "faith," from whence "amen" is derived. "Fiat quod dictum est hinc inde; hoc fidum est;" when God and we both say amen to our promises and undertakings. "Fac fidelis sis fideli; cave fidem fluxam geras," said he in the comedy; God is faithful, be thou so too ; for if thou failest him, thy faith hath failed thee. "Fides sumitur pro eo, quod est inter utrumque placitum," says one; and then it is true which the prophet and the apostle said, "the just shall live by faith," in both senses: “ex fide med vivet, ex fide suâ:" "we live by God's 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 God's 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 St. 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." y So that no man is justified, that is, so as to signify salvation, but sanctification must be precedent to it; and that was my second consideration Öлερ ïdει dεīžaι, "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 yourselves to God as unto a faithful Creator;" there is no committing ourselves 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.” z 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 lays hold on these promises that are, and as they are, then it becomes an article of our faith, that without * Plaut. Captiv. u Rom. viii. 10. 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 die 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 itself; for faith itself 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." a Faith is not only the foundation of good works, but itself 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 adhærendi 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 God's fidelity without his own faithfulness; nor snatch at a promise without performing the condition; nor think faith to be a hand to apprehend Christ, and to do nothing else; for that will but deceive us, and turn religion into words, and holiness into hypocrisy, and the promises of God into a snare, and the truth of God into a lie. For when God made a covenant of faith, he made also the vóμos Tiσrews, "the law of faith;" and when he admitted us to a covenant of more mercy than was in the covenant of works, or of the law, he did not admit us to a covenant of idleness, and an incurious walking in a state of disobedience; but the mercy of God leadeth us to repentance, and when he gives us better promises, he intends we should pay him a better obedience; when he forgives us what is past, he intends we should sin no * Rom. ii. 6, 7, 8. a John vi. 28, 29. y Rom. viii. 29. more; when he offers us his graces, he would have us to make use of them; when he causes us to distrust ourselves, 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 purify 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 vóμos πioτεws, "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." 66 66 But there is more in it than this matter yet amounts to: for St. James does not say, we are justified by works, and are not justified by faith;" that had been irreconcilable with St. 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 ὑπακοὴ πίστεως, by the obedience of faith," by the works of faith, by the law of faith, by righteousness evangelical, by the conditions of the gospel, and the measures of Christ. I have many things to say in this particular; but because I have but a little time left to say them in, I will sum it all up in this proposition, that in the question of justification and salvation, faith and good works are no part of a distinction, but members of one entire body. Faith and good works together work the righteousness of God: that is, that I may speak plainly, justifying faith contains in it obedience; and if this be made good, then the two apostles are reconciled to each other, and both of them to the necessity, the 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 St. Peter reckons faith as distinctly from knowledge as he does from patience, or strength, or brotherly kindness: say | ing, "Add to your faith, virtue; to virtue, knowledge; " but in this also, because an error in life, and whatsoever is against holiness, is against faith: and, therefore, St. Paul reckons the lawless and the disobedient, murderers of parents, man-stealing, and such things, to be against sound doctrines; for the doctrine of faith is called kar' evσébɛiav didaoKaλía, “the doctrine that is according to godliness." And when St. Paul prays against ungodly men, he adds this reason, où yàp návτwv πioris," 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 denied the faith." d Now from hence it follows that faith is godliness, because all wickedness is infidelity, it is an apostasy 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 ourselves, if we place faith in the understanding only; it is not that, and it does not well there, but Ev кalapā σvvedno, 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 mortal habits are best defined by their operation, we can best understand what faith is by seeing what it does. To this purpose hear St. 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 Egypt." e 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 justify: but take it in the aggregate sense, as it is used in the question of justification by St. Paul, and then faith does not only justify, 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 St. John, "that we keep his commandments." And the very same is affirmed of faith too by Bensirach," He that believeth the Lord, will keep his commandments." I have now done with all the propositions expressed and implied 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 St. Epiphanius, speaking in the 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, says he, which is all one, by fidelity and infidelity; riores pèν ÉTÉxovσα TOυ Χριστιανισμοῦ εἰκόνα· ἀπιστία δὲ ἐπέχουσα τόν ἀσεβείας χαρακτῆρα καὶ παρανομίας "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 St. 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 f Ecclus. xxxii. 24. g Panar. lib. i. edit. Basil. P. 8. 1. 46. : Alas! 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 fallen angels. these things will but deceive us; the faith of a christian cannot consist in strifes about words, and perverse disputings of men. These things the apostle calls" profane and vain babblings;" and, mark what he says of them, these things will increase ἐπὶ πλεῖον ἀσεβείας They are, in themselves, ungodliness, and will produce more,- -" they will increase 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 christian's word was as good as his bond, because he was faithful that promised, and a christian would rather die than break his word, and was always 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 ourselves unspotted of the world." That is a good religion that is "pure and undefiled." So St. James: and St. Chrysostom defines evσέßɛar, “true religion,” to be πίστιν καθαρὰν καὶ ὀρθὸν βιον, " a pure faith and a godly life;" for they make up the whole mystery of godliness; 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 properly 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 wise and godly priest of Massilia: what is faith, and what is believing, saith he; "hominem fideliter Christo credere est fidelem Deo esse, h. e. fideliter Dei mandata servare:" "That man does faithfully believe in Christ, who is faithful unto God,-who faithfully keeps God's commandments ;" and, therefore, let us measure our faith here, by our faithfulness to God, and by our diligence to do our Master's commandments; for "Christianorum omnis religio sine scelere et maculâ vivere," said Lactantius; "The whole religion of a christian is to live unblamably," that is, in all holiness and purity of conversation. i 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 will 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 passed 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 h 2 Tim. ii. 16. i Instit. lib. v. c. 9. command of God. By this faith he was justified, saith St. Paul; "by these works he was justified," saith St. 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 than 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 St. 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 fervour 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 shipwreck of a right faith. Hymenæus and Alexander lost their faith by putting away a good conscience; and what matter is it of what religion or faith a man be, 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 denies God? That is not possible: and cannot a man as well deny God by an evil action, as by an heretical proposition ? Cannot a man deny God by works, as much as by words? Hear what the apostle says: "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 1 Tit. i. 16. k Mark xii. 24. |