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 in it these two 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 they 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 withered hand and that which is dead cannot work the life 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 works 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 denyed 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 saved 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 self 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 saith the Apostle It is the best physick in the World for a sinful soul but if it does not work it corrupts in the stomack 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 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 then 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
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 cannot 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 dye 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 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 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 Gods commandments and therefore let us measure our faith here by our faithfulness to God and by our diligence to do our Masters Comandments for Christianorum omnis religio sine scelere maculâ 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 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 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 faith 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 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 shipwrack of a right Faith Hymenaeus and 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 heretical 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 lye 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 God a Divine vigour and life whereby we are enabled with joy and cheerfulness to walk in the way of God By this you may try your faith if you please and make an end of this question Do you believe in the Lord Jesus yea or no God forbid else but if your faith be good it will abide the tryal There are but three things that make the integrity of Christian faith believing the words of God confidence in his goodness and keeping his Commandments For the first it is evident that every man pretends to it if he calls himself Christian he believes all that is in the Canon of the Scriptures and if he did not he were indeed no Christian. But now consider what think we of this Proposition All shall be damned who believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness Does not every man believe this Is it possible they can believe there is any such thing as unrighteousness in the World or any such thing as damnation and yet commit that which the Scriptures call unrighteousness and which all Laws and all good men say is so Consider how many unrighteous men there are in the world and yet how few of them think they shall be damned I know not how it comes to pass but men go upon strange principles and they have made Christianity to be a very odd Institution if it had not better measures than they are pleased to afford it There are two great roots of all evil Covetousness and Pride and they have infected the greatest parts of mankind and yet no man thinks himself to be either Covetous or Proud And therefore whatever you discourse against these sins it never hits any man but like Jonathans Arrows to David they fall short or they fly beyond Salvian complained of it in his time Hoc ad crimina nostra addimus ut cum in omnibus rei simus etiam bonos nos sanctos esse credamus This we add unto our crimes we are the vilest persons in the world and yet we think our selves to be good people and when we die make no question but we shall go to Heaven There is no cause of this but because we have not so much faith as believing comes to and yet most men will pretend not only to believe but to love Christ all this while And how do they prove this Truly they hate the memory of Judas and curse the Jews that crucified Christ and think Pilate a very miserable man and that all the Turks are damned and to be called Caiphas is a word of reproach and indeed there are many that do not much more for Christ than this comes to things to as little purpose and of as little signification But so the Jews did hate the memory of Corah as we do of Caiphas and they builded the Sepulchre of the Prophets and we also are angry at them that killed the Apostles and the Martyrs but in the mean time we neither love Christ nor his Saints for we neither obey him nor imitate them And yet we should think our selves highly injured if one should call us Infidels and haters of Christ. But I pray consider what is hating of any man but designing and doing him all the injury and spite we can Does not he hate Christ that dishonours him that makes Christs members the members of an harlot That doth not feed and clothe these members If the Jews did hate Christ when they crucified him then so does a Christian too when he crucifies him again Let us not deceive our selves a Christian may be damned as well as a Turk and Christians may with as much malice crucifie Christ as the Jews did And so does every man that sins wilfully he spills the blood of Christ making it to be spent in vain He that hateth you hateth me he that receives you receives me said Christ to his Apostles I wish the world had so much faith as to believe that and by this try whether we love Christ and believe in him or no. I shall for the tryal of our faith ask one easie question Do we believe that the story of David and Jonathan is true Have we so much faith as to think it possible that two Rivals of a Crown should love so dearly Can any man believe this and not be infinitely ashamed to see Christians almost all Christians to be irreconcileably angry and ready to pull their brothers heart out when he offers to take our Land or money from us Why do almost all men that go to Law for right hate one anothers persons Why cannot men with patience hear their titles questioned But if Christianity be so excellent a Religion why are so very many Christians so very wicked Certainly they do not so much as believe the propositions and principles of their own Religion For the body of Christians is so universally wicked that it would be a greater change to see Christians generally live according to their profession than it was at first from infidelity to see them to turn Believers The conversion from Christian to Christian from Christian in title to Christian in sincerity would be a greater miracle then it was when they were converted from Heathen and Jew to Christian. What is the matter Is not repentance from dead works reckoned by S. Paul in Heb. 6. as one of the fundamental points of Christian Religion Is it not a piece of our Catechism the first thing we are taught and is it not the last thing that we practise We had better be without Baptism than without repentance and yet both are necessary and therefore if we were not without faith we should be without neither Is not Repentance a forsaking all sin and an intire returning unto God Who can deny this And is it not plainly said in Scripture Vnless ye repent ye shall all perish But shew me the man that believes these things heartily that is shew me a true penitent he only believes the doctrines of repentance If I had time I should examine your faith by your confidence in God and by your obedience But if we fall in the meer believing it is not likely we should do better in the other But because all the promises of God are conditional and there can be no confidence in the particular without a promise or revelation it is not possible that any man that does not
he runs to commit his sin with as certain an event and resolution as if he knew no Argument against it These notices of things terrible and true pass through his Understanding as an Eagle through the Air as long as her flight lasted the air was shaken but there remains no path behind her Now since at the same time we see other persons not so learned it may be not so much versed in Scriptures yet they say a thing is good and lay hold of it they believe glorious things of Heaven and they live accordingly as men that believe themselves half a word is enough to make them understand a nod is a sufficient reproof the crowing of a Cock the singing of a Lark the dawning of the day and the washing their hands are to them competent memorials of Religion and warnings of their duty What is the reason of this difference They both read the Scriptures they read and hear the same Sermons they have capable Understandings they both believe what they hear and what they read and yet the event is vastly different The reason is that which I am now speaking of the one understands by one Principle the other by another the one understands by Nature and the other by Grace the one by Humane Learning and the other by Divine the one reads the Scriptures without and the other within the one understands as a Son of Man the other as a Son of God the one perceives by the proportions of the world and the other by the measures of the Spirit the one understands by Reason and the other by Love and therefore he does not only understand the Sermons of the Spirit and perceives their meaning but he pierces deeper and knows the meaning of that meaning that is the secret of the Spirit that which is spiritually discerned that which gives life to the Proposition and activity to the Soul And the reason is because he hath a Divine Principle within him and a new Understanding that is plainly he hath Love and that 's more than Knowledge as was rarely well observed by S. Paul Knowledge puffeth up but Charity edifieth that is Charity makes the best Scholars No Sermons can edifie you no Scriptures can build you up a holy Building to God unless the Love of God be in your hearts and purifie your Souls from all filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit But so it is in the regions of Stars where a vast body of Fire is so divided by excentrick motions that it looks as if Nature had parted them into Orbs and round shells of plain and purest materials But where the cause is simple and the matter without variety the motions must be uniform and in Heaven we should either espy no motion or no variety But God who designed the Heavens to be the causes of all changes and motions here below hath placed his Angels in their houses of light and given to every one of his appointed Officers a portion of the fiery matter to circumagitate and roll and now the wonder ceases for if it be enquired why this part of the fire runs Eastward and the other to the South they being both indifferent to either it is because an Angel of God sits in the Centre and makes the same matter turn not by the bent of its own mobility and inclination but in order to the needs of Man and the great purposes of God And so it is in the Understandings of Men when they all receive the same Notions and are taught by the same Master and give full consent to all the Propositions and can of themselves have nothing to distinguish them in the events it is because God has sent his Divine Spirit and kindles a new fire and creates a braver capacity and applies the Actives to the Passives and blesses their operation For there is in the heart of man such a dead sea and an indisposition to holy flames like as in the cold Rivers in the North so as the fires will not burn them and the Sun it self will never warm them till Gods holy Spirit does from the Temple of the New Jerusalem bring a holy flame and make it shine and burn The Natural man saith the holy Apostle cannot preceive the things of the Spirit they are foolishness unto him for they are spiritually discerned For he that discourses of things by the measures of sense thinks nothing good but that which is delicious to the palate or pleases the brutish part of Man and therefore while he estimates the secrets of Religion by such measures they must needs seem as insipid as Cork or the uncondited Mushrom for they have nothing at all of that in their constitution A voluptuous person is like the Dogs of Sicily so fill'd with the deliciousness of Plants that grow in every furrow and hedge that they can never keep the scent of their Game 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said St. Chrysostom The fire and water can never mingle so neither can sensuality and the watchfulness and wise discerning of the Spirit Pilato interroganti de veritate Christus non respondit When the wicked Governour asked of Christ concerning Truth Christ gave him no answer He was not fit to hear it He therefore who so understands the Words of God that he not only believes but loves the Proposition he who consents with all his heart and being convinc'd of the truth does also apprehend the necessity and obeys the precept and delights in the discovery and lays his hand upon his heart and reduces the notices of things to the practice of duty he who dares trust his proposition and drives it on to the utmost issue resolving to go after it whithersoever it can invite him this Man walks in the Spirit at least thus far he is gone towards it his Understanding is brought in obsequium Christi into the obedience of Christ. This is a loving God with all our mind and whatever goes less than this is but Memory and not Understanding or else such notice of things by which a man is neither the wiser nor the better 3. Sometimes God gives to his choicest his most elect and precious Servants a knowledge even of secret things which he communicates not to others We finde it greatly remark'd in the case of Abraham Gen. 18. 17. And the Lord said Shall I hide from Abraham that thing that I do Why not from Abraham God tells us ver 19. For I know him that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment And though this be irregular and infrequent yet it is a reward of their piety and the proper increase also of the spiritual man We find this spoken by God to Daniel and promised to be the lot of the righteous man in the days of the Messias Dan. 12. 10. Many shall be purified and made white and tryed but the wicked shall do wickedly and what then None of
that thou shouldst take my Covenant in thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee The words are a sad upbraiding to all ungodly Ministers and they need no Commentary for whatever their Office and Employment be to teach Gods people yet unless they regard the Commandments of God in their heart and practice themselves they having nothing to do with the Word of God they sin in taking the Covenant a Testament of God into their mouth God said to the sinner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Raschaah that is to him that had sinned and had not repented of his sins so the Chaldee Paraphrase reads it Impio a qui non agit poenitentiam orat in praevaricatione dixit Deus Indeed if none could be admitted to this Ministry but those who had never sinn'd the Harvest might be very great but the Labourers would be extremely few or rather none at all but after repentance they must be admitted and not before Iniquitas opilabit os eorum iniquity shall stop their mouths saith David that ought to silence them indeed And this was David's care when he had fallen into the foul crimes of Murder and Adultery he knew himself unfit and unable though he were a Prophet to teach others the Laws of God but when he prayed to God to restore him to a free Spirit he addes Then will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee till then it was to no purpose for him to Preach But thou when thou art converted said Christ to Peter strengthen the Brethren The Primitive Church had a degree of severity beyond this for they would not admit any man who had done publick Penance to receive holy Orders To which purpose they were excellent words which P. Hormisda spake in his Letters to the Bishops of Spain in which he exhorts them to the observation of the ancient Canons of the Church telling them that They who are promoted to the Clergy ought to be better than others nam longâ debet vitam suam probatione monstrare cui gubernacula committuntur Ecclesiae non negamus c. we deny not but amongst the Laity there are many whose manners are pleasing to God but the faithful Laws of God seek for him Souldiers that are approved and they ought rather to afford to others by themselves an example of a religious life than require it from them ideoque nullus ex poenitentibus debet ordinari quisnam quem paulo antè jacentem viderat veneretur Autistitem None of the publick Penitents must be ordained for who will esteem that Priest venerable whom a little before he saw dishonoured by scandalous and publick Crimes But this is to be understood of them only as the Prophet Amos expresses it qui corripiuntur in portâ who are rebuked in the gate condemned by publick sentence and are blotted with the Reproaches of the Law But in all cases Turpe est Doctori cum culpa redarguit ipsum The guilt of the sin which a man reproves quite spoils his Sermon ipsam obmutescere facundiam si aegra sit conscientia said S. Ambrose a sick conscience spoils the tongue of the Eloquent and makes it stammer For how shall any man preach against sin or affright his people from their dangers if he denies Gods justice and if he thinks God is just why is not he confounded that with his own mouth pronounces damnation against himself Nothing confounds a man so much as to be judged out of his own mouth Esse munda studeat manus quae diluere sordes curat said S. Gregory the hand that means to make another clean should not it self be dirty But all this is but in general there are yet considerations more particular and material 1. A Minister of an evil life cannot do so much good to his charges he cannot profit them he is not useful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he pulls down as fast or faster than he builds up Thalmud absque opere non est magnum Thalmud said the Jews Proverb a good Sermon without a good example is no very good Sermon For besides that such a man is contemptible to his people contemptible not only naturally but by Divine Judgment according to that of the Prophet propter quod dedi vos contemptibiles omni populo for this very reason I have made you to be scorned in the eyes of all the people but besides this it is very considerable what S. Chrysostom says si praedicas non facis opus proponis tanquam impossibile he that preaches mortification and lives voluptuously propounds the duty as if it were impossible for certainly if it be good and if it be possible a man will ask why is it not done it is easie for him that is well to give a sick man counsel verùm tu si hic esses certè aliter sentires when it comes to be his own case when the sickness pinches and when the belly calls for meat where 's the fine oration then omnia quae vindicâris in alio tibi ipsi vehementer fugienda sunt etenim non modo accusator sed ne objurgator ferendus est qui quod in alio vitium reprehendit in eo ipso deprehenditur whatsoever you reprove in others must be infinitely avoided by your self for no man will endure an Accuser no nor so much as a man to chide for that fault in which himself was taken But if your charges see you bear your sickness patiently and your Cross nobly and despise money generously and forgive your Enemy bravely and relieve the poor charitably then he sees your Doctrine is tangible and material it is more then words and he loves you and considers what you say In the East the Shepherds used to go before their sheep to which our Blessed Saviour alludes my sheep hear my voice and follow me but our Shepherds are forced to drive them and affright them with dogs and noises it were better if themselves did go before 3. A Minister of an evil life cannot preach with that fervour and efficacy with that life spirit as a good man does for besides that he does not himself understand the secrets of Religion and the private inducements of the Spirit and the sweetness of internal joy and the unexpressible advantages of a holy peace besides this he cannot heartily speak all that he knows he hath a clog at his foot and a gag in his teeth there is a fear and there is a shame and there is a guilt and a secret willingness that the thing were not true and some little private arts to lessen his own consent and to take off the asperities and consequent troubles of a clear conviction To which if we add that there is a secret envy in all wicked men against the prosperities of goodness and if I should say no more this alone were enough to silence a Boanerges and to make his Thunder still and easie as an