should bee so unmanerly unthankefull and unkinde as to deny a little provision to David and his followers who unto him had been so good as to be a defence to him and his goods Come we down somewhat lower to an example or two of this improbity from the New Testament Such an improbous Sinner was the wicked servant Mat. 18.28 who when his Lord had forgiven him a debt of ten thousand talents would neither forgive nor forbeare his fellow-servant who owed him onely an hundred pence but arrested and imprisoned him for it This act was a sinne for his Lord thereupon was so wrath that revoking his former pardon of the debt hee delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him Yet this was no legall sinne against any Law because the act in it selfe was very lawfull for the Law allowes every Creditor to demand and sue for his debt but it was a morall sinne against morality equity and Charity for him to whom his Lord had forgiven a debt of ten thousand talents to exact from his fellow-servant a matter of an hundred pence Such a Sinner was Dives Luke 16.19 who was cloathed in purple and fared sumptuously every day letting Lazarus lye at his gate full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crummes that fell from the table This prodigality upon himselfe and parcimony toward the poore was a sinne not legall but morall against the rules of equity Charity and mercy Such Sinners were the Priest and the Levite Luke 10.31 who seeing a man lye in the way stripped wounded and halfe dead passed by on the other side This passage of theirs was no legall sinne against any Law but a morall sinne against the rules of equity humanity courtesie charity and mercy Lastly such sinners will the damned be found at the last day when the finall Inditement shall runne against them in this form Mat. 25.42 I was an hungred and ye gave me no meate I was thirsty and ye gave me no drinke I was a stranger and ye tooke me not in naked and ye cloathed me not sick and in prison and ye visited mee not Certainely these negligences are sinnes for the parties are cursed and punished with this finall Judgement to eternall damnation Depart from mee ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Divel and his angels Yet they are not sinnes legally against the Law of Moses but morally against the rules of equity charity and mercy 3. The word Sinner signifies jurally quoad jura for one who is Calamitous who either hath no Right at all or not that right which he should have or not that which he might have had but is either deprived or debarred from some right priviledge or capacity which by Law or favour is alowed unto others and is predestinated prejudicated decreed and doomed to be and abide in the state and condition of an offendour and thereby to suffer that misery of losse paine and shame which is commonly inflicted as a punishment upon offenders Yet unto the Calamitous the misery which he suffers is not a punishment but onely an affliction because no man is to be punished for having no right or for quitting his right much lesse for losing it if the losse be none of his fault but against his will Now according to the common rule and practice of denominations he that hath no right or not his due right but misseth and faileth of his right may be called unrighteous and must bee so called till wee can finde or make some other appellative that will fit him better and a person in this sense unrighteous is accordingly in Scripture called a Sinner And the fact which doth constitute or make a man thus a Jurall Sinner to bee calamitous woefull and wretched is no act of his owne but either the act of some Adversary who unjustly and without cause chargeth upon that sinne whereof hee is not guilty or the act of some Law or of some Curse which burdeneth him for that sinne whereof some other person is guilty whereby the calamitous who is innocent and guiltlesse is forced to suffer affliction or misery as if in himselfe hee were a Delinquent and guilty Yet the Calamitous as hee stands distinguished from the transgressor and the improbous should in strictnesse of speech be called rather a quasi-sinner then a Sinner because hee is not a Sinner properly but quasily i. e. hee hath manifest differences to cleare him from the proper nature of a Sinner and yet hath resemblances enough to draw upon him the name of a Sinner For properly and usually the word sinne doth signifie tha◠evill act which is an offence either against Law or Equity and so the Transgressor and the improbous are both offendors and both properly sinners But many times that word is taken improperly and figuratively by a Metonymy frequent in Scripture and in ordinary discourse and so it signifies not the evill act of sinne but that evill effect or consequent which followes the act of sinne and is commonly made the punishment of sinne as shame paine losse or any other Affliction Calamity Misery or Trouble especially Death which is mans finall suffering and his last enemy As Gen. 4.7 If thou dost well shalt thou not bee accepted and if thou dost not well i. e. If thou dost any act of sinne sinne lyeth at the doore i. e. the effect of sinne which is punishment and misery is ready to attach thee And Gen. 19.15 Arise take thy Wife and thy two Daughters which are heere lest thou bee consumed in the iniquity of the City i. e. in the destruction or punishment of the City And Gen. 31.39 That which was torne of Beasts I brought it not unto thee I bare the losse of it where the Hebrew word is Achtenah i. e. I sinned for it q. d. I suffered for it as if the sinne or fault had beene mine And Levit. 22.9 They shall therefore keepe mine Ordinances lest they beare sinne for it i. e. lest they suffer death for it as appeares by the words following which are but the sense of these and dye therefore And Levit. 24.15 Whosoever curseth his God shall beare his sinne i. e. Hee shall surely bee put to death For so the words are explicated in the next verse And Rom. 5.12 And so Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned i. e. For that in Adam all dyed as afterward among the examples of the Calamitous shall bee more amply declared And Rom. 5.19 By one mans disobedience many were made sinners i. e. Were made mortall and necessitated to dye for the Greeke is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Constituted ordained or appoynted sinners or mortall for in other places of our last Translation so many wayes that Verbe is Englished and heereto other vulgar Translations agree for the Italian hath it constituted sinners and the French rendred sinners But then by Sinners wee must understand mortall or made to dye because men
is therewith to bee included and the clause following is not to bee co-included The words then seeme to bee an answer to a tacite objection made to Pauls disparagement for very probable it is that his adversaries with intent to disparage him had magnified Peter and the rest of the Apostles as that they were the Disciples of Christ had beene conversant with him and instructed by him when Paul was but a Pharisee To this Paul seemes to answer q. d. Whatsoever or how great soever the Apostles were formerly in times past doth not necessarily inferre my disparity now for things are not alwayes the same that formerly they were in times passed Although then formerly in times past the Apostles were familiar with Christ were instructed by him and ordained by him and all this then when I was a Pharisee though they were Preachers of the Gospel then when I was a persecutor of 〈◊〉 yet all this then makes no matter now either to the truth of the point in question or to argue that now betweene their Doctrine and mine there is any disagreement or betweene their persons and mine any disparity It maketh no matter to mee The Greeke is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. I differ nothing or am nothing different viz. from those who seemed to bee somewhat for unto those former words these heere must bee referred for the construction and sense of both which seemes thus that betweene them and Paul there was no difference or disparity in any thing But then the parenthesis which doth shadow and obscure the sense must bee wholly removed Howsoever the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie in humane Writers among the Greekes yet in the holy Scriptures it signifies to differ viz. in such a manner that one thing is either better or worse then another and so it is rendred elsewhere in our last English Translation So 1. Cor. 15.41 One Starre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. differeth from another Starre in glory and so afterward in this Epistle cap. 4.1 The Heire as long as hee is a childe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. differeth nothing from a servant and so the French Translation reades it heere and this sense seemes to bee intended though not rightly expressed in our former English Translation made at Geneva q. d. Whatsoever or how great soever the difference or disparity betweene mee and the chiefe Apostles hath beene heeretofore in times past which I confesse was very remarkeable when they were first Apostles to preach the Gospell and I a Pharisee to persecute it but now since the time that God revealed Christ unto mee and trusted mee with the preaching of him unto the Gentiles there is no difference or disparity at all betweene the greatest of them and mee either in respect of the Doctrine which I preach or of my knowledge in the Gospel or of my dignity in the Apostleship Not that they now are any thing lesse then formerly they were but that I by Gods grace am so much greater that I am now their equall for it hath pleased God so highly to advance mee in the Ministery that now they have no advantage above mee that they in any thing should bee my betters and I their inferiour God accepteth no mans person Or accepteth not the person of man The Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies sometime any single person sometime the face and presence of man but heere and in such like formes of speech it is taken for those outward qualities of man which make nothing to the merit of his cause or to the poynt of the matter in question to argue the truth from any such qualities and therefore the French Translation renders these words thus God accepteth not the outward appearance of man and the Italian thus God hath no regard to the quality of any mans person These words or the like to this sence are somewhat frequent in the New Testament See Act. 10.34 and Rom. 2.11 and Ephes 6.9 and Col. 3.25 And they seeme to bee a speciall attribute unto God in respect of the integrity and equity which hee perpetually useth not onely in the administration of his justice and judgement but also in the distribution of his grace and mercy For God is no way partiall to respect mens dignities or other outward qualities which conduce nothing to the merit of the cause or to the poynt of truth but God is a most just and equall Judge who regards onely the genuine and inward truth And therefore in the debate of true Doctrine no argument is to bee drawne from mens persons Hence Paul would heere infer that betweene him and the rest of the Apostles there was now no difference or disparity either for knowledge or authority in the Gospel notwithstanding those outward qualities in the Apostles that formerly in times past they were the proper Disciples of Christ instructed and ordained by him seeing God regardeth no such qualities For they who seemed to bee somewhat in conference added nothing to mee A reason of his former negation that betweene the chiefe Apostles and him there was no difference or disparity namely because the chiefest of them added no knowledge or power unto him Added nothing The Greeke is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Discovered nothing or opened no further light or knowledge in the Gospel unto mee as if therein God had revealed any thing to them more then he had to me for to this sense the word was used and rendred before See cap. 1. vers 16. q. d. How great soever the Apostles seemed to whose judgement the difference about Circumcision and the legall Ceremonies were referred or how meane soever I seemed who was sent to require their judgement therein yet in the Gospel I learned from them no manner of knowledge which before was not revealed unto mee For when the question was agitated and determined they altered nothing in my Doctrine as if it had beene any way erroneous they added nothing to my preaching as if in any poynt it had beene defective or insufficient unto salvation An Objection The Apostles in that Synod added severall things as namely these abstinence from fornication from meals offered to Idolls from blood and from things strangled as it plainely appeares Act. 15.29 The Answer These things were not then added unto his Doctrine but his former Doctrine of these things was then confirmed For Paul in his preaching did expresly and constantly forbid fornication as it may appeare in divers passages of his Epistles and particularly required abstinence from things offered unto Idolls See 1. Cor. 8.1.7 and 1. Cor. 10.20 And in generall words hee restrained men from blood and things strangled in all his Doctrines of avoyding scandalls especially in regard of those things which unto the Jewes were abominable as was the eating of blood and things strangled which the Jewes abhorred as much as they did meates offered unto Idols See Rom. 14.13.14 and 1. Cor. 10.23 and 1. Cor. 11.2 VERSE
the reproof is by way of Interrogation which therefore redounds to the sharper reprehension for in demanding a reason of his action why he being a Jew compelled the Gentiles he seems to tell him that he had no reason at all for his action but rather his action was against all reason Yet the Interrogatory of his reproofe is but one and that one so concise that the language and the argument of it is contained and couched under a marvelous brevity q. d. seeing thou art a Christian Jew and by vertue of thy Christianity hast relinquished Judaisme and hast hitherto lived after the liberty of the Gentiles eating all sorts of meats after their maner for so thou didst eate till certaine Jewes came from James why art thou now become so contrary to thy selfe as to relapse back againe into Judaisme and in one fact to commit three offences for therein thou dissemblest with thine owne soule seeing thou hast declared thy judgement to the contrary and therein thou confirmest the Jewish Christians in their infirmity for by thy fact they will be hardened and therin thou compellest the Gentile-Christians to Judaize for thereto they are forced by the example of thy fact and for feare of thee Why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as doe the Jewes Why some read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. how but it matters not at all what the Interrogation should be for although the words be Interrogatory yet the sense is reprehensory thus certainely thou art too blame in compelling c. Compellest thou The Greeke is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. necessitatest not by way of violence but by way of example whereby thou dost occasion and move them and by thy fact dost impose a kinde of necessity upon them to doe the like or at least that for fear of thee and of thy authority that dare not do otherwise For he is sayd to necessitate or compell who by force of reason or of example doth vehemently perswade or urge a thing to be done for in this sense the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used See afterward cap. 6. vers 12. and Luke 14.23 and Mat. 14.22 and Marc. 6.45 and Act 28.19 and 2 Cor 12.11 The Gentiles to Judaize i. e. The Christian-Gentiles to abstaine from certaine meats after the Jewish manner seeing neither that Ceremony nor any other part of the Law of Moses was ever by God imposed on the Gentiles for that Law to them was never given nor never binding q. d. Why dost thou now contrary to thy declared judgement and to thy former custome force the Gentiles to forsake their liberty and to apply themselves to the Ceremonies and observances of the Jewish Lawes whereto the Gentiles were never obliged this is not onely against all equity but against the liberty of the Gentiles and against the freedome of the Gospel The Law of Moses did not now binde the Jewes for by the accesse of the new Testament the old ceased and was expired much lesse should the Gentiles be compelled to it now being expired seeing formerly while it was in force it never obliged them But so great was the authority of Peter that any notable act of his was in a maner compulsory to prescribe and impose upon others especially when the rest of the Jewish Christians and even Barnabas himselfe followed the example of it Neither could all know that Peter herein dissembled for they might believe that he did it as moved in conscience and that now he corrected that errour whereinto before he somwhat swerved in love and courtesie to the Gentile-Christians Seeing then this fact of Peter might have occasioned great troubles seeing it might have disquieted the consciences of many and have much hindred the liberty of the Gospel therefore Paul had great reason to pluck off the vizard in publicke and to discover before all men the person which Peter had assumed For necessary it is that even great Persons when their example grows to a publick offence should undergoe a publick reproof yea the greater they are and the greater the danger that may arise from their example so much the greater should our care be that their authority which otherwise is to be maintained for the publicke good be not turned to the publicke ruine Hence for our better understanding of the former foure verses and of divers passages in the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles wee may and must observe that in the Church of Christ there then were and still are and ever will bee three sorts of Christians or three severall parties which agreeing all in the faith of Christ differed much among themselves 1. The sincere Christian who was intirely and wholly a Christian believing in Christ and walking in Christ or as from Pauls words in this verse they may bee described who believed uprightly and walked uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel edifying their faith and composing their life according to the Doctrines Precepts and Rules delivered by Christ and his Apostles These laboured for the sincerity and purity of the Gospel to preserve the truth therof clean and free from the admixture leaven of all Religions Opiniōs whatsoever that therunto were alien and forraine These were inoffensive peaceable and quiet giving no scandall to any party who differed from them in judgement or practice not busying their mindes with foolish questions and fruitlesse disputes to no profit but exercising themselves not in the workes of the Law but in the workes of their callings and in the good workes of the Gospel by doing all Offices and Services of Love Charity Equity Mercy Courtesie and Kindenesse towards all men but especially towards the houshold of faith and chiefely one toward another These were the children of the Kingdome the good seede which Christ sowed in the field of the world and they were the Wheate among which his Enemy sowed Tares Of this sort were the Friends Landlords and Companions of Paul to whom and from whom in his Epistles hee sendeth salutes also Aquila and Priscilla and the Church in their house also the houshold of Cloe of Crispus Gaius and Stephanas in the Church of Corinth also the house of Onesiphorus and all those in the Church of Ephesus whom Paul salutes in these words Ephes 6.24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and also those in the Church of Philippi to whom hee writes thus Phil. 1.9.10 And this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgement that yee may approve things that are excellent that yee may bee sincere and without offence till the day of Christ 2. The second party of Christians were the Judaizers for by that name Paul seemes to denote them heere by using the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. to judaize or to live as doe the Jewes These in respect of their faith were Christians but by their life they were Jewish for they did believe
the Iewes and some living among them as the Samaritans and many townes in Galilee which Mat. 4.15 was therefore called Galilee of the Gentiles All these idolatrous Gentiles were so abominable and odious unto the Iewes that Paul in contempt and disdayne doth heere tacitly call the false teachers of Galatia Sinners of the Gentiles i. e. Idolaters Because although they were now by fayth Christians and by sect Iudaizers yet by birth they were Idolaters for unto Christians they were not converted from being Iewes but from being Gentiles and from that sinfull sort of Gentiles who were not worshippers but Idolaters For in saying Wee who are Jewes by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles he sufficiently insinuates that those Iudaizers were once such sinners and therefore were once men of the basest and lewdest life in the world as persons most distant and remote from the Jewes by nature who by the prerogative of their birth accounted themselves in the highest degree of all those who worshipped God to be a holy Nation and the Saints of the Lord. The sence of the whole verse is q. d. Wee who are Jewes in the best and fullest maner both in respect of our Nation as wee are the seede of Abraham Jewes in respect of our Rights which God hath setled upon us and Jewes in respect of our Lawes which God hath prescribed us for Religion and Justice wee who have these advantages by the best title even by Nature and Birth-right as wee are borne to those Rights and under those Lawes wee who were never sinfull Gentiles borne and bred up in Idolatry as were the Judaizing false Teachers and therefore have better meanes then they to know by what meanes a man is justified Even wee have beene forced to forsake all these advantages even the workes of our Law and the wayes of our Religion to flye unto the faith of Christ for our justification that by faith in him wee may attaine to that Blessednesse which was promised to our Father Abraham No reason is there then that the Gentiles who heeretofore were alwayes aliens and strangers to God and our Lawes but now by Gods grace manifested in the Gospel are admitted unto Christ and endenized into the Kingdome of Heaven being made fellow-citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God should thereupon bee constrained to the workes of our Law and to the wayes of our Religion considering that those workes and wayes were unto justification so unavailable and so unprofitable that wee our selves have utterly forsaken them for how can those things advantage them which unto us were no benefit But in the word Sinners there is yet couched a further emphasis whereby the Apostle would prepare and lay a ground for his future Doctrine in the next verse concerning Justification whereof a Sinner is the proper subject and the onely person capable of that blessing That therefore wee may bee the better provided to understand what Justification is and what is the Justification of a Sinner wee must observe that in the Scriptures the word Sinner and his Synonyma's or equivalents beare three severall senses viz. a legall a morall and a jurall sense according to the three generall and notable words Lex Mos Jus. 1. The word sinner signifies legally quoad leges for one who is a transgressour in not doing that right which hee should and ought to doe by the Rules of the Lawes Statutes and Justice For hee that doth not right according to the Rules of Law and Justice hee is unrighteous and a person unrighteous is a sinner And the fact which doth constitute or make a man thus a legall sinner to bee a transgressor is some unlawfull act of his done by him against the Law Such sinners were our first Parents who by transgressing against the Law of Paradise were of mankinde the first sinners by whom sinne entered into the world Such a Sinner was David who in the case of Uriah transgressed the Laws against murder and adultety Such a Sinner was Jeroboam who made Israel to sinne and such was all Israel who did sinne by transgressing the Law against worshipping of Images Such a Sinner was the woman Luk. 7.37 Who washed the feete of Christ with her teares and wiped them with the haire of her head and kissed them and anointed them with oyntment For shee was an Adulteresse Such a Sinner was the other woman John 8.3 Who was taken in adultery in the very act and was thereupon brought unto Christ to bee censured And such were the Sinners of the Gentiles mentioned before 2. It signifies Morally quoad mores for one who is Improbous in not doing that right which hee might should and ought to doe by the Rules of Morality Equity Decency Charity and Mercy For hee that doth not right according to the Rules of Equity Decency and Mercy hee is unrighteous and the person unrighteous is a Sinner And the fact which doth constitute or make a man to become a sinner morally or improbous is not an act of his that is unlawfull in respect of any Law for the act may bee lawfull and yet sinfull enough to denominate him a sinner But it is an act that is not honest and faire in respect of Equity and Decency Such a Sinner was Cham Gen. 9.22 Who seeing his Fathers nakednesse told his two brethren without This act of his was a sinne for it was punished with a heavy curse of perpetuall slavery Yet this was not a sinne legally against any Law or Statute then being in force which forbad that act but it was a sinne morally against the Rule of good Manners Equity and Charity for a sonne to bee so improbous unnaturall and unkinde as to blab of his fathers fault which hee should have concealed Such Sinners were they 1. Sam. 10.27 Who despised Saul and brought him no Presents This act of theirs was a sinne for at the beginning of the verse the offenders are called the children of Belial Yet this was no sinne legally nor an act unlawfull against any Law of Moses but a morall sinne of improbity against the Rule of Morality Equity and Decency for Subjects to despise their King and upon his Election to bring him no Presents Such a Sinner was Nabal 1. Sam. 25.10 Who sayd who is David and who is the sonne of Jesse There bee many servants now a dayes that breake away every man from his Master Shall I then take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed for my Shearers and give it unto men whom I know not whence they bee This saying was a sinne for vers 14. one of Nabals owne servants censureth it for railing and afterward vers 17. hee censureth his Master in these words Hee is such a man of Belial that a man cannot speake to him Yet this sinne of Nabal was no legall sinne against any Law of Moses But a morall sinne of improbity against equity and good manners that a man of a great estate
5.12 By one man sinne entred into the World and Death by sinne and so Death passed upon all men for that or in whom all have sinned i. e. for that in him all dyed for of the word sinned in this place that in effect is the sence Or to speake a little nearer to the letter of the word it will bee thus for that in him all quasi-sinned not actively by transgressing in his transgression but passively by being prejudicated in his Judgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for in his one doome all were condemned and all cast into the state of transgressors to suffer misery and death like unto that which was inflicted on him as a judgement for his transgression For for the tense none of the Verbes in that verse are of the Preterperfectense but all are aorists or indefinite and accordingly the two first are rendred indefinitely Sinne entred and Death passed not Sinne hath entred and Death hath and therefore the Translation had beene more sutable if the last Verbe also had not beene rendred preterperfectly all have sinned but indifinitely thus all sinned And for the sense these words In whom all sinned signifie in effect the same thing with these ver 15. Through the offence of one many bee dead or many dyed and with these words vers 16. The judgement was by one to condemnation and with these vers 17. By one mans offence death raigned by one and with these vers 18. By the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation and with these vers 19. By one mans disobedience many were made sinners and with these 1. Cor. 15.22 In Adam all dye All which sayings amount to no more but this That by the sinne of Adam hee and all his children were made mortall as by the sinne of the Gibeonites they and all their Children were made bondslaves and by the sinne of Gehazi hee and all his Children were made lepers For the Judgement given upon Adam for his offence was Banishment from Paradise a Curse upon the ground for his sake a Miserable and painefull Life and at last an everlasting Death And this judgement was not personall onely to determine the effect of it upon Adam onely and passe no further then his person but it was also real and hereditary to him and his Heires for ever First falling upon him and then descending to them For as by his offence his Innocency was corrupted So by this Judgement upon him his Posterity was corrupted or as a common Lawyer would expresse it By his Attainder his blood was corrupted i. e. First none of his Children shall bee Heires to that immortality and blessednesse which hee once enjoyed in Paradise for that was forfeited and extinguished Secondly all his Children shall bee blemished distressed and tainted to inherit that Banishment Malediction Misery and Mortality which hee incurred Thirdly this Corruption shall not bee remedied or salved by any ordinary mercy of God but by the extraordinary Mystery of Jesus Christ Thus the Calamitous who are jurall or quasi-quasi-sinners are of foure sorts viz. the oppressed the blemished the distressed and the tainted If wee compare together the three first sort of sinners viz. the Transgressor the Improbous and the Calamitous we may observe 1. That the difference between them is not essentiall and necessary but accidentall and contingent for they are not so opposite and contrary as that when the word is taken in some one sense all the rest should be excluded But they are onely diverse i. e. so different that one sense may be without the other and yet so complyant and consistent that they may all concurre and meet in the same word For the word Sinner doth carry sometime onely one of those senses sometime two and sometime all three and when the senses are plurall sometime they are equall sometime one above the rest is more eminent so that one and the same person may be at the same time a transgressor improbous and calamitous 2. That the Gentiles generally were sinners all these three wayes for they were sinners legally and morally being transgressors and improbous Rom. 1.29 Being filled with all unrighteousnesse fornication wickednesse covetousnesse maliciousnesse full of envy murder debate deceit malignity whisperers backbiters haters of God despitefull proud boasters inventers of evill things disobedient to parents without understanding covenant-breakers without naturall affection implacable unmercifull And they were sinners jurally for they were calamitous blemished with the state of ignorance and of enmity to God Ephes 2.12 Being aliens from the common Wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenant of promise having no hope and without God in the world 3. That in the sight of God the Jewes generally were as great sinners as the Gentiles both legally and morally in respect of transgressions and improbities For of the Jewes the Apostle testifieth Rom. 3.9 that they were in no wise better then the Gentiles for he had proved both Jewes and Gentiles that they were all under sinne Yet jurally the Jewes were not such sinners nor so calamitous as the Gentiles because they were not such aliens and strangers from God as were the Gentiles but had many jurall rights priviledges and prerogatives as the true Israel and peculiar people of God as was shewed before in the former clause of this verse Yet the Right which the Jew had in God was but a puerile and servile right to be the children of God in the condition of servants in a state of nonage and wardship under the Law From which state Christ came to emancipate and deliver them that hee might advance and invest them into a filiall right of being the sons of God in a perfect plenage and fulnesse of yeares as shall be more fully explicated in this Epistle cap. 4. ver 2.3 Thus men are sinners three severall wayes for most men generally are transgressors and improbous and all men universally are calamitous for in Adams attainder all were tainted Wherefore this last way Man as he is Man is a sinner and this Sinner is the Man who in the next verse shall bee justified by the fayth of Jesus Christ for so it there followeth VERSE 16. Text. Knowing that a man is not justified by the workes of the Law but by the fayth of Jesus Christ even we have beleeved in Jesus Christ that wee might be justified by the fayth of Christ and not by the works of the Law for by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified Sense A man is justified i. e. Made jurally righteous to have a present right and clayme to the Legacies and future blessings promised and devised in Gods last Will and Testament Not by the works of the Law His title to that right and claime is not by any workes done in observance of the Law nor by any effect or work of the Law in consideration of his works But by the fayth of Jesus Christ i. e. His title to that right and clayme is by his Acceptance
to bee and bee called the friend of God was it not afterward continued by his worke in offering his son for was not that worke wrought by his faith and was not his faith and the Scripture mentioning it fulfilled by that worke The other example is of Rahab Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by workes when she had received the Messengers and had sent them out another way i. e. The Justification of Rahab constituted long before by her faith whereby she became a Proselyte and an Israelite in beleeving that the God of Israel was God in Heaven above and in earth beneath was it not afterward continued by her worke in Receiving the Messengers For was not that worke wrought by her faith and at the sacke of Jericho was not she and her family preserved by that worke and thereby continued Proselites unto Gods People Now from these Examples and Similies of James but especially from his two reasons it evidently followes that workes doe justifie in the sense alleadged namely conservantly For because Faith without workes is dead and working with workes is by workes made perfect or effectuall therefore workes doe preserve and continue the life perfection and efficacy of Faith and consequently they preserve and continue the state of Justification which is the effect of faith and whatsoever doth preserve and continue Justification that doth Justifie True it is that Neither faith nor works are the principall and prime efficients of my Justifying because God is the personall principall and prime efficient who makes mee to have my right and who makes mee to hold it but faith and workes are the reall mediall or meane efficients on my part For God willeth and ordayneth that fayth should bee my title whereby I acquire and have this right and that workes should be my tenure whereby to continue and hold it From my title I wholly exclude my workes allowing them neyther efficiency to justifie nor presence in my person at my Justifying For faith alone without any efficiency or any presence of workes within mee doth make me to have this right Because when I am to bee justified I have not within me any workes at all that any way qualifie me or can bee truely sayd to be resident in mee For manifest it is that I am then in the state and condition of a sinner if not legally of a transgressor against the Law yet morally of one somewhat improbous who was many wayes peccant in the rules of morality equity decency and mercy and jurally of one calamitous who must suffer and die like a sinner for the proper subject of Justification is a sinner But from my Tenure I exclude not faith but include and suppose it adding and adjoyning my workes unto it Because in my Justification faith hath a double efficiency first a procreant to constitute it and secondly a conservant to continue it Yet that degree of conservancy which flowes from faith is so imperfect that unlesse it be perfected by the accesse of works fayth alone is not able to conserve it selfe for without workes shee is dead Yet from my Tenure I exclude the solitarinesse both of my faith and of my workes for neither faith alone without workes nor workes alone without faith but both concurring and joyned together viz. faith conducting and co-operating with workes and workes accompanying and seconding faith doe justifie me conservantly as my Tenure making mee to continue and hold that state of divine alliance which faith alone did create and constitute And heerein I give the preeminence to faith for I say not thus Workes with faith but thus Faith with workes doth make up my Tenure faith as the principall and workes as accessories thereto to animate enable and render faith effectuall unto that effect which alone without workes it can not performe Because faith without workes is imperfect and dead but working with workes is by workes made perfect and effectuall And true it is that Workes doe also justifie declaratively because they declare manifest and shew that faith which doeth justifie efficiently and which alone without workes is efficient procreantly and which being alone without workes can not be declared For words will not serve the turne to declare the existence of faith but this service must be done by works And therefore the existence of that faith which is solitary alone and without workes can by no meanes bee sufficiently declared Hence saith the Apostle Jam. 2.18 Shew mee thy faith without thy workes Shew me if thou canst or thou canst not shew mee that faith of thine which is without workes or which is solitary or alone by it selfe for by thy words in saying thou hast faith it is not sufficiently shewed and by thy workes it cannot possibly be shewed because as thou acknowledgest it is a solitary faith which is alone by it selfe destitute of workes And I will shew thee my faith by my workes i. e. But I will shew thee my operary faith which worketh with workes for I will and doe declare it by my workes because I acknowledge that my faith is seconded and accompanied with workes Now because faith is declared or shewed by workes therfore workes are a Signe of faith and consequently they are a Signe of Justification to declare and shew the state of it because faith is a cause whereof Justification is the effect and whatsoever is a Signe of the cause is also a Signe of the effect Yet this is not all and the whole influence which workes have unto Justification that they are a Signe of faith to declare it But moreover workes are a cause of faith to effect it yet not a cause procreant to constitute and produce it but a cause conservant to continue and maintaine it For Jam. 2.26 As the body without the spirit is dead so faith without workes is dead also Now the Spirit whereby the body respireth and breatheth is a cause of the body yet not a cause procreant to give the body life and being but a cause conservant to continue and maintaine the life and being of it And consequently workes are also a cause conservant of that Justification whereof faith is a cause wholly procreant and partly conservant and to conserve Justification is to justifie For seeing that unto many words I willingly allow severall senses not only modall but reall I cannot with equity deny the like courtesie unto the Verbe Justified for the honour of those two great Apostles Paul and James who were planters of the Gospel and pillars of the Church especially when I consider the severall parties with whom they had to deale For Paul by his assertion opposeth the Judaizers who as was formerly shewed upon the 14. verse of this Chapter were Operaries and Rituaries standing so much for the workes and Ceremonies of the Law that they made workes the sole and whole efficient cause of Justification both the cause conservant to continue and maintaine the state of it and also the cause procreant to