same natural Spirit Nor do we deny but that Faith is the first Act that disposeth a Man to the Receipt of this Divine Spirit dwelling in him whereby it may be said to effect or procure our Union with Christ whereby we partake both of the Nature and the Effects and Benefits of his Righteousness But the imputation of Christs Righteousness to us is no Scriptural Phrase but differs very much from that of St. Paul asserting not the Righteousness of Christ but Faith working by Charity to be imputed for Righteousness to them that believe Rom. 4.5 24. But if it be the act or habit of Faith which is imputed to us for Righteousness according to the express literal Sense of the Apostles words then 't is not the Personal Righteousness of Christ that is imputed to us for our Faith is no part of his Righteousness But because the Phrase of Christs Righteousness imputed to us hath been commonly used by Divines of very good Note amongst Protestants though no man can be obliged to admit it in a strict Sense it being not found in Scripture yet I think for Peace sake it should not be absolutely rejected much less with any reflections of Reproach or Disparagement to them that have used it but rather admitted in such a Candid Sense as it may fairly bear As if the Son of a Prince or some other Person of Great Merit and Favour with him should undertake to be Mediator for some Rebel that had justly incurred the Displeasure of his Prince and rendred himself obnoxious to the highest penalty of Law should of his own Good Will by the Appointment and Will of the Prince act or suffer something for and on the behalf of the Delinquent and thereby obtain by the Grace of the Prince a free Pardon for him under some equitable Conditions required of the Delinquent In this case the Merits Act and Sufferings of such a Mediator might in a reasonable Sense be said to be imputed to the Redeemed Person Such an Interpretation of this Phrase of Christs Righteousness imputed to us I think should not be quarrel'd but may fairly agree with the Scripture phrases of Propitiation Expiation and Attonement of Christ made for us and with the Discourse of the Apostle Rom. 5. from the 15 Verse to the end of the Chapter Other Senses there are of this Phrase insisted upon by some Divines which cannot be maintained without gross and absurd Consequences as hath been shewed by some that have lately written sharply concerning this Point This Explication of the Question what is meant by that Efficacy which any act that can be done by us towards the Remission of our sins or our Justification can have being premised and cleared from the most usual Objections against it I proceed in my Reply to the fore-mentioned Answer to the Arguments for the Confirmation of the Doctrine in hand drawn from the Promises and Exhortations of Scripture as followeth To the First part of that Answer alledging only the necessity of Presence of Charity and Good Works together with Faith in order to the obtainment of the Benefits propounded as a sufficient Account for the use of those Motives contained in the said Promises and Exhortations I reply by demanding whether the Charity and Good Works supposed to be necessary do concurr to the Qualification of the Person that is to receive these Benefits or not If they do concurr as any Part of the Qualification of the Person for the Receipt of those Benefits it cannot be denied by the Explication of the forementioned Question but that they are as truly available to the Obtainment of those Benefits as Faith or any thing else can be If they do not concurr as any Part of Qualification for these Benefits the bare necessity of their Presence upon any other account can be no reasonable ground of Exhortations to such Actions in order to the Advantages thereunto promised Nor can those Advantages or Benefits be any reasonable Motives to such Actions whiles they are supposed to contribute nothing at all to the Obtainment of them And consequently the only design of propounding those Motives to such Actions would be utterly frustrate For all Exhortations Counsels or Advices to any Act or Practice do include this general Supposition to common Understanding that the things advised or exhorted to are of some Use and Validity to the End that is propounded either by removing some Impediment or by some kind of Causality or other else the Advice is altogether vain and a Man should be never the nearer his End by following it And therefore it hath been said that although Charity and Good Works be in themselves of no Validity or Efficacy to the Covering of sin Justification or Salvation of a sinner nor do contribute any thing towards the Obtaining of these Benefits yet they have the nature of a Causa sine quâ non that is of something without which a thing is not to be effected or gained but if that Something hath no manner of Causality at all in it it cannot be called a Causa sine quâ non without a real Contradiction in the Terms For to be a Cause without which a thing cannot be and yet to have no manner of Causality in reference to the Effect is to be a Cause and no Cause But suppose the design of the Holy Ghost in the forementioned Promises and Exhortations had been as we really suppose it was to instruct men what they should do or what things possible to be done by them would be available to the ends propounded I demand how such a Design could have been expressed more significantly then it is by the Terms used in the Exhortations and Promises alledged And as for the bare necessity of presence of Charity and Good Works together with Faith in the Persons which are to be justified and saved that 's no more then is equally true of the faculties of Life Sense and Reason there being a perfect necessity of the presence of all these things to the act of Faith which is supposed to be the only thing that justifies a man But would it therefore be reasonable to exhort men to take care to preserve these faculties in order to their Justification or might the Promises of Pardon of Sin Life and Salvation be reasonably annexed to such a care of preserving these Faculties upon the bare account of their necessary presence or concomitancy with a justifiing Faith Now where it hath been said that Charity and Good Works are necessary to the verification of that Faith by which we are justified i. e. to declare and manifest the truth of it but have otherwise no concurrent Efficacy to the Justification of the Believer and that is a sufficient account of the reasonableness of all Promises made to the habit and exercise of this Vertue as also of the Exhortations before mentioned I answer that if indeed these things be necessary to the verification of that Faith that justifies us so
Octob. 18. 1694. Imprimatur Gul. Stanley Procan Jos Beaumont Joh. Mountagu Jo. Eachard Joh. Covel A DISCOURSE UPON I Peter IV. VIII Wherein the Power and Efficacy OF CHARITY As it is a Means to procure the Pardon of Sin Is EXPLAINED and VINDICATED By the Reverend Mr John Whitefoot Sen. of NORWICH CAMBRIDGE Printed by John Hayes For William Graves and are to be sold by Samuel Oliver Bookseller in NORWICH 1695. TO All Good Christians whose Faith is made Effectual by CHARITY The AUTHOR Dedicateth this DISCOURSE Wishing Them Increase of that most Divine most Christian and most Spiritual Grace 1 Pet. 4. 8. And above all things have fervent Charity among your selves for Charity shall or will cover a multitude of Sins AS in the Ethnick Theology of the Greek Poets we read of a Famous Triade of Graces reported to be the Daughters of Jupiter So the Apostle St Paul makes mention of a certain Trinity of Christian Graces all special Fruits and Daughters of the Holy Spirit 1 Cor. 13.13 And now abideth Faith Hope and Charity but the greatest of these is Charity And that may duely be esteemed the greater 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or greatest of the Three in many respects besides that which the Apostle seems specially to aim at in that Text viz. That of continuance and duration in another Life after the Expiration of the other Two For Charity is a Vertue of the greatest Perfection that can be and most highly deserving the Name of Grace Gratia gratis data gratia gratum faciens As freely given as any other and most gratefull to God and Man This Charity is the Root Ground and Foundation of all Christian Piety as is intimated by the words of the Apostle Eph. 3.17 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Radicati Fundati That ye being rooted and grounded in love c. It is indeed the end and fruit of the other Two Faith teaches it Hope excites and cherishes it It is also of greatest Extent extending both to God and Man All Men our selves our Friends and Enemies Faith and Hope will be antiquated by possession sight and fruition but Charity is a thing that we shall carry with us into the other World where we shall improve and keep it for ever 'T is the end of the Commandment 1 Tim. 1.5 and the fulfilling of the Law Gal. 5.14 For all the Law is fulfilled in one word even in this Thou shalt love c. That one little Monosyllable Love is a perfect abbreviation of the whole Code and Pandects of the Divine Law The first and the great Commandment is this Mat. 22.37 c. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul with all thy mind and with all thy might And the Second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets He that truly loves God will not break any of his Commandments willfully and he that doth not love him cannot keep any of them 1 Jo 5.3 'T is this love that keeps us from transgressing the Law and so prevents sin and as I shall shew hereafter the same is usefull to cover sin and to procure the pardon thereof It keeps us from injuring or offending our neighbour and inclines us to forgive his offences against us 'T is the bond of perfection both of Nature and Grace of Humanity and Divinity A loving Disposition is that which we call Good Nature the most Ingenuous Noble and Amiable Whereas the want of it and especially the contraries to it an envious malicious peevish froward rigid cruel covetous and penurious mind is Ill Nature Disingenuous and Hatefull Therefore the extream opposite to Love beareth the name of Wickedness in an Emphatical Sense in the Greek and Latin as also in our own and other Languages that have any Derivation from them So the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 malitia malice are generally used And the Spirit of wickedness or the wicked Spirit is called by the name of Satan which signifies an absolute privation of all Love to God or Man together with the opposite to both consisting in his enmity to both But Charity is Goodness it self in the Common Sense of that Word and without it there is no such thing as Goodness truly so called And whereas there are divers sorts of Goodness noted by the ordinary distinction of Bonum jucundum utile honestum the pleasant profitable and honest Good Charity comprehends them all in the greatest Perfection nothing so pleasant both to the Lover and the Beloved nothing so Profitable to both nothing so Honourable 'T is the Perfection of Righteousness in the Sense of Holy Scripture where the word Righteous Mat. 6.1 some Copies read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Righteousness for Alms. and Righteousness do most frequently signifie especially in the Psalms more than meer innocence or common Justice Nor is the Sense of them to be contracted into the short and scanty measures of the Cardinal Vertue in the Ethick Philosopher or the Definition of Justinian Justitia est constans perpetua voluntas suum cuique tribuendi Though even that might pass for a Definition good enough with a Christian Gloss borrowed from St Paul and our Saviours command Rom. 13.7 8. Render to all their due where Love is one and the chiefest of all made so by the Common Law of Nature and by the express Precept of our Saviour of loving our Neighbour as our selves which makes it a general debt so interpreted by the Apostle Owe nothing to any man but to love one another And if this Obligation of debt could be dispensed with or abstracted from this Act of Charity in men as it is in God it would have so much the more of Divine Perfection as being more free St Paul calls it Piety or Godliness 1 Tim. 5.4 St James makes it Pure Religion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To shew Piety at home he means Charity Ja. 1 27. Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and the widows in their distress And the same Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both Charitable and Godly It is the Energy Life and Perfection of Faith These are all Apostolical Titles vid. Gal. 5.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 2.18 21 26. I do not add the Scholastick Notion that it is the form of Faith because that 's liable to some Quarrel I shall conclude the present Encomium of this Grace in Three Words shewing that it is the most Divine the most Christian the most Spiritual Vertue 1. The most Divine For God is Love saith the most Loving and beloved Disciple twice over in one Chapter 1 Jo. 4.7 8 16. Beloved let us love one another for Love is of God And every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God He that loveth not
exactly the Merits and Circumstances of every mans case that is to be tryed before him and who will be Advocate as well as Judge for every sinner as far as his case will bear And therefore as in humane Judicature or Exercise of distributive Justice amongst men when a Criminal is to be judged although his case be such as can neither admit of a Justification nor yet of a Plenary Pardon yet it is thought no more than reasonable that some consideration should be had of the rest of his Life especially if there be any Good Evidence of any Special Laudable Actions done by him they may be considered toward the abatement of utmost severity in the Penalty where any such abutement is possible as in Punishments which are not Capital So though I cannot assure any man that it shall be so in the case of any Persons falling under the necessary Sentence of Condemnation yet I think there is some Reason to hope that he that hath shewed Mercy to Men in this Life though he be not saved may find some Mercy in the degrees of his Punishment And that not only upon the account of such an abatement of his Guilt as was before signified respecting his sins of omission but also with respect to his sins of commission That there will be some kind of Counterpoise or Ballance of Good and Evil Works in the Divine Judgement and execution of Justice is not in my opinion to be rejected as a meer Rabinical or Platonical conceit Mal poâ—se qui ne contre poise Is the French Prov. though it be so too but seems to be in some measure probable as it is agreeable to the nature of Justice exercised amongst men privately and publickly The Summ of what I have said in the Explication of that Sense of the Apostles words which I here maintain is this That Charity if it be sincere as the Fruit of an unfeighed Faith and Repentance will be available towards a plenary Covering or Remission of a mans sins at the last Judgement If it be not so yet it will procure him some Remission at least if not Exemption from temporal Punishment in this Life besides other positive Rewards ordinarily given to the practice of this Vertue and may also be available towards the Abatement of the Degrees of positive Punishment in the Life to come I say of Positive Punishment commonly called Paena Sensûs Pain or Punishment of Sense because the Privative Punishment Poena Damni the Punishment of Loss can admit of no degrees of Abatement For the loss of Eternal Life will be equal to all that are not saved and can be no other from the Nature of the thing though the sense and affliction of that Loss may differ much according to the different capacities Men were in to obtain that Life and the inequality of the Means thereof received and rejected or neglected For in this respect the Loss of Eternal Life will be more tolerable as our Saviour saith for Sodom and Gomorrah for Tyre and Sidon that never had the like means of Salvation though they were not excluded from all means or possibility thereof then it will be for Bethsaida or Capernaum And so it will be proportionably for all People under like Inequality of the means of Life neither is it possible for any Person that never had any such Means as some other had and therefore cannot be guilty of Rejecting or Neglecting them I say it is not possible for any such Person to fall under the same Degrees of that necessary Punishment of the never-dying Worm as that is supposed to signifie the anguish and torment of the guilty Conscience This natural punishment of the Afflicted or afflicting Conscience for the same Reason must needs be abated also to him that hath done some Good works of Charity in this Life because his Conscience cannot charge him at the same rate as it must needs do him that hath totally neglected them under an equal or larger Ability Whether the substance of this Interpretation of the Text either necessary or most probable must be left to the judgment of the Reader but that it is neither Popish nor Singular as some may be ready to charge it I must take leave to challenge whiles I find that this Sense of the Words hath neither been received by all Papists nor rejected by all Protestants Some of the Pontificians baulking this Interpretation as Estius Tirinus and others which I insist upon do give the same which is given by most Protestants namely That Charity will cover the sins of other Men not the sins of the Charitable Person in such a Sense as is hereafter to be declared And some Eminent Protestants do admit that other Sense which I prefer as most probable And that not only in this Text but also in that of St. James wherein the same Phrase is used Jam. 5.20 He which converteth a sinner from the Errour of his ways shall save a Soul from Death and shall hide a Multitude of sins The origiginal Words are the same in both Texts and are thus Paraphrased by a Learned Doctor of our own Church Dr. Hammond It is a most excellent glorious Work which he hath wrought the Effect of which is that God will free him on whom this Change is wrought from Death eternal and perhaps from present temporal Death through Sickness fallen upon him for that sin vid. v. 15. And besides he will accept and reward the Charity of him that hath wrought that good Work with the free Discharge of whatsoever sins he hath formerly been guilty of but hath now repented of See the same Authors Annotation upon the Text. This Sense is agreeable to the words of the Prophet Daniel Dan. 12.3 They that turn many to Righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever viz. in Heavenly Glory which necessarily implyes a Remission of their sins And why the zealous Endeavouring to convert sinners from the Error i. e. evil of their Way should be available to procure the Covering of a multitude of sins in him that makes it his care and study so to do a very good Reason may be given from the nature of the Act which imports one of the best Testimonies of Repentance that can be In that Penetential Psalm wherein David sues to Almighty God for the Pardon of his gross sins of Murder and Adultery he urges this as a Motive towards the obtaining of his Request Psal 5.13 Then will I teach Transgressors thy Ways and sinners shall be converted unto Thee And surely no greater Reparation can be made by sinfull man to Almighty God for the dishonour done to his Majesty by his own sins than when the penitent sinner together with his own Hearty repentance and amendment of Life shall endeavour also as much as lies in his power the Conversion of other sinners unto God So did Abner design to make his peace with King David after his professed Enmity and Rebellion first by Promising
make use of Texts and Sayings in the Old Testament in a different Sence from that which did belong to them there As in Mat. 2.15 and 23. 2 Cor. 8.15 and elsewhere frequently And this Answer I take to be sufficient for this first Objection against our Interpretation of St. Peters words 2. Objection But another main Objection and that which is most like to be insisted upon against this Interpretation is that it seems to favour the Popish Doctrines of Merit Satisfaction and Justification by Works and to be repugnant to the Evangelical Doctrine of the most full perfect and sufficient Expiation and Satisfaction for the sins of the whole World made only by the Sacrifice of Christs death and applied only by Faith The covering and pardon of sin is the Effect of Gods grace granted only upon the consideration of Christs death upon condition of a true Faith in him wrought by the Spirit of God through the hearing of the Gospel Answer To this Objection I answer 1. That although some Papists interpreting this Text as I do may be found to alledge it among other Texts for the confirmation of some of the Doctrines mentioned in the Objection yet neither is this Sense vouched by all Interpreters of their Profession nor can any of those Doctrines be further evinced or confirmed from this Text so understood then it may be from other Texts before alledged for the Confirmation of the Doctrine against which the Objection is made Nor is the free grace of God or the sufficiency of that Expiation or Satisfaction which was made by the death of Christ any more abated by this Doctrine than it is by that which all the forementioned Texts import 2. The words Merit and Satisfaction are known to have been familiarly used in reference to Good Works by the most ancient of the Latin Fathers and particularly by St. Cyprian one of the most Primitive in a Catholick Orthodox Sense Both the words are Innocent in the Sense of the Fathers though they have been perverted by the Schoolmen And Justification by Works is certainly as true in St. James's Sence as 't is false in St. Pauls The late Controversies that have been concerning these Points do not so much respect the words as the extravagant Sense that hath been put upon them by the Schoolmen who have intangled and corrupted a great part of Christian Doctrine by their misinterpreting the Fathers determining the simplicity of their Popular Expressions by their own Capricious and Litigious Conceits into such Dogmatical Sense as was never thought of by the Antients But in the particular Controversies about Merit Satisfaction and Justification by Works there hath been so much of Logomachy or word-bate as might in my opinion be fairly compromised or accorded by Judicious Arbitratours whose minds were free from all prejudice but that against Contention and Division and were more zealous for Unity and Concord than for disputable and opinionative Truth But for to undertake that task in this place would not be reasonable That all Pardon of sin is founded upon the Expiation or Propitiation made by the Bloud of Christ and granted or obtained only by the Free Grace of God is not denied by any Sect or Party of Christians that I know of Although some Differences have been about the Conditions of this Grant For to say that this Grace is granted without any Condition or Qualification of the Receiver is in my Judgment to deny a great part of the Scriptures as well of the New Testament as of the Old destructive as well of the New Covenant as of the Old no more Antinomian than Anti-evangelical Doubtless it is of Free Grace that God will pardon a sinner upon any Condition Nor is it possible for us to do any thing sufficient to make Satisfaction for our sins or to merit the Forgiveness of them in rigor of Justice because all that is in our Power to do is no more then our Duty if God requires it And all that we do is much less And as the duty of Well doing in the utmost Extent is a just Debt of Thankfulness at least if not of Preceptive Obligation to Almighty God to whom we owe our selves and all that we have or can do So the Punishment we are liable to for neglecting our Duty or acting contrary thereunto in our Evil doings is another Debt by our Saviours account signified to us in that Form of Prayer which he hath taught us to use Forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtors Mat. 6.12 But it is altogether unreasonable one Debt can be discharged by the Payment of another especially when the Payment falls so much short of the old Debt as it doth in any thing we do Besides that upon a due account Charity it self and every Good Work that can be done by us doth increase our debt to God because it cannot be done without his Grace Nevertheless God of his Free Grace hath promised the Remission of sin upon certain Conditions declared in his Word amongst which this of Charity is one that by a common Synechdoche of a Part for the Whole includes all the rest And whereas in the New Testament Faith in Christ is more commonly propounded as the Condition of Justification importing the Remission of sin it is to be considered that this Faith is so far from excluding Charity that it is expressly said to include it by St. Paul himself the supposed Author of the Doctrine of Justification by Faith without Works Gal. 5.6 For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be to be understood in a Passive sense as most commonly it is elsewhere in Scripture and in other Books and as it is here rendred by the Syriack Translator and so meaning that Faith is actuated perfected and made effectual by Love or in the Active sense as our English Translation gives it signifying the Efficacy Energy or Operation of Faith only The Meaning of the Apostle by the Addition of these Words can be no other then to limit and distinguish the nature of that Faith which is available to Justification from an hypocritical dead and ineffectual Faith which is altogether invalid availing nothing at all to the Effect of Justification The Active sense of the Word as well as the Passive serving to declare the true Nature and Notion of a Justifying Faith to be Energetical and Practical i. e. producing such effects of the Will as are agreeable to the entire Object of it that is to the Authority of Christ his Doctrine and Precepts as well as such as respect only the Effect of Redemption or Expiation of sin by his Death And such is the necessity of this Charity by the Doctrine of the same Apostle that he elsewhere saith Though I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing 1 Cor. 13.3
Where by all Faith undoubtedly is meant all the Faith that can be had without Charity and needs not to be restrained to the particular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or extraordinary Gift of the Faith of Miracles whereof he speaks in the former Chapter ver 12. To this Purpose St. James Chap. 2.22 saith Faith is made perfect by Works not excluding any sort of Good Works but specially treating of the works of Charity as appears by the Context from verse the 13. to the 18. And whereas he saith Faith is made perfect by Works he speaks not only of a Gradual Perfection or of the Consummation or Preservation of Faith or of the Ornament Demonstration or signal evidence of Faith as some would have it but of such an essential and formal Perfection as is necessary to the nature of Truth and sincerity of Faith as appears by that repeated Sentence both before and after these Words ver 17. Faith without Works is dead and ver 26. As the Body without the Spirit is dead so Faith without Works is dead also Whether by the Spirit he means the Breath as some take it because the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritus sometime signifies no more or rather the Soul which is the most usual Sense of the word in Scripture the Meaning comes all to one signifying that an idle or fruitless Faith hath no more of Spiritual Life or Reality in it than a Body can have without Breath or without a Soul and therefore is no more a true and unfeigned Faith than a dead Carcass is a human Body Indeed the true justifying saving Faith in the practical Notion which is the only true Notion of it includes Charity together with all other Good Works as I have elsewhere largely shewed So that if Faith be necessary to the Covering or Remission of sin Charity is so too But the common Answer to these and all other Texts produced to evince the Necessity of Charity and Good Works to the Salvation of a sinner is that they prove only a necessity of Presence and Concomitancy or at most a necessity of Consequence not of Efficacy that is that this Necessity doth not respect the End or Effect of Faith in the Justification or Salvation of the Believeer but proceeds only from the common nature and principle of that Faith which is an effect of the Spirit of God the necessary Fruits whereof do consist in Love Joy Peace Long-suffering c. which distinct Vertues with their proper Works do not contribute any thing to the Effect of our Justification but are meer Concomitants or at most but gratefull Effects of that Faith which justifieth us Which useth to be illustrated by a Similitude borrowed from the natural and animal Life wherein the particular faculties of Seeing or taking hold of a thing by the Touch do necessarily imply such a common Principle of sensitive Life as doth also comprehend the powers and faculties of Hearing Smelling and Tasting yet none of these Faculties or any act of them do or can contribute any thing efficiently to the effect of Seeing Apprehending or laying hold of an Object So the Grace of Charity or Love to God and Man together with all those other Fruits of the Spirit which are mentioned by the Apostle and all the Effects and Works which do proceed from them are indeed necessary Concomitants of such a Faith as justifies or saves a Man but do contribute no more nor have any more Efficacy to this effect of Justification and Salvation than the distinct Faculties of other Senses do to the effect of Seeing This I take to be a true Account of their Sense that assert the Doctrine of Justification and Pardon of sin by Faith only as that imports a habit or act really distinct though not separated from other Christian Vertues In opposition to this Opinion contradicting the Doctrine which I maintain to be the Sense of the Apostle in this Text confirmed as hath been seen by many others I am engaged to prove that Charity and Good Works are necessary to the Justification of a sinner that is to the Remission of his sin not only by way of Concomitancy or joint Presence with Faith or consequent to it but also by way of moral Efficacy as a Condition or Means to obtain that Effect This I hope will be sufficiently done by the following Arguments this one postulate or conclusion which I suppose will not be denied being first granted me viz. That if any thing else beside the habit or act of Faith considered as really distinct from other Christian Vertues or Acts be effectual or available to the Remission of sin then Charity is or may be so in as much as that is one of the most Excellent of Christian Vertues most agreeable to the Nature of God and consequently most pleasing to him So that if that be not available to this End nothing else besides Faith can be so This Proposition being granted I argue as followeth 1. Argument If it be certain from Scripture and we be bound to believe that nothing which can be done by us besides such a Faith as is supposed to be really distinct though not separate from all Good Works can be of any Efficacy towards the remission of our sins then ought nothing else to be done by us towards that end because every such other act done to this end would by this supposition be perfectly vain and unreasonable and not so only but also contrary to our obliged belief And then to pray for the forgiveness of our sins that being an act distinct from Faith would be not only needless and useless but unlawful especially if it should be acted with any opinion hope or belief that such a prayer could avail us any thing in order to this end or that this end could any way be promoted by our Prayers But this is directly contrary to our Saviours Precept in that Form of Prayer which he hath taught us to use wherein we are directed to pray that God will forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And contrary to the advice of St. Peter to Simon Magus Acts 8.22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee Where also it is to be noted that the Apostle adviseth him not only to pray for the forgiveness of his sin but also to repent of it in order to the same end The same advice is given by the same Apostle to the Jews in the first Sermon which he made unto them after the reception of the Holy Ghost Acts 2.37 38. Having convinced them of their hainous sin in the murder of the Lord Jesus and made them sensible of it Now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles men and brethren what shall we do Then Peter said unto them repent and be baptizid every one of you in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins Where 't is observable that whiles two other things are prescribed by the Apostle to be done in order to the remission of sin viz. to repent and to be baptized no mention is made of Faith other then is included in those words be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ which do indeed necessarily imply the act of Faith But besides this Baptism which is one thing required to be done for the remission of sins Repentance also which is another thing is expressly required as necessary to this end not in that Text only but in an hundred others of both Testaments from whence it is that this remission of sin is mentioned as the signal effect of Repentance Mark 1.4 Luke 3.3 John is said to have preached the Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of sin And in the Conjunction of these two things the Sum of the Gospel to be preached to all Nations is comprised by our Saviour in St. Luke chap. 24.47 That Repentance and Remission of sin should be preached in his Name to all Nations Hence also is the same called Repentance unto Life Acts. 11.18 and Repentance to Salvation 2 Cor. 7.9 From which Texts it doth sufficiently appear not only that Repentance is necessary unto the Remission of sin and to Life and Salvation as a Condition or Causa sine quâ non but that it is also effectual and really available to these Ends For to call that Repentance unto Life and Repentance to Salvation which contributes nothing at all nor hath any manner of Efficacy to these Ends is an absurd Form of words And if the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto doth not signifie some kind of Efficacy or Qualification for these Ends it signifies just nothing But if it doth signifie any manner of Efficacy to this End one of these Things must needs be true either that Repentance is the same thing with that Faith which abstracts from Works as an Act really distinct from them all which is a plain Contradiction or that something besides Faith and really distinct from it is effectual and available to the Remission of sins which is the thing that was to be demonstrated Thus I have named two Things besides Faith which are generally necessary to Remission of sin viz. Prayer and Repentance Whereunto might be added the practice of Fasting Mourning Humiliation and Confession of sin as things frequently mentioned in Scripture with prescription to their use in order to this end I forbear to cite the particular Texts wherein these things are prescribed because they are all but appendages or parts of the general duty of Repentance Nor are these things necessary to this effect barely and only by their antecedent presence as meet and convenient preparatives for this Grace of Pardon but also by and in respect of such a Moral Efficacy and Prevalency as they are justly presumed to have by their declared acceptance with God which is all the Efficacy that can be reasonably attributed to Faith it self And if upon the stress of this Argument it should be said that Faith in the practical Sense as a living energetical operative habit doth include Repentance with all the proper fruits thereof the whole Question is yielded For then to say that Faith is available for the remission or covering of sin is to say that Repentance Prayer Charity and Good Works are so too which is all we contend for It being far from our meaning to exclude Faith from any necessary concurrence to this effect of Charity that is to say that Charity without Faith can cover sin For neither can Christian Charity be without Faith nor if it could would it be any wise effectual to this end The only thing that we assert is that Charity together with Faith and as a proper and most Excellent Fruit of it is available to this end And the summ of the Argument which we have here urged to confirm this Assertion is this 1. That if nothing but Faith can be available to this end then ought nothing to be done in order to it but believing And Prayer Repentance Humiliation and Confession of sin notwithstanding that in Scripture they be all prescribed as means to be used to this end are not only useless or needless but unlawfull to be practised with respect to this end Or secondly that if any of these things be available to this purpose so also is Charity This is our first Argument 2. Argument If Charity and Good Works of any sort be not available towards the obtainment of remission of sin Eternal Life and Salvation then do all promises of these Benefits made to the use and exercise of these means signifie nothing or at least they must needs lose all power and signification of Motives to any of these Duties For how can that be considered as a reasonable Motive to any act which doth no way promote it Whereas the General Design and end of all conditional Promises is to encourage perswade and move the Persons to whom they are made to the performance of those Conditions and Acts which are recommended by the respective Promises upon the hope of obtaining the promised Benefits by those means But this hope can have no foundation without the believing that the performance of those Conditions will be some ways effectual to the obtainment of these Benefits But if the performance of such Acts and Conditions must be believed to contribute nothing at all to the obtainment of these Benefits the forementioned Faith in the Promises which is the only foundation of the hope is utterly destroyed And by consequence the said Promises are deprived of all Vertue or power of Motives to the practices whereunto they are annexed 3. Argument All Precepts Exhortations and Counsels such as that in our Text to the practice of Charity or any other Christian Vertue beside Faith urged by such Motives as are no ways promoted by the Acts whereunto we are exhorted are vain and delusory Were such Precepts and Exhortations delivered simply and absolutely as only declarative of our Duty or designed only to move Men to their Duties as Testimonies of Gratitude or Thankfulness for those Benefits which we receive only by Faith as some late Divines would have them they would indeed be reasonable upon that account But when they are expressly urged as in this Text and many others they are to move Men to the Practice of particular Duties as means to obtain the proposed Benefits what can they signifie but a plain imposing upon us or abusing our minds and perverting our Faith supposing that the doing of those things whereto we are exhorted can nothing avail us to those ends What can such Exhortations signifie more then if a man should be perswaded to stretch forth his hands to behold the Glory of the Heavens or to open his eyes to hear the sweet Melody of Musick But the force of these Arguments is by many late Divines thought to
Good Works doth plainly suppose a negation of any antecedent necessity of Conversion and Repentance which are the two first things which he treats of under that Title of Thankfulness unto the Effect of our Justification and Salvation unless it be reasonable to say that a man is obliged to be thankfull for a Benefit before he hath it or to the end that he may receive it Conversion unto God and Repentance by this mans Doctrine must be looked upon as a thing not in it self necessary to our Justification or Remission of sin but as a Duty of Gratitude for this Grace given unto us either before or without respect to our Conversion And we are to repent and turn to God not that our sins may be forgiven but because they are so not that we may be saved but because we believe and are confident that we shall be saved So the whole practice of Christian Piety Holiness and Righteousness before God must proceed upon an account of Thankfulness to him for his free Grace that requires none of these things at our hands as conditions of our Pardon or Reconciliation with his offended Majesty Not but that some other Ends and Reasons and particularly those which we mentioned before are also named by the same Author as part of the necessity of Good Works But all are reduced unto the general account of Thankfulness and exclusive of any Moral causality or condition of Justification and Salvation How well this Doctrine agrees with Natural Religion the Scriptures of the Old Testament or even with the design of the Gospel I must leave to be judged by indifferent Readers Because I hold not my self obliged in this place to engage any further in the great Controversie about Justification by Faith alone or to take particular notice of the Texts of St. Paul commonly alledged for the Solifidian Doctrine which have been exactly considered by so many of our own Divines and my own Sense of them elsewhere delivered in brief Besides that the covering of sins attributed to Charity in the present Text though it extends to the Effect of Justification in the most Eminent Sense of the Phrase yet is not by our Interpretation limited to that signification but extended as hath been said to the removal of punishments in this life and to the abatement of them both in this Life and that which is to come which are the Benefits that may be obtained by Charity without any perfect Justification of a sinner Now if any Person that reads this Discourse having not been prepossessed with any Prejudice against this Doctrine or doubt of the Truth of it shall think that the Work is over-done by the Allegation of so many Texts and Arguments for the Confirmation of it and so much pains taken in answering Objections against it and shall therefore charge me with loading the Readers with a tedious Accumulation of superfluous Arguments thereby abating the Perspicuity of the Matter as Cicero speaks upon occasion of his long Discourse Perspicuitas enim argumentatione elevatur Remque meâ sententiâ minimè dubiam argumentando dubiam facis Tull. de Oratore Lib. 3. to prove the Existence of a Deity I must answer that this Objection can only be made by him that is ignorant of the contrary Doctrine commonly asserted and contended for not only by Lutherans and Calvinists abroad but by several of our English Divines till of late years going that way And 2. Although the bad Consequences of that Doctrine have been strongly averted by the Authors thereof in some of their Discourses yet the Event and Effect thereof hath to my own Knowledge in a multitude of Persons with whom I have had Occasion to converse notoriously abated the exercise of Charity and the Zeal or Conscience of Good Works supposed by this Doctrine to be neither absolutely necessary nor available to the Salvation of a Christian Many Persons I have known who upon this only Ground have neglected and slighted the practice of Charity not only in their Life time but also at their Death comforting themselves against all fear of Peril by this Neglect from a mistaken Notion and Confidence of Justification by Faith alone without Good Works The Sense of this dangerous Errour was one thing that moved me to the Pains of this Plain Discourse Having visited divers Persons in their Last sickness earnestly moving them according to the Injunction of our Church Liturgy in that Office to Liberality towards the Poor with little or no Success upon a Misperswasion of the no Necessity and as little Validity of such Works to the safety of their future State And though I have known Some and do believe there are many of that Perswasion that upon other Considerations and better Principles have been very Charitable and Forward to Good Works yet I have also had a particular Opportunity of observing Knowing something more than other Men concerning the Neglect of this Duty from the Place of my late Habitation for some Years belonging to an Office of Registry kept for the Probate and Custody of Wills and Testaments made within the Jurisdiction of the Arch-deacon of Norfolk wherein I have observed this last Record and Testimony of Charity which should have made up the Neglect and Defects of that Duty before to have been either wholly omitted or very penuriously and disproportionably expressed in many and indeed most Wills of Considerable Estates But to take off all appearance of Scandal to our Religion upon this Account it hath been or may be made Evident upon a just Reckoning that the Publick Good Works and Donations of Protestants to pious Uses in this Nation since the Reformation have been more than Equal to any that ever were done by Papists within the same Compass of Time in any precedent Age This personal Apology for the present Discourse might perhaps have been spared but was piously intended to the best Advantage and greatest Concern of all Persons in the time of their Life and at their Death There being certainly no possible Use to be made of Worldly Goods so Acceptable to God or so Advantagious to the Owners thereof both in their Lives and at their Death as that which I am labouring to promote from this Text. FINIS