ESSAY VI. which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness: And he was called the friend of God. 24. Ye see therefore, that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. 25. And in like manner also, was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, having secretly received the messengers, and having sent them away by another road? 26. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

In this account of justification, James is thought to have contradicted Paul; and to reconcile them, a variety of solutions have been proposed, most of which lead to very dangerous consequences. But, as shall be shewed immediately, the doctrine of the two apostles is the same: And the supposition that they have contradicted each other, is founded on a misapprehension. of what they have written on the subject, as will appear from what follows.

1. Although James hath said, that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only; he hath no where said, in contradiction to Paul, that by works of law, a man is justified.—2. In like man. ner, although Paul hath said, We conclude that by faithman is justified, and not by works of law, he hath no where said, in contradiction to James, that man is justified by faith only. He hath denied, indeed, that Abraham was justified by works; but, as was shewed, page 43, it is plain from the scope of his reasoning, that the works of which he speaks, are not works proceeding from faith, but works of law; that is, a perfect performance of the works enjoined by law. These Paul excluded from the justification of Abraham, not because they would not have justified him if he had performed them, but because it was not in his power to perform them.-3. The justification by works, of which James speaks, is not a meritorious justification by works of law, but a free grace justification by works proceeding from faith, chap. ii. 22. Thou seest that faith co-operated with his works, and by works his faith was perfected. This kind of works, Paul is so far from excluding from his idea of justification, that he expressly declares them to be absolutely necessary to it. For, having observed that men are justified by faith, Gal. v. 5. We through the spirit look for the hope of righteousness by faith; to prevent us from imagining, that he is speaking of faith disjoined from good works, he immediately adds, ver. 6. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith strongly working by love. To the same purpose, Gal. vi. 15. In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any

thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. Now, can any one be a new creature, without forsaking his sins, and leading a holy life? Paul's description of a new creature determines this question, 2 Cor. v. 17. If any man be in Christ Jesus he is a new creáture: Old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. Wherefore, as the two apostles do not speak of the same kind of justification, nor of the same kind of works, their doctrine rightly understood, hath not even the appearance of contradiction. To make their doctrine really contradictory, Paul's works of law must mean evangelical works, or good works proceeding from faith, contrary to the propriety of the expression, and to the scope of the apostle's argument, as was shewed, page 47.

Farther, that the two apostles have not contradicted each other in their doctrine concerning justification, may be presumed from this circumstance, that both of them have founded their doctrine on the justification of Abraham. Thus Paul, Rom. iv. 2. If Abraham were justified by works he might boast; but not before God. 3. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. In like manner, James ii. 21. Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he lifted up Isaac his son on the altar? Now, as it is not to be supposed, that the two apostles have builded a contradictory doctrine on the same foundation, the presumption is, that their doctrine is the same.

However, not to rest the matter on a presumption, the agreement of the two apostles in this great article of the Christian faith, will appear, if the doctrine of each is more narrowly examined. James, by telling us, that Abraham was justified by works, when he had lifted up Isaac on the altar, evidently alludes to what God said to him, Gen. xxii. 16. By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, 17. That in blessing I will bless thee. This promise to bless Abraham, which God so solemnly confirmed with an oath, James, with as much truth, hath termed God's justifying Abraham, as Paul hath given that appellation to God's counting his faith to him for righteousness. For, in fact, God's promise to bless Abraham, was the same with his promise to count his faith to him for righteousness, as is plain from Paul's calling the counting of faith for righteousness, the blessing of Abraham, Gal. iii. 14. See this proved more fully, Ess. V. sect. 1. p. 10. Wherefore, when God said to Abraham,

In blessing I will bless thee, seeing he promised to bestow on him the blessing of righteousness counted to him; Also seeing God declared, that he would so bless him, because he had not withheld his son, his only son, from him, it is evident, that if justification consisteth in having righteousness counted to one, Abraham was as really justified by the work of offering up Isaac, as by his believing in the Lord, that his seed should be numerous as the stars of the heaven.

That Abraham was justified by the work of lifting up Isaac on the altar, Paul also hath acknowledged in his epistle to the Hebrews, chap. vi. 13. When God made promise to Abraham, seeing he could swear by no one greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. That this was the promise which God made to Abraham, when he had offered up Isaac, is evident from the oath with which it was confirmed. For on no other occasion did God confirm any promise to Abraham with an oath. And that Paul understood this to be a promise to justify Abraham, is equally evident from his observing, that God confirmed his promise with an oath, to the end that the heirs might have strong consolation from it, ver. 17. God willing more abundantly to shew to the heirs of promise the immutability of his purpose, confirmed his promise to bless Abraham with an oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled away to lay hold on the hope set before us. 18. Which we have as an anchor of the soul. But what consolation could the heirs derive from God's promise to bless and multiply Abraham, if the blessing promised to him was not the blessing of justification? and of his having a numerous seed by faith? And what hope was set before the heirs to lay hold on as an anchor of the soul, unless it was the hope of pardon and eternal life, which was given to Abraham and to his seed, in God's promise to bless and multiply him? Since, therefore, Paul knew that the blessing which God promised to Abraham after he had offered up Isaac, was the blessing of justification; also since he knew that God expressly declared he would bestow that blessing on him, because he had not withheld his only son, by appealing to that transaction, as giving the heirs of promise strong consolation, Paul hath affirmed as expressly as James, that Abraham was justified by the work of offering up Isaac. Consequently, for any one to say, or even to think, that Abraham was not justified by that work, is to contradict Paul as well as James; nay,

it is to contradict God himself, who sware to Abraham, Because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is on the sea-shore.

Farther, although James hath said, that Abraham was justified by the work of lifting up Isaac upon the altar, he hath not said, that his faith had no influence in his justification. On the contrary, he tells us expressly, that his faith co-operated with his works, namely, in procuring his justification; and thereby he hath intimated, that that work was rendered effectual by its proceeding from faith. At the same time adding, that by works Abraham's faith was perfected, he, with equal plainness intimates, that Abraham's faith would have been imperfect, if he had refused to offer Isaac when God commanded him to do it. Wherefore, according to James, to render works acceptable to God, they must proceed from faith; and to render faith perfect or complete, it must produce good works. In short, without this union, neither faith nor works separately will avail any thing to men's justification. In this doctrine Paul agrees perfectly with James, as is evident from Gal. v. 6. vi. 15. formerly quoted. And from all those passages in his epistles, where he declares, that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God, 1 Cor. vi. 9. and that without holiness no man shall see the Lord, Heb. xii. 14.

Having thus shewed that the two apostles, rightly understood, agree perfectly in their doctrine concerning justification; it remains, for the farther illustration of the subject, to offer the. five following remarks.

1. Notwithstanding in the account Paul hath given of Abraham's justification, Rom. iv. 3, 4. believing is opposed to working, it does not follow that faith is not a work. Paul himself hath called faith a work, 1 Thess. i. 3.-And Christ hath termed believing on him whom God hath sent, the work which God prescribed to the Jews, John vi. 28, 29. This I think sheweth, that the working, to which believing is opposed by Paul, does not mean the performing of good works from a principle of faith, but the perfect performance of all the works which the law of God enjoins. And the opposition which is stated between believing and working, implieth nothing more but that believing is not a perfect obedience to the law of God; and that it hath not the influence

to procure a meritorious justification, which a perfect obedience would have, if it were possible for us to attain to it.

2. Many theologians overlooking the doctrine of James concerning justification, and attending only to the sound, without considering the sense, of what Paul hath written on the subject; and at the same time forgetting that faith is itself the greatest of all good works, have ascribed to faith some efficacy in justification, which good works have not. This efficacy they represent, by calling faith the hand which layeth hold on the righteousness of Christ, so as to make it the righteousness of the believer, and to render him perfectly righteous in the sight of God. But a doctrine of this kind, which implies an impossibility, and from which many dangerous consequences have been deduced by the Antinomians, ought not to be received; more especially as it hath no foundation in scripture. For none of the inspired writers hath called faith, a hand which layeth hold on the righteousness of Christ. They do not even say, that Christ's righteousness is counted, or imputed to believers; far less that they are made perfectly righteous thereby; which is an impossibility, because no person can be perfectly righteous in the sight of God, but one who hath never sinned. See Rom. iv. 3. note 2.—What Moses hath written concerning the justification of Abraham, is, that his believing in the Lord, and not the righteousness of Christ, was counted to him for righteousness. In like manner, what Paul hath taught, is, that the faith of believers is counted to them for righteousness through Jesus Christ; that is, on account of what Christ hath done to procure that blessing for them. The efficacy, therefore, of faith, doth not depend on its laying hold on the righteousness of Christ, nor on its possessing any inherent merit, but on the good pleasure of God, who from mere favour, counts the believer's faith to him for righteousness, having appointed it as the condition or means of his justification. But the same kind of efficacy is ascribed likewise to good works. And surely it belongeth to God, to appoint what conditions or means of justification seemeth to him good. Now that he hath actually made faith and works, not separately, but jointly, the condition of justification, both Paul and James have declared: the one by assuring us, that nothing availeth to men's justification, but faith working by love; the other by telling us, that Abraham's faith co-operated with the work of lifting up Isaac on the altar, in procuring him the promise of the blessing of justification. However, neither the one apostle nor the other meant,