fession of their Faith in Christ, and admission into the Christian Covenant by baptism; and the Apostle illustrates his own doctrine of Justification, by appealing to the Justification of Abraham, as related by Moses. Had St. Paul been asked, whether Abraham, if he had subsequently refused to obey the divine command, to "offer Isaac his son upon the altar," would still have continued in the state of Justification, to which by his Faith in the promise of God, he had previously attained, he would have answered, certainly not; for if he had not done this work, or at least expressed a sincere readiness to do it, he could not have possessed the genuine principle of human conduct, a conformity to the will of God; he could not have continued justified, disobedience to the commands of God being incompatible with a state of Justification. St. James, to illustrate his doctrine of both Faith and Works being essential to the continuance in a state of Justification, appeals to the works of Abraham, by which the Faith, previously professed by the Patriarch, wrought, and was made perfect." And having declared Abraham to be justified by his works, he quotes the same passage from Genesis, respecting Abraham's Justification, which St. Paul had quoted, applying it not to the time when Abraham professed his Faith, but to the time when he demonstrated the sincerity of that Faith by actual obedience. This diferent application arises from the different views

of

of the subject of Justification taken by the two Apostles, in consequence of the different errors which it was their design to correct: St. Paul is considering, what it is which justifies Christians. when they are first admitted into the Christian Covenant; St. James is discussing, what is necessary to preserve Christians in a state of Justification. St. Paul therefore may be supposed to say, Abraham was first justified by Faith, which afterwards produced works: St. James may be supposed to say, Abraham was preserved in a state of Justification by works, which proceeded from Faith. These assertions are perfectly consistent; and St. James, in pointing out the true nature of Abraham's Faith, only intended to correct the error of those who had misinterpreted the doctrine of St. Paul. This instance of Abraham's Justification; the still earlier examples of Noah, Enoch, and Abel; and the more recent ones of Gideon, David, and the prophets under the Mosaic œconomy, mentioned by St. Paul upon another occasion (1), mark the uniformity of God's dealings with mankind in every period of the world, and establish these fundamental and universal principles of the Divine dispensations, that "without Faith it is impossible to please God (m);" and that "Faith without Works is dead (n)." It is scarcely possible to imagine a more gross perversion

(1) Heb. c. 11.

(m) Heb. c. II. v. 6.

(n) Jas. c. 2. v. 20.

perversion of any doctrine, than that which we have been now considering. St. Paul meant, that ceremonial works were not necessary before Justification; whereas these men pretended they had St. Paul's authority for maintaining that moral works were not necessary after Justification. Ce-. remonial works are not necessary to obtain Justification in this world; therefore, say they, moral works are not necessary to obtain Justification or Salvation in the world to come. Faith alone is sufficient; meaning, instead of a true and lively Faith productive of obedience, a bare assent to the truth of the Gospel, without any practical regard to its precepts. They vainly hoped that this spurious Faith would keep themn in a state of Justification in this life, and finally procure them Salvation in the next.

God is pleased to grant remission of all past sins, for the sake of his Blessed Son, on account of Faith only; but he requires from those, whom he thus graciously receives into his favour, an im-' plicit obedience to his commands in future: if they disobey, the pardon is cancelled, the state of acceptance is forfeited, and liability to punishThe servant, whose debt was forgiven by his Lord, but who afterwards refused to forgive the debt of his fellow-servant, was severely rebuked, and delivered to the tormentors to suffer punishment for that very debt which had been forgiven.

ment ensues.

forgiven. To the much agitated question, therefore, Whether works be necessary to Justification, we answer, that if by Justification be meant the first entrance into a state of Justification, works are not necessary; if by Justification, be meant the continuance in a state of Justification, works are necessary. By this distinction, we support the fundamental principle of the Gospel, Justification by Faith in Christ; and at the same time secure the main purpose of our Saviour's incarnation and death, "who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of Good Works (o);" we shew the consistency of Justification by Faith alone with the necessity of personal righteousness and holiness; we vindicate the mercy of God and the atonement of Christ, while we afford the strongest possible sanction to the cause of moral virtue.

From the above explanation, it is evident that I do not agree with a very respectable writer on the doctrine of Justification, in thinking that, in the passages just quoted, St. Paul is speaking of the meritorious cause, and St. James of the conditional cause, of Justification: "St. Paul, says Dr. Pearson, in saying that a man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the law, is speaking of the meritorious cause of Justification; and his meaning

(0) Tit. c. 2. v. 14.

meaning is, that we are justified by the Christian religion, that is, by the merits of Christ alone, to the exclusion of all other meritorious causes whatever." Dr. Pearson here, by the assistance of the expression "the Christian religion," makes "Faith" and "the merits of Christ" synonymous whereas, as I apprehend, they never can mean the same thing. Faith, when spoken of with reference to Justification, must exist in the person justified. If a man has Faith in Jesus Christ, that Faith, through the grace of God and merits of Christ's death, becomes, properly speaking, not the cause, but the means, because it is the appointed condition, of Justification. God, according to what has been stated, of his sovereign will and infinite goodness, ordained the merits of Christ to be the cause, and Faith in those merits to be the condition, of Justification. Cause and condition are distinct ideas; and that they may not be confounded, it would, I think, be better not to use the expression "conditional cause. In order to shew that "the merits of Christ" and "Faith" are not synonymous terms, let us, in St. Paul's sentence, "A man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the law,' substitute" the merits of Christ," instead of "Faith," and then the sentence will be, "A man is justified by the merits of Christ, without the deeds of the law" this latter proposition is true,

but