zeal, and fear into love, and sinful habits into innocence, and passes on from grace to grace, till we arrive at the full measures of the stature of Christ, and into the perfect liberty of the sons of God; so that we shall no more say, "The evil that I would not, that I do; " but we shall hate what God hates, and the evil that is forbidden, we shall not do; not because we are strong of ourselves, but because Christ is our strength, and he is in us, and Christ's strength shall be perfected in our weakness, and his grace will be sufficient for us; and he will, of his own good pleasure, work in us, not only to will, but also to do, velle et perficere, saith the Apostle, to will and to do it thoroughly and fully, being sanctified throughout, to the glory of his holy name, and the eternal salvation of our souls, through Jesus Christ our Lord; to whom, with the Father, &c.

80

FIDES FORMATA; OR, FAITH WORKING BY

LOVE.

[BISHOP TAYLOR.]

JAMES, ii. 24.

You see then, how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

THAT "we are justified by faith," St. Paula tells us ; that we are also "justified by works," we are told in my text: and both may be true. But that this justification is wrought by faith without works, "to him that worketh not, but believeth" (saith St. Paul). That this is not wrought without works, St. James is as express for his negative as St. Paul was for his affirmative; and how both these should be true is something harder to unriddle. But affirmanti incumbit probatio, he that affirms must prove; and therefore St. Paul proves his doctrine by the example of Abraham, to whom faith was imputed for righteousness, and therefore not by works. And what can be answered to this? Nothing but this, that St. James uses the very same argument to prove that our justification is by works also: "For our father Abraham was justified by works, when he offered up

* Rom. iii. 28. iv. 5. v. 1. x. 10. Gal. ii, 16.

pre

his son Isaac." Now, which of these says true? Certainly both of them; but neither of them have been well understood; insomuch that they have not only made divisions of heart among the faithful, but one party relies on faith to the disparagement of good life, and the other makes works to be the main ground of our hope and confidence, and consequently to exclude the efficacy of faith: the one makes Christian religion a lazy and unactive institution, and the other a bold sumption on ourselves; while the first tempts us to live like heathens, and the other recalls us to live the life of Jews; while one says, I am of Paul, and another, I am of St. James, and both of them put it in danger of evacuating the institution and the death of Christ; one looking on Christ only as a lawgiver, and the other only as a Saviour. The effects of these are very sad, and by all means to be diverted by all the wise considerations of the Spirit.

My purpose is not with subtle arts to reconcile them that never disagreed; the two Apostles spake by the same Spirit, and to the same last design, though to differing intermedial purposes. But because the great end of faith, the design, the definition, the state, the economy of it, is, that all believers should not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit;" before I fall to the close handling of the text, I shall premise some preliminary considerations to prepare the way of holiness, to explicate the differing senses of the Apostles, to understand the question and the duty, by removing the causes of the vulgar mistakes of most

a James, ii 9.

men in this article; and then proceed to the main inquiry.

1. That no man may abuse himself or others by mistaking of hard words, spoken in mystery, with allegorical expressions to secret senses, wrapt up in a cloud; such as are faith, and justification, and imputation, and righteousness, and works; be pleased to consider, that the very word faith is, in Scripture, infinitely ambiguous, insomuch that in the Latin concordances of St. Hierom's Bible, published by Robert Stephens, you may see no less than twenty-two several senses and acceptations of the word faith, set down with the several places of Scripture referring to them; to which if out of my own observation I could add no more, yet these are an abundant demonstration, that whatsoever is said of the efficacy of faith for justification, is not to be taken in such a sense as will weaken the necessity and our carefulness of good life, when the word may in so many other senses be taken to verify the affirmation of St. Paul, of justification by faith, so as to reconcile it to the necessity of obedience.

2. As it is in the word faith, so it is in works; for by works is meant sometimes the thing done, sometimes the labour of doing, sometimes the good will; it is sometimes taken for a state of good life, sometimes for the covenant of works; it sometimes means the works of the Law, sometimes the works of the Gospel; sometimes it is taken for a perfect, actual, unsinning obedience, sometimes for a sincere endeavour to please God; sometimes they are meant to be such who can challenge the reward as of debt; sometimes they mean

only a disposition of the person to receive the favour and the grace of God. Now, since our good works can be but of one kind, (for ours cannot be meritorious, ours cannot be without sin all our life, they cannot be such as need no repentance,) it is no wonder if we must be justified without works in this sense; for by such works no man living can be justified. And these St. Paul calls the works of the law, and sometimes he calls them our righteousness; and these are the covenant of works. But because we came into the world to serve God, and God will be obeyed, and Jesus Christ came into the world to save us from sin, and "to redeem to himself a people zealous of good works," and hath to this purpose revealed to us all his Father's will, and destroyed the works of the devil, and gives us his Holy Spirit, and by him we shall be justified in this obedience; therefore, when works signify a sincere hearty endeavour to keep all God's commands, out of a belief in Christ, that if we endeavour to do so we shall be helped by his grace, and if we really do so we shall be pardoned for what is past, and if we continue to do so we shall receive a crown of glory; therefore, it is no wonder that it is said we are to be justified by works; always meaning, not the works of the law, that is, works that are meritorious, works that can challenge the reward, works that need no mercy, no repentance, no humiliation, and no appeal to grace and favour; but always meaning works that are an obedience to God by the measures of good will, and a sincere endeavour, and the faith of the Lord Jesus.

3. But thus also it is in the word justification: for