The apostle James speaks of a faith which hath not works, and which is destitute of mercy or charity, ver. 16, 17. Paul treats of a special faith by which we are the children of God, Gal. iii. 26. James, of a faith which is common to the devils, ver. 19. Paul treats of a faith by which we shall be saved, Rom. x. 9. James, of a faith which cannot save us, ver. 14. Paul treats of a faith by which we are justified without the deeds of the law, Rom. iii. 28. James, on the contrary, speaks of a faith which, being alone, without works, is such as will not justify us, ver. 24. Now, can it possibly be true of the same faith, that it is both alive and dead; that it worketh by love, and yet hath not works, but is without love and mercy; that by it we are the children of God, and yet not distinguished from the devil by it; that we are saved by it, and not saved by it; that we are justified by it without works, and not justified by this alone, without works? If these are not some of the highest contradictions, I know not what in the world either is or can be so.

The consequence thereof is inevitable, either that these contrary characters and accounts of faith cannot be both true, or else that it is a different faith which these apostles speak of. You dare not assume the former of these consequences, and therefore must allow the latter to be necessarily true. You must allow it to be true, that Paul speaks of one kind of faith, and James of another. And what argument can now be fairly drawn from this discourse of the apostle James, but this only, that a lifeless, fruitless, inoperative faith, will not justify or save us? And who, but sensual libertines, ever thought that it would? If you suppose James to be here speaking of a true, lively faith, you must suppose him to contradict, not only the apostle Paul, but our blessed Lord himself, and the Holy

Ghost, in multitudes. of plain and express passages of scripture, which are every where dispersed through the Bible, that ascribe our justification before God to faith only.

It is also further evident, that the apostle James, in the context referred to, is saying nothing contrary to the doctrine so constantly taught by the apostle Paul of our being justified before God by faith alone, without the deeds of the law, nor any thing in favour of our justification before God by our own works-this, I say, is further evident, because he is not there treating of justification, as it is the relief of a guilty world, and imports the acceptance of our persons before God; nor is he saying any thing at all about this, one way or another. But he is treating of the justification of our faith, or demonstration of the sincerity of our profession, by its proper evidences; which justification, he says, is by works. Whereas the apostle Paul is always treating only of justification as it is the relief of an awakened sinner, and imports the acceptance of our persons, when he tells us that we are justified by faith without works. I have formerly shown you, that though the word justification (in its general notion) has always one unvaried meaning and uniform signification in scripture, yet it is frequently applied in both these respects. It is indeed most usually to be understood for the acceptation of our persons with God, and respects our interest in his favour: but it sometimes also intends a vindication of our character as believers, and such a manifestation of the sincerity of our faith and profession, by the necessary practical evidences, as will give them a just estimation and acceptance with our own consciences, or with our fellow-creatures. Thus the word is used, Deut. xxv. 1; Job xxxiii. 32; Luke vii. 35; Rom. iii. 4; and elsewhere. And

I am now to show you, that the apostle Paul understands the word in the former of these senses, but the apostle James in the latter.

By justification, the apostle Paul intends the remission of sins, Rom. iii. 25; "our receiving the gift of righteousness," Rom. v. 17; and our being entitled thereby to grace here and glory hereafter, Rom. v. 1, 2.

But by justification, the apostle James intends no more than the approving ourselves sound believers; evidencing the sincerity of our faith, or manifesting the truth of our profession, and so the safety of our state. If this appears to be so, upon a particular examination of the case, you must own that there is no place for any argument, in favour of your scheme, from this context. Let us then consider the matter distinctly and impartially.

It may be presumed that the apostle James is not treating of the justification of our persons in the sight of God, since there is not one character of such justification to be seen in his whole discourse. There is nothing spoken about our obtaining pardon of sin, nothing of our persons being made righteous in the sight of God, nothing of our being entitled to future glory, by the works unto which our justification is ascribed. No more can therefore be proved from this apostle, but that we are in some respect justified by works; yet not so justified as to obtain remission of sins and reconciliation to God, or to be entitled to an inheritance in the future glory, by our works. For of these things, or of any thing else, which implies them, he says nothing at all. But this may be more fully and clearly evinced, by the following considerations.

It is evident, in the first place, from the occasion of this discourse, as it is represented to us in the first sixteen verses of this chapter. They professed faith

in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, and yet had respect of persons; making a criminal distinction between the rich and poor, of the same christian faith and profession with themselves; as appears from the first four verses of the chapter. They despised the poor; and thereby violated that royal law, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ver. 6. 8. They respected persons, they committed sin, and were convinced of the law as transgressors, ver. 9. They exposed themselves to have judgment without mercy, if they thus showed no mercy, ver. 13. And would such as these pretend to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? What doth it profit, if a man say, that he hath faith, but hath not works? Can that faith save him? What profit can that faith be to them, which leaves them so uncharitable and unmerciful, that they can see a brother or a sister naked, or destitute of daily food, and only say to them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; but notwithstanding, they give them not those things which are needful to the body, ver. 14-16. This is plainly the occasion of this discourse. They pretended to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; but brought forth fruit quite contrary to their pretensions. How then could they justify their pretensions? How could they justify their profession of faith against the charge of hypocrisy, and prove it to be sincere and saving? They could never, in this sense, be justified any way, but in that of evidence by a life correspondent to their profession. Their faith must be justified or evidenced by their works. I may allude to that, Isa. xliii. 9, "Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified." Otherwise let them pretend what they would to faith, while they lived without brotherly love and good works, it was but an empty pretence; and their profession wanted the proper

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witnesses to justify it. Thus the argument is natural and easy; and the conclusion necessarily follows. But then, on the other hand, if we consider justification as meaning our reconciliation to God, and our personal acceptance with him, the apostle's argument will appear very lame and defective, and the conclusion will never follow from the premises. For it will by no means follow because a lifeless, fruitless faith, destitute of mercy and obedience to the royal law of love, will not justify us before God, that therefore good works in truth will justify us before God. It will by no means follow, because we cannot be accepted of God and saved by a false and insincere profession of faith, that therefore we can be accepted of God and saved, by such obedience as we are capable of performing. The inference is therefore necessary, that the apostle must be so understood, as will secure the connexion of his discourse, and the force of his argument; which cannot be done, if we consider him as speaking of justification in any other sense than that which I am now pleading for.

persons,

Further, that the justification here treated of is the justification of our faith and sincerity, but not of our is evident likewise from the consequence the apostle draws from the foregoing premises, which he undertakes to prove and vindicate in the following verses, which is, "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone," ver. 17. This is the point which he undertakes to prove; and accordingly this is the conclusion of the whole, when he has finished his reasoning on the subject. "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also," ver. 26. As a breathless, spiritless corpse, that cannot act or move, is evidently dead, so a speculative belief, that does not influence a man's life and actions,