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other. 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 interests 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, in that 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 four first verses of the chapter. They despised the poor; and thereby violated that royal law, "Thou shalt love thy neigh

bour as thyself," verse 6, 8. sons, they committed sin, and law as transgressors, verse 9.

They respected perwere convinced of the They exposed them

selves to have judgment without mercy, if they thus showed no mercy, verse 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 these things which are needful to the body," verse 14, 15, 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. 1 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 witnesses to justify it. Thus the argument is natural and easy; and the conclusion necessarily follows. But then, on the

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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. will by no means follow, because we cannot be accepted of God, and saved, by a false and unsincere profession of faith, that therefore we can be accepted of God and saved, by such obedience as we are capable to perform. The inference is therefore necessary, that the Apostle must be so understood, as will secure the connection 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.

Further, that the justification here treated of is the justification of our faith and sincerity, but not of our persons, 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," verse 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," verse 26. breathless, spiritless corpse, that cannot act or move, is evidently dead, so a speculative belief, that does

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not influence a man's life and actions, is evidently dead; a dead thing in itself, argues a dead soul, and is dead as to the purposes and offices of Gospel faith. We must therefore understand all the arguments here used to refer to this point only. They are all brought to prove, that faith which is without (or severed from) works is dead; and that therefore there is a necessity of works to justify our faith, or to make it manifest that it is not a dead faith. Were justification here taken in the other sense, his arguments would not only be utterly inconclusive, but his reasoning quite foreign to his subject, which may not be supposed; and therefore it necessarily is the justification of our faith, or Christian profession, and not of our persons, which the apostle James is here treating of.

This is also evident from every one of the arguments used by the Apostle in this context. Every one of them will bring out the conclusion now mentioned; but neither of them separately considered, nor all of them connected, have any appearance of an argument in proof of our personal justification (or our persons being made righteous) before God, by our good works.

The first argument seems but ironically proposed. "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works," verse 18. As if he should have said, Have you indeed faith without works! I pray, show me your faith without works, if you can. For my part, I know of no such way of manifesting the truth of faith; I resolve to take a contrary method; and "will show you my

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