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plainly appear by what Abraham did in obedience to the command of God in that fignal inftance of duty, that this was a true, real, lively faith, and that by this he approved himself to be a juftified perfon? And the fact which the Apostle here refers to in proof of that justification, of which he was treating, plainly proves that it was not by this work, this act of obedience, that Abraham was juftified; for he was long before this in a juftified ftate, as appears by Gen. xv. 6. where it is faid, Abraham believed God; and he counted it to him for righteoufnefs which was according to the lowest com. putation thirty years, and fome have made it a great deal more, before the offering up of Ifaac. He was therefore long before he performed this inftance of obedience, a juftified perfon, and in a juftified state; confequently, this could not be the ground and reafon of his justification. His being juftified therefore by works, can only mean, that this work, this inftance of ready and dutiful obedience to the command of God in fo trying a cafe was an evidence of the truth of his faith; confequently, that he was a juftified perfon. His works therefore did not justify his person, but his faith; and fo evidence his juftification. And the Apoftle himself gives us a plain key to this as his meaning, when he obferves, verfe 23. that the fcripture was fulfilled, which faith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. For how could he refer to this fcripture, which fpeaks of Abraham's being juftified by faith, in proof of his being juftified by works, but only as this fresh and eminent instance of Abraham's obe

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dience proved the foundness and fincerity of his faith, and fo fhewed him to be a juftified perfon *?

Upon the whole, it appears to me with a good deal of evidence, upon a careful view of the whole paffage, that the Apostle James was not ftating the doctrine of juftification, nor attempting to fhew (which was the great queftion, as I obferved before, that the Apostle Paul was debating) how a perfon that is convicted of the breach of the law of God, and in confequence of that, is under a sentence of condemnation, may be justified, that is, be abfolved from his guilt, and brought into a ftate of pardon and acceptance with God; this does not feem to be any part of the question that the Apostle James had before him; nor does he intermeddle in it. He is only fhewing, against the vain pretensions of thofe, who thought a mere notional and dogmatical sense fufficient for justification, how that faith by which we hope we are juftified may evidence itself to be real, and consequently, fuch

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Nifi Apoftolus intelligeret juftificationem iftam Abrahami ex operibus declarative, quorfum diceret ver. 23. Scripturam impletam fuiffe quum obtulit filium, quæ dicit Abrahamum credidiffe Deo & illi imputatum fuiffe ad juftitiam. Sane hoc abfurdiffime diceretur fi de proprie dicta juftificatione intelligendum effet quomodo enim impleta dicitur fcriptura qua loquitur de juftificatione fidei, cum juftificatus eft ex operibus; fed commodiffime exponitur de declaratione qua fides feipfum probavit per opera, & tunc apparuit vere, & non hypocritice Abrahamum Deo credidiffe, eamque fidem ut vivam & efficacem illi non abs re imputatem fuiffe ad juftitiam. Turret. De Concordia Pauli & Jacobi, &c.

as is of avail to justification; and this he shews can only be by works, the proper and genuine fruits of fuch a faith: And it is under this view only, that he infifts upon the neceffity of works to our juftification; or, as evidences, both with refpect to God and man, of the truth of that faith by which we are juftified: I say, evidences, both with refpect to God and man; for God himself speaks of this noble inftance of Abraham's obedience as an undoubted proof of - his religious regard to him, Gen. xxii. 12. Now I know that thou feareft God, "It is ap "parent from what thou haft done, and thou "needeft do no more to evidence it *." And furely man has no other way of knowing what our religious principles are, but by their fruits and effects, Matth. vii. 20. This view of the Apoftle's defign places the whole context in an eafy light, perfectly agrees with what he fays throughout upon the fubject t, and gives a plain

Patrick in loc.

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+ Beza has proved by feveral plain inftances, that the word main is fometimes ufed in this fenfe. Vide in locum, ut & in Rom. iii. 4. & 1 Tim. iii. 16. And agreeable hereto is what the Apoftle fays, verfe 22.—that by works was faith made perfect. Not that works add any thing to the perfection of faith, but only evidence the foundness and fincerity of it; as the fruit adds nothing to the perfection of the root, but only fhews the ftrength and vigour of it. And in this fenfe the word een is used, 2 Cor. xii. 9. my power (relatα) is perfected in weakness; that is, as Grotius remarks, is illuftrated and fhewn to be perfect. And I John ii. 5. Whofo keepeth his word, in him is the love of God perfected: that is, fully evidenced and demonftrated

plain and obvious method for reconciling the feeming difference between the two Apoftles *.

I cannot conclude what has been faid, without obferving, that they feem to me to do great injury to the character of an inspired writer, who reprefent him as ftating and explaining the doctrine of juftification by faith, when it is certain that he makes no manner of mention of the death of Chrift, nor hints any distant reference to that, and the intereft it hath in our juftification, though it is certain that every thing in our juftification depends upon it. Nor do they mend the matter, who fay that the Apoftle James wrote on purpose to fhew the true meaning of the Apostle Paul herein; for had he done fo, would he have wholly paffed that by, which Paul makes the whole bafis of his difcourfe? But taking the Apoftle's dif course in the view in which I have placed it, all he fays appears juft and proper, his expreffions have a peculiar ftrength and force

in

Grot. in loc. So 1 John and his love is perfected in reipfa comprobatus, truly Beza in loc. Vid. Tull.

ftrated to be in him. Non poteft quis validius oftendere Dei amore Se teneri. iv. 12. God dwelleth in us, Teleλmwμím isìv, vere ac made to appear to be in us. Juftif. Paul. page 153.

us;

*If the queftion be, as it is here, What fort of faith is it by which a man fhall be juftified and accepted as fincere; a faith without works, or a faith with works St. Paul would have faid the fame that James does here. If a man be juftified by faith, yet his faith itself must be juftified. i. e. fhewn to be true faith, by his works. Wall's Critical Not. upon the New Tefta

ment.

in them, his inftances are well chofen, and every thing is entirely confiftent with what the fcriptures have delivered throughout upon this fubject.

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V. Another objection to this truth has been drawn from the manner, in which the good works of the faints are mentioned in that fentence of abfolution which paffes upon them in the process of the last day, Matth. xxv. 35, 36. But can any thing be more evident, than that the good works of the faints are not mentioned there as the causes of their justification and acceptance to eternal life? Nor do they themfelves depend upon them for this purpose, as is plain from their reply, ver. 37-39. They fpeak as tho' themselves hardly knew that they hdd performed fuch good works; moft certainly, therefore, they are not what they trusted in, and had their dependance upon for their pardon and final acceptance with God; in this light, and for this purpose they did not remember them, and would not know them *. They

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* Ufque adeo pii & electi, operum mifericordiæ aliis exhibitorum non amplius recordabuntur, ut vix agnofcant, fe ea quæ a Chrifto in extremo judicio prædica buntur, præftitiffe. Caufa eft, quia obfervarunt regu. lam illam Salvatoris, Matth. vi. 3. Sciunt etiam, opera a fe præftita, imperfecta effe, & multa eis ob imbecillitatem virium humanarum ad huc deeffe: Secumque ftatuunt. fi vel maxime wavla rà dixlaxovla fecerint, fe Súxus ȧxpeius effe, & vix debitam obedientiam præftitiffe. Luc. xvi. 10. Nedum aliquid promereri potuiffe: adeoque dulciffimum hoc Aturn kuroynμivoi, ex gratia & imputatione unici meriti Salvatoris fui audire. Schmid in locum.

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