Part 18

And when we use endeavours to mortify sin, this is to be done by a fiducial view of Christ crucified; and when we encourage ourselves to hope that the indictment brought against us for it, was nailed to the cross of Christ; and that there is _no condemnation to us_, as being in him, Rom. viii. 1. and that, as the apostle says, _Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed: that henceforth we should no longer serve sin_, chap. vi. 6. all this is to be done by faith.

We might also observe, that the grace of patience is connected with, and we excited, thereunto by faith. The apostle, Heb. vi. 12. joins both these together, as supposing that faith affords a motive to patience; and elsewhere we read, not only of what faith enables us to do, but bear, in the account which we have, of the great things which the Old Testament saints did, and suffered by this grace: and therefore, whatever graces are exercised under the afflictions of this present life; faith excites in us a resignation to the will of God, and consider them as the chastisements of a merciful Father, and as _bringing forth the peaceful fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby_, chap. xii. 11. and we are encouraged to bear them with such a composed frame of spirit that they seem light, and not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed. This, faith has constantly in view, setting one against the other; whereby that which would otherwise be an hindrance to us in our way, is improved, by us, to our spiritual advantage; and we enabled, not only to go on safely, but comfortably, till we arrive at the full fruition of what we now behold at a distance, and rejoice in the fiducial expectation thereof: which leads us to the last thing proposed to be considered, concerning faith, namely,

VII. How it is to be attained or increased, and what are the means conducive thereunto. Though faith, in common with all other graces, be wrought in us by the power of God, yet we are far from asserting, that there is no duty incumbent on us, in the performing whereof, we are to hope and wait for the divine blessing, upon which all the success thereof depends. To deny this would give just occasion to charge the doctrine of efficacious grace, as though it led to security, or licentiousness; which many do without ground. Though grace and duty are very distinct, yet they are not inconsistent with each other; the former is God’s work, the latter our act.

As for those duties which are required of us, considered as expecting the divine grace and blessing to attend them; these are, a diligent waiting on God in all his ordinances; looking into the state of our souls, by impartial self-examination; calling to mind our past miscarriages, and what matter of humiliation we have for them in the sight of God, as also, our natural aversion and inability to do what is good; our need of Christ’s righteousness, to take away the guilt we have contracted, and of his strength, to subdue our corruptions, and enable us to plead earnestly with him for these privileges.

As for the unregenerate, they must pray and wait on him, for the first grace, and say, with Ephraim, _Turn thou me, and I shall be turned_, Jer. xxxi. 18. They must be earnest with him, that he would bestow upon them the grace of faith; which is styled, his gift; that he would remove every thing that is, at present, an obstacle, or hindrance to this grace, all the prejudices which corrupt nature has entertained against Christ, and the way of salvation by him; and that he would shine into their souls, to give them the knowledge of his glory in the face of Christ; reveal his arm, and incline them, by the internal working of his power, to receive the grace which is held forth in the gospel. These are duties incumbent on persons who are not called effectually, being destitute of regenerating grace.

But, on the other hand, they who have ground to conclude that they have experienced this grace, though, at present, they apprehend that their faith is weak, and on the decline; they must be found waiting on God, in his own way; and be importunate with him in prayer for the revival of his work, that so they may recover their former experiences; they must bless him for the privileges they once enjoyed, and be humbled for their past backslidings, whereby they have provoked him to withdraw from them, and say with the church, _I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now_, Hos. ii. 7. and, as it says elsewhere, _Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips_, chap. xiv. 2. They must lament the dishonour that they have brought to God; and consider how, by this means, they have grieved the Holy Spirit, wounded their own consciences, and made work for a bitter repentance and humiliation before God. They must be sensible, that it is the same hand which wrought grace in them at first, that must now recover them from their fallen state, and, by exciting the principle of grace implanted, bring them into a lively frame; and when he has done this, they must still depend upon him to maintain this frame of spirit, as considering that as the beginning so the progress of grace, is owing to him who is the author and finisher of faith; who worketh in us that which is pleasing in his sight, and carries on his own work unto perfection.

Footnote 49:

That faith is a holy duty is evident, because it never obtains, except where the bent, or bias of the mind has been changed by the Holy Spirit; yet it is like all the other works of man, imperfect, and might be stronger. That it is necessary in every action is clear, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin; both because it is the work of an enemy, and because it cannot be accepted, having no reference to Christ. Faith is always accompanied by other holy traits of character, as repentance, love, patience, humility, and the like. The reason of which is evident; for faith is an act of the renewed man, and all the other graces must accompany. But it is even less holy than love; “now abideth faith, hope, charity, (love)—the greatest of these is charity.” It is incapable of procuring by its righteousness our justification, because imperfect. If it were the holiness of the duty of faith, which justifies the man before God, we should read of a justification by love, patience, humility, or holiness in general. No such declaration occurs in the scriptures, but the reverse; “for by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified,” which is manifestly spoken not merely of the corporal energy, but of the action taken with the intention.

If the righteousness of the duty of faith justifies, there could be no propriety in saying that we are “justified by Christ,” or his righteousness; there would have been no need of a Saviour, and all the sacrifices of former days were useless.

If we are to depend upon the righteousness of our believing for our justification, the believing in Christ will be of no importance, because Christ is then not our Saviour; in proportion as our hopes are founded upon our own holiness, they are withdrawn from Christ.—This will also destroy the righteousness of faith, for if it be useless there can be no holiness in believing.

If the holiness consist not in the act of believing, but in the disposition of the believer, and if it is for this, that he is justified; salvation is then a debt, not grace; we have whereof to boast; we are justified by the deeds of the law; the offence of the cross has ceased; and Arians, Socinians, Unitarians, and Deists are seeking justification also in the same way.

That repentance, and holiness are necessary to _salvation_ is true, because every man who is justified is also sanctified; and that faith, considered as a holy duty, is necessary in the same manner, is equally true; but faith is also useful in our _justification_, and in a manner, in which, it does not appear, that repentance and holiness can be.

To say that they are conditions of salvation is to speak ambiguously; that we cannot be saved without them, is as certain as that we cannot be justified, without being also sanctified; but to say, that by performing them a title to happiness is vested in us, is to rob Christ of his glory, and to put the crown on man’s head. Besides, the condition of holiness is not accomplished till death, and as the condition of our justification is not performed till then, we are never justified in life, which is plainly contrary to the scriptures.

Footnote 50:

_This is what is generally styled, by a diminutive word_, Acceptilatio gratiosa, _which is an accepting a small part of a debt, instead of the whole; a sort of composition, in which, though the payment be inconsiderable, yet the debtor’s discharge is founded thereon, by an act of favour in the creditor, as though the whole sum had been paid._

Footnote 51:

_These works they speak of as_ Tincta sanguine Christi.

Footnote 52:

“Abraham believed God and it was imputed or counted to him for righteousness.” This passage of Scripture is found with little variation also in the Epistle to the Galatians (iii. 6.) and in the Epistle of James (ii. 23.) and in each of the places it seems to have been introduced in support of its context from the first book of Moses. (xv. 6.)

Moses is giving at that place a visionary (as we suppose) correspondence between Jehovah and Abraham; in which the Lord promises to the patriarch to be his “shield and exceeding great reward,” and upon Abraham’s complaining that he was childless, his attention is directed to the stars, and he is told that it will be equally impracticable to number his posterity, and then follow the words “Abraham believed _in_[53] the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness.”

Here it is given as an old-testament proof of that which has been a little before asserted “that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law,” but because this doctrine would seem to make void the law, the apostle states this objection, then denies it with abhorrence, and introduces for his support Abraham’s justification before God, “if Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory, but not before God; for what saith the scriptures? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”

In the letter to the christians of Galatia he aims to bring them back from depending on their obedience to the moral and ceremonial laws, to a reliance upon Christ for salvation, he declares that “by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified” in the sight of God; and that christians are “dead to the law,” “seek to be justified by Christ,” and “live by the faith of the Son of God.” He asserts “if righteousness come by the law then Christ is dead in vain.” He charges the Galatians with folly. After having heard, seen, and experienced the doctrines of the Gospel, its extraordinary and ordinary spiritual powers, to go back to dead works would argue something like fascination. And then to show that the Gospel mode of justification by faith was not peculiar to the Gospel he quotes from the book of Genesis these words; “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

The apostle James reprehends such as profess to be believers and yet are not careful to maintain good works; such professions of faith are less credible than the fruits of holiness; “show _me_ thy faith without thy works, and I will show _thee_ my faith by my works.” Faith without works he pronounces to be dead, not merely inoperative, but destitute of a living principle. He then introduces Abraham’s example of offering up Isaac as a proof of his faith; this work being a manifest effect of his faith in God, justifies, in the sight of all men, his character as a believer, “and the scripture” he says “was _fulfilled_ which saith Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness.” The offering up of Isaac, having taken place several years after it had been said that “Abraham believed God,” was an undeniable evidence of the truth, and a fulfilment, of that scripture.

Abraham’s faith here mentioned has been understood as implying both the act of believing God’s promises and his yielding to the call of God by emigrating, &c.[54] which faith, and its fruits, though an imperfect righteousness, was, it is alleged, by the favour of God accepted as a justifying righteousness.

But the apostle here contrasts faith with works, and denies a justification before God to be attainable by our obedience, consequently his introduction of Abraham’s justification by his good deeds would have destroyed his own argument.

Others[55] understand Abraham to have been justified on the account of the mere act of believing: and this has been confined to his faith in the one promise of a numerous posterity.

That the Lord[56] “in judging Abraham will place on one side of the account his duties, and on the other his _performances_, and on the side of his performances he will place _his faith_, and by mere favour value it equal to a complete performance of his duty, and reward him as if he were a perfectly righteous person.”

Faith is the mind’s assent to external evidence; faith thus strictly considered as an act, is man’s act, as much so as any can be, and as the understanding at least in its application to the evidence must be accompanied by the consent of the will, here is every thing that is necessary to constitute a work, and accordingly it is commanded as a duty, the neglect of which is criminal. If it be thus that faith justifies the believer in the sight of God, then there is no propriety in saying we are not justified by works, and if it were possible still less in adducing the example of Abraham’s justification by that which was no more than a duty to prove that we cannot be justified by works, “Christ being the end of the law for righteousness to every one who believeth.” If man can be so justified boasting is not excluded he has whereof to glory.

But the design of the apostle was to show that Abraham himself one of the holiest of men with all his good deeds, and implicit obedience to divine commands was not justified for his own holiness or godliness, for that is the opinion he is combating, but by what he calls faith. When the things which we are required to believe are of a spiritual nature, the “carnal mind” requires to be freed from its prejudices before it will “receive them,” and because supernatural aid is necessary to such minds and all naturally possess them, such “faith” must unquestionably be “the gift of God” in a sense higher than that of every other species of faith exercised under the support of Divine Providence. If faith is a gift of God it merits nothing for us, can never create an obligation on Divine justice for remuneration, and so can never be a _justifying_ righteousness.

In his epistle to the Galatians that which he terms a being “justified by faith” he also denominates a being “justified by faith in Christ” so that his justifying faith is not merely a belief of the truth of what God has spoken, but is connected in some manner with Christ, and that it is not the mere act of believing in Christ which is the ground of such justification is plain from this, that he expresses the same thing by the words, “being justified by Christ.” If it is true that we are justified by faith, and also justified by Christ, it must be meant in different senses, and to give effect to these words thus differently connected, it seems necessary to suppose the righteousness of Christ as the meritorious cause or ground of justification, and faith the instrumental. “To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to as many as believed on his name,” or at least as the concomitant of it, where all other requisites exist as well as grace for its production.

It is not the _holiness of his faith_ that is accounted for righteousness to him: faith is a holy duty but not more so than some others, and not so much so as love, “now abide faith, hope, love, and the greatest of these is love;” nor are christians ever said to be justified by love, joy, peace, patience, or by any other grace, except by faith. From whence it follows that it is not the holiness of faith for which the believer is justified, and yet that there is some property not common to any other grace or duty, which must be concerned in our justification; and no doubt it is because faith lays hold on him for whose sake alone we can be justified.

Or faith may be put for its object, as the words fear, hope, joy, and love are; God is our fear, our hope, &c. “Thy faith hath saved thee,” it was not her faith, but its object, Christ’s power, that healed her.

The seed which was promised embraced Christ, whose day Abraham saw afar off; so this faith had the Redeemer for its object. In the epistle to the Galatians there follow the quotation these words, “as many as are of faith are the children of Abraham,” these are called his spiritual seed, and believe in Christ, now if all who believe in Christ are thereby the children of Abraham, and Abraham their father or pattern of faith, his faith must have been of the same kind. There could have been little propriety in giving a faith of any other kind as a pattern to those who are to believe in Christ that they may be “justified by his blood.”

Footnote 53:

The quotations of Paul and James follow the lxx. in omitting the _in_.

Footnote 54:

Hammond.

Footnote 55:

Whitby. Macknight.

Footnote 56:

Macknight.

Footnote 57:

_This opinion was propagated soon after the reformation, by Andr. Osiander, who lived a little before the middle of the sixteenth century._

Footnote 58:

_This opinion was propagated soon after by Stancarus, in opposition to Osiander, whom Du Pin reckons amongst the Socinians, or, at least, that after he had advanced this notion, he denied the doctrine of the Trinity._ [_See Du Pin’s eccl. hist. sixteenth century, book_ iv. _chap._ 6.]

Footnote 59:

_This is commonly called_ fiducia, _and as such, distinguished from_ fides, _by which the former is generally expressed._

Footnote 60:

_In this respect_ faith _is contra-distinguished from_ science; _accordingly we are said to know a thing that is contained in an axiom, that no one, who has the exercise of his understanding, can doubt of_, viz. _that the whole is greater than the part; or, that a thing cannot be, and not be at the same time, &c. And every thing that is founded on a mathematical demonstration, is included in the word_ science; _to which we may add occular demonstration. Now these things are not properly the object of faith, or the assent we give to the truth hereof, is not founded barely upon evidence, in which respect faith is distinguished from it; for which reason we call it an assent to a truth, founded on evidence._

Footnote 61:

Truth in the abstract is not the object of faith, but that which is true. The word of God when represented as the object of faith is not to be understood of words and letters, nor even of axioms and propositions, nor is the Divine veracity, though certainly confided in, the object of faith, or that which is assented unto. The promises which the old testament-believers had, and reposed in, were not the objects of faith, but the things which they saw afar off, and which were the ground of their rejoicing. When we are required to believe _on_ Jesus Christ, it is not his human, not his Divine nature, not his person, nor even his mediatorial character which is the object of our faith; for any of these alone could be no ground of confidence of salvation, or hope, much less produce joy in the believer. Every thing essential to our salvation must be considered, as the object of our faith; the mercy of God, the love of Christ, the purpose and the act of offering, and accepting the sacrifice to Justice of our sins, and the warrant to us to fix our hope and trust in this atonement; the firm conviction of the truth of these things may be denominated faith.

Yet this conviction, or free assent of the understanding is not the faith, which accompanies salvation; if we can suppose it possible, that there should not be a corresponding impression made upon the will and affections. _With the heart man believeth unto salvation._ In this expression the heart is not put for the intellectual, but moral powers, and must not be understood as if the will assumed the office, peculiar to the understanding, of judging of evidence; but only that the assent of the understanding must be of such a kind, and to such a degree, as to produce a decisive co-operation of all the powers of the man, both of soul and body, to be saved in the way, and by the means discovered.

Such an effort for salvation supposes the bent, or bias of the mind to be inclined towards God, and his glory. And certain it is, that the work, or act of believing, depends so much upon the moral state of the man, that although he may assent to every article of faith, and desire an interest in the advantages of religion, he never believes with the heart in the sense above mentioned, until this charge has been wrought in him. On this account faith may well be denominated the work or gift of God, for he only, according to the scriptures can effect this change.

Yet it is not because there is any defect in the evidence of these important truths; nor because of any natural, that is physical, defect of the intellectual powers of man, that he does not believe the Divine revelation; but because his affections are pre-occupied, and his inclinations directed into another channel, whereby he is unwilling to apply himself unto these truths, and is prejudiced against the holiness, which is required, and the self denial that is necessary to attain the blessings of salvation.

Footnote 62: