never follow from the premises. For it will by no means follow, because a lifeless, fruitless faith, deftitute of mercy and obedience to the royal law of loves 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 faved by a falfe and infincere profeffion of faith, that therefore we can be accepted of God and faved, by fuch obedience as we are capable to perform. The inference is therefore neceffary, that the Apostle must be fo understood, as will fecure the connection of his difcourfe, and the force of his argument; which cannot be done if we confider him as fpeaking of justification in any other fenfe than that which I am now pleading for.

Further, that the juftification here treated of is the juftification of our faith and fincerity, but not of our perfons, is evident likewise from the confequence the Apostle draws from the foregoing premifes, which he undertakes to prove and vindicate in the following verfes; 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 conclufion of the whole, when he has finished his reafoning on the fubject. For as the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead alfo, ver. 26. As a breathlefs, fpiritlefs corpfe, that cannot act or move, is evidently dead; fo a fpeculative belief, that does not influence a man's life and actions, is evidently dead : A dead thing in itself argues a dead foul, and is dead as to the purposes and offices of gofpel 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 fevered from) works, is dead. And that therefore there is a neceffity of works to justify our faith, or to make it manifeft that it is not a dead faith. Bb 3 Were

Were juftification here taken in the other fense, his arguments would not only be utterly inconclufive, but his reasoning quite foreign to his subject, which may not be fuppofed: And therefore it neceffarily is the juftification of our faith, or Chriftian profeffion, and not of our perfons, which the Apoftle James is here treating of,

This is alfo evident from every one of the arguments used by the Apoftle in this context.-Every one of them will bring out the conclufion now mentioned; but neither of them, feparately confidered, nor all of them connected, have any appearance of an argument, in proof of our personal justi. fication (or our perfons being made righteous before God) by our good works.

As

The first argument feems but ironically proposed. Yea, a man may fay, Thou haft faith, and I have works. Shew me thy faith without thy works; and I will shew thee my faith by my works, ver. 18. if he fhould have faid, Have you indeed faith without works? I pray, fhew me your faith without works, if you can. For my part, I know of no fuch way of manifefting the truth of faith; I refolve to take a contrary method, and will fhew you my faith, will evidence the fincerity of it, and justify my pro. feflion of faith by my works. Here the argument is very clear and full, in favour of the interpretation I am pleading for. And here we have an index to point out the meaning of the word justification in the fubfequent difcourfe. It cannot import more. than a manifeftative juftification. Indeed it figni fies the fame thing with bewing our faith or evidencing the truth of our profeffion, and so of our juftified ftate.-But now let us fee how this argument will conclude for the other fide of the queftion. The argument ought to be thus ftated: Our faith must be flown and manifested by our

works;

works; therefore our good works will justify our perfons before God, and render us righteous and acceptable in his fight.I think every body will own, that the Spirit of God does not reafon at that rate; and therefore that justification before God, which is the finner's relief against the challenges of his law and juftice, cannot be the fubject here treated of.

The fecond argument here ufed is, that a fruitless and unoperative faith, though it be good as far as it goes, yet is no other than what the devils have; he is therefore a vain man, who depends upon acceptance with God by fuch a dead faith. Thou believeft there is one God; thou doft well; the devils al fo believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead, ver. 19, 20. -Here the Apostle exprefsly fhews us what it is he had undertaken to prove: Which is, that a bare, fruitless, historical faith, cannot fave us, because it is common to the very devils.-Here he exprefsly fhews who it is he is difputing with: It is a vain man, who vainly expects to be faved by an idle faith and empty profeffion of the gospel, with out any fruit of obedience.- -And here he does again exprefsly affert the principle which was the fubject of his difcourfe, and the only point to be proved, that faith without works is dead. So that there is no room to debate, what was the defign of this argument. By this he effectually proves, that the faith which juftifies our perfons must be justified by good works; otherwife we are but vain men, and our hope is but a vain hope, which will leave us among unpardoned devils at last.—But not fo much as the leaft colour of an argument can be found here, that our perfons are justified before God by good works: Whence it follows, that the juftification here treated of, must neceffarily be the juftification of our

faith, of our Christian character and profeffion; and not of our perfons, in regard of their state, before God.

A third argument here brought by the Apostle, to prove his point, is Abraham's being juftified by works, when he had offered Ifaac his fon upon the altar, ver. 21,-Now it appears from a variety of the strongest and clearest evidences, that the Apostle did not (could not) refer to the juftification of Abraham's perfon in the fight of God, but to the juftification of his faith and fincerity only in this inftance before us.

This appears, in the first place, because Abraham was in a juftified state, by an everlasting covenant, thirty years before his offering his fon Isaac upon the altar. It was fo long, or near fo long before this, that the glorious God himself made the promise to him, in Gen. xvii. 7. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy feed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a GOD unto thee, and to thy feed after thee.— And it was more than fo long before this, that Abraham had this teftimony given him in Gen. xv. 6. That he believed in the Lord; and be counted. it to him for righteousness. Yea, he was a believer fo long before, at his firft leaving his father's house. By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out, Heb. xi. 8. How then could his offering his fon Ifaac be the mean or term of the juftification of his perfon before God, when he had faith unfeigned, had righteousness imputed to him, and an everlasting covenant made with him fo long a time before? -Befides, if works could have juftified his perfon, he would have been justified by works long before this. For his whole ftory fhews, that he had lived in a courfe of holy fruitful obedience, from the time of his juftification till this time.

There

There cannot therefore be any fair pretence made, that the juftification of his perfon is here referred to. No, this good work was not in the least conftitutive, but only evidential, of his personal justification before God.

juftification

Further, it appears by the story itself, to which the Apostle refers, that it was only a manifeftative juftification, a juftification of his faith and fincerity, and fo declarative of the juftified state of his perfon, that Abraham obtained by offering his fon Ifaac upon the altar.-The glorious God condefcends to treat with him after the manner of men; and by an affumption of human affections, to declare concerning him, Now I know that thou feareft God, fee ing thou hast not with-held thy fon, thine only fon, from me, Gen. xxii. 12. This then was the infiktion of which the Apostle treats, Abraham's making it known that he feared God, and that his faith and profeffion were fincere.For this is all the juftifica tion which can be proved from this text in Genefis, to which he refers.We may not fuppofe, that an inspired Apostle quoted Scripture impertinently; and yet we cannot fuppofe the Scripture referred to was any thing at all to his purpose, unless we understand him to be fpeaking of juftification in the fense I am pleading for. In this fenfe therefore, and this only, did the Apoftle design to prove our juftification by works, by the argument now before us. Abraham's obedience witnessed to the truth of his faith; and fo his real state of justification before God was made apparent.

This alfo appears by the Apostle's illustration of this argument, in ver. 22. Seeft thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect ?--How was it that faith wrought with his works? not as a joint-condition of his juftifica tion before God. He was juftified in the fight of

God