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GOSPEL GEOUNDS AND EVIDENCES OF THE FAITH OF GOD'S ELECT.
Prefatory Note by the Editor .
To the Reader ....
Evidences of the faith of God's elect
The first evidence of the faith of God's elect
The second evidence of the faith of God's elect
The third evidence of the faith of God's elect
The fourth evidence of the faith of God's elect
. 402 . 404 . 405 . 411 . 422 . 436 . 442
THE DOCTRINE
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH,
THROUGH
THE IMPUTATION OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST; EXPLAINED, CONFIEMED, AND VINDICATED.
Search the rcripturea. — JoH^
PREFATORY NOTE.
There is a pregnant and striking passage in one of the charges of Bishop Horsley, which may be said to embody the substance and intimate the scope of tlie follow- ing work on justification, — a work which lias been esteemed oue of the best pro- ductions of Dr Owen. " That man is justified," says Horsley, " by faith, without the works of the law, was the uniform doctrine of our first EeCormers. It is a far more ancient doctrine, — it was the doctrine of the whole colk^ge of apostles; it is more ancient still, — it was the doctrine of the prophets; it is older than the prophets, — it was the religion of the patriarchs; and no one who has the least acquaintance with the writings of the first Reformers will impute to them, more than to the patriarchs, the prophets, or apostles, the absurd opinion, that any man leading an impenitent, wicked life, will finally, upou the mere pretence of faith (and faith connected with au impenitent life must always be a mere pi'etence), obtain admission into heaven."
Dr Owen, in the "general considerations" with which he opens the discussion of this momentous subject, shows that the doctrine of justification by faith was clearly declared in the teaching of the ancient church. Among other testimonies, he adduces the remarkable extract from the epistle to Diognetus, which, though commonly printed among the woiks of Justin jNIartyr, has been attributed by Tillemont to some author in the first century. Augustine, in his contest with Pelagian error, powerfully advocated the doctrines of ^^race. That he clearly ap- prehended the nature otjustification by grace appears from the j>rinciple so tersely enunciated by him, " Opera bona non faciunt justum, scd justificatus facit bona opera." The controversy, however, in which he was the great champion of ortho- dox opinions, turned mainly upon tlie renovation of the heart by a divine and supernatural influence ; not so directly on the change of state effected by justifying grace. It was the clear apprehension and firm grasp of this doctrine which ulti- mately emancipated Luther from the thraldom of Ilomish error, and he clung to it with a zeal proportioned to his conviction of the benefit which his own soul had derived from it. He restored it to its true place and bearings in tiie Chris- tian system, and, in emphatic exjiression of its importance, pronounced it " Arti- culus stantis aut cadentis ecclesiie." It had to encounter, accordingly, strong opposition from all who were hostile to the theology of the Reformation. Both Sociuus and Bellarmine wrote against it, — the former discussing the question in connection with his general argument against orthodox vi.^ws on the subject of the person and work of Christ ; the latter devoting a separate treatise expressly to tiie refutation of the doctrine of the Reformed churches regarding justifica- tion. Several Roman Catholic authors followed in his wake, to whom l)r Owen alludes in different parts of his work. The ability with which Bellarmine con- ducted his argument cannot be questioned ; though sometimes, in meeting diffi- culties and disposing of objections to his views from Scripture, he evinces an unscrupulous audacity of statement. His work still continues, perhaps, the ablest and most systematic attempt to overthrow the doctrine of justification by faith. In supplying an antidote to the subtile disquisitions of the Romish divine, Dr Owen is in reality vindicating that doctrine at all the jioints where the acumen of his antagonist had conceived it liable to be assailed with any hope of success.
To counteract the tendency of the religious mind when it proceeded in the direc- tion of Arminiauism, Calvinistic divines, naturally engrossed with the jjoints in dispute, dwelt greatly on the workings of efficacious grace in election, regeneration, and convei'sion, if not to the exclusion of the free offer of the gospel, at least so as to cast somewhat into the shade the free justification offered in it. The Antino- mianism which arose during the time of the Commonwealth has been accounted the reaction from this defect. Under these circumstances, the attention of theolo-
PREFATORY NOTE. 3*
g'lans was again drawn to the doctrine of justification. Dissent could not, in those times, aflFord to be weakened by divisions; and partly under the influence of his own pacific dispositions, and partly to accomplish a public service to the cause of religion, Baxter made an attempt to reconcile the parties at variance, and to soothe into unity the British churches. Rightly conceiving that the essence of the question lay in the nature of justification, he published in 164& his "Aphorisms on Justification," in opposition to the Antinomian tendencies of the day, and yet designed to accommodate the prevailing differences ; on terms, however, that were held to compromise tlie gratuitous character of justification. He had unconsci- ously, by a recoil common in every attempt to reconcile essentially antagonistic principles, made a transition from the ground of justification by faith, to views clearly opposed to it. Though his mind was the victim of a false theory, his heart was practically right; and he subsequently modified and amended his views. But to his " Aphorisms" Bishop Barlow traces the first departure from the received doctrine of the Reformed cliurches on the subject of justification. In 1669, Bishop Bull published his " Apostolical Harmony," with the view of recon- ciling the apostles Paul and James. There is no ambiguity in regard to his views as to the ground of a sinner's acceptance with God. According to Bull, "faith denotes the whole condition of the gospel covenant; that is, comprehends in one word all the works of Christian piety." It is the just remark of Bickersteth, that " under the cover of justification by faith, this is in reality justification by works."