280 ON JUSTIFICATION,
intends, — namely, that of Abraham, — was some hundreds of years before the giving of the ceremonial law. Neither yet do I say that the ceremonial law and the works of it are excluded from the intention of the apostle : for when that law was given, the observation of it was an especial instance of that obedience we owed unto the first table of the decalogue; and the exclusion of the works thereof from our justi- fication, inasmuch as the performance of them was part of that moral obedience which we owed unto God, is exclusive of all other works also. But that it is alone here intended, or that law which could never justify any by its observation, although it was observed in due manner, is a fond imagination, and contradictory to the express asser- tion of the apostle. And, whatever is pretended to the contrary, this opinion is expressly rejected by Augustine, Lib. de Spiritu et Litera, cap. viii.: "Ne quisquam putaret hie apostolum ea legedixisse neminem justificari, quae in sacramentis veteribus multa continet figurata prae- cepta, undo etiam est ista circumcisio camis, continue subjunxit, quam dixerit legem et ait ; ' per legem cognitio peccati."' And to the same purpose he speaks again, Epist. cc, " Non solum ilia opera legis quae sunt in veteribus sacramentis, et nunc revelato testamento novo non observantur a Christianis, sicut est circumcisio prseputii, et sabbati carnalis vacatio ; et a quibusdam escis abstinentia, et pecorum in sacri- ficiis immolatio, et neomenia et azymum, et caetera hujusmodi, verum etiam illud quod in lege dictum est, ' Non concupisces,' quod utique et Christianis nuUus ambigit esse dicendum, non justificat hominem, nisi per fidem Jesu Christi, et gratiam Dei per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum.''
2. Some say the apostle only excludes the perfect ivorks required by the law of innocency ; which is a sense diametrically opposite unto that foregoing. But this best pleaseth the Socinians. " Paulus agit de operibus et perfectis in hoc dicto, ideo enim adjecit, sine operibus legis, ut indicaretur loqui eum de operibus a lege requisitis, et sic de perpetua et perfectiss: ma divinorum praBceptorum obedientia sicut lex requirit. Cum autem talem obedientiam qualem lex requirit nemo prsestare possit, ideo subjecit apostolus nos justificari fide, id est, fiducia et obedientia ea quantum quisque prsestare potest, et quotidie quam maximum prsestare studet, et connititur. Sine operi- bus legis, id est, etsi interim perfecte totam legem sicut debebat complere nequit;" saith Socinus himself. But, — (1.) We have herein the whole granted of what we plead for, — namely, that it is the moral, indispensable law of God that is intended by the apostle ; and that by the works of it no man can be justified, yea, that all the works of it are excluded from our justification: for it is, saith the apostle, " without works." The works of this law being performed according unto it, will justify them that perform them, as he affirms,
WORKS EXCLUDED IN JUSTIFICATION. 281
chap. ii. 13; and the Scripture elsewhere witnesseth that "he that doeth them shall live in them.'' But because this can never be done by any sinner, therefore all consideration of them is excluded from our justification. (2.) It is a wild imagination that the dispute of the apostle is to this purpose, — that the perfect works of the law will not justify us, but imperfect works, which answer not the law, will do so, (3.) Granting the law intended to be the moral law of God, the law of our creation, there is no such distinction intimated in the least by the apostle, that we are not justified by the perfect works of it which we cannot perform, but by some imperfect works that we can perform, and labour so to do. Nothing is more foreign unto the design and express words of his whole discourse. (4.) The evasion which they betake themselves iinto, that the apostle opposeth justi- fication by faith unto that of works, which he excludes, is altogether vain in this sense; for they would have this faith to be our obedi- ence unto the divine commands, in that iiiiperfect manner which we can attain unto. For when the apostle hath excluded all such justi- fication by the law and the works thereof, he doth not advance in opposition unto them, and in their room, our oAvn faith and obedience ; but adds, " Being justified freely by his gi'ace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ ; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood."
3. Some of late among ourselves, — and they want not them who have gone before them, — affirm that the works which the apostle ex- cludes from justification are only the outiuarcl worhs of the law, per- formed tuithout an imvard 'principle of faith, fear, or the love of God. Servile works, attended unto from a respect unto the threaten- ing of the law, are those which will not justify us. But this opinion is not only false, but impious. For, — (1.) The apostle excludes the works of Abraham, which were not such outward, servile works as are imagined. (2.) The works excluded are those which the law re- quires; and the law is holy, just, and good. But a law that requires only outward works, without internal love to God, is neither holy, just, nor good. (3.) The law condemns all such works as are sepa- rated from the internal principle of faith, fear, and love ; for it requires that in all our obedience we should love the Lord our God with all our hearts. And the apostle saith, that we are not justified by the Avorks which the latu condemns, but not by them which the law com- mands. (4.) It is highly reflexive on the honour of God, that he unto whose divine prerogative it belongs to know the hearts of men alone, and therefore regards them alone in all the duties of their obedience, should give a law requiiing outward, servile works only; for if the law intended require more, then are not those the only works excluded.