tainly not.. Upon what then did his continuance depend? Upon his belief of the doctrines, and obedience to the precepts of the Gospel, that is, upon the performance of the conditions of the covenant into which he had entered by the holy rite of baptism, and which he had engaged to observe (c). If he really performed these conditions, he continued in a state of Justification;

and

(c) Hinc factum est, ut jam inde a primis ecclesiæ primordiis nemo sanguine Christi per baptismum aspersus fuerit, nisi obedientiam divinorum mandatorum prius pollicitus. Bull Ex Cens. p. 19. Jus ad regnum, quod in prima Justificatione homini conceditur, est, ut sæpe diximus, jus pendens a conditione in futurum, si Deus vitam concesserit, præstandâ; proinde revocabile. Hæc est manifesta doctrina sacrosanctæ ecclesiæ catholicæ, adeoque nostræ. Cujus rei luculentam rationem adjiciam: Nemo ad primæ Justificationis gratiam admittitur, qui non voto saltem ac sincero proposito ad obsequium Deo in posterum secundum præscriptum Evangelii præstandum se obstrinxerit. Jam quis non videt obedientiam, quæ voto necessario suscipienda erat ad gratiam Justificationis obtinendam, non minus necessario ad acceptum beneficium retinendum, si Deus opportunitatem dederit, opere ipso præstandam esse? Bull, p. 63.—“ It seemeth necessary, says Dr. Whitby, from the nature of the thing and the state and condition of the persons to whom the Gospel was first preached, that they should be justified or absolved from the guilt of their past sins, without new obedience, or without actual obedience to all the commandments of Christ; though not without that Faith which did engage them to it, and was sufficient

to

and if he persevered to the end of his life, his Salvation was secured. But if he did not perform these

to produce it. For this was all that could be done by the convinced Jews or Gentiles, who at one sermon or discourse believed and were baptized for the remission of sins. It is manifest they then knew but little of the commandments of Christ, and so could not be doers of them. Either then they were not justified, and then Faith is not imputed to them for righteousness, nor did baptism consign to them remission of sins; or they were justified by that Faith which did not include actual obedience to all the commandments of Christ, as the condition of that Justification. And seeing perseverance to the end, and being faithful to the death, are by our Lord himself made the conditions of Salvation, and of receiving from his hands the crown of life; if these be also the conditions of Justification promised to Faith in Christ, no person is or can be justified by Faith till he lies. This Faith therefore in Jew and Gentile, thus converted, could only import three things, First, By way of preparation for it, and owning the true God who gave this testimony to his Son, and so a turning from dumb idols to serve the living God, and a sorrow for their sins committed against him in the time of their ignorance; and in the Jews, a sorrow for their past sins, and in particular for having crucified the Lord of Life ; and in this sense repentance goes before Faith, And Christ's Apostles preached to the Jews, repentance for the remission of sins through Faith in his name, Acts, c. 2. v. 38, and to the Gentiles, to turn from these vain things to the living God who made heaven and earth; and to both, repentance towards God, and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, Acts, c. 20. v. 21. Secondly,

these conditions, he was no longer in a state of Justification, but again became liable to God's wrath; and if he died in his sins, his apostasy from the truth would be an aggravation of his guilt and punishment: "For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome; the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them (d)." St. Paul tells the Romans and Galatians, that they have been justified;

and

as a means to obtain this remission of sins, Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Thirdly, an engagement for the future to cease from sin, and to give up themselves to the service of God, according to the rules and precepts delivered to them by his Son. Now this engagement was virtually contained in their repentance, and their Faith in Christ, and was solemnly made by them at their baptism. Now this being all that they could then do, it must be all they were obliged to do, in order to their Justification; and yet it is certain that a promise of obedience is not obedience; and that even the new Covenant requires, in order to Salvation, a sincere and constant performance of the obedience thus promised. So that the conditions of Salvation, and of Justification from our past offences, can never be the same." Pref. to the Ep. to the Gal.

(d) 2 Pet. c. 2. v. 20 & 21,

and yet he gives them rules for their conduct, the observance of which he represents as essential to their Salvation. But had he considered their Justification as necessarily continuing; had he conceived Salvation in the next world as inevitably following Justification in this, all advice would have been superfluous; nor could he have felt or expressed any anxiety for the future welfare of the converts (d). Nay, he speaks of "some, who having put away a good conscience, concerning Faith had made shipwreck (e)." These men must have lost that state of Justification which they once had, and have failed of Salvation. Surely then the distinction between Justification and Salvation is as clear as it is important. There were, however, even in the days of the Apostles, as has been observed, those who confounded these two very different things-there were Christians who taught that Faith alone was sufficient for Salvation as well as for Justification; that men had only to believe the truth of the Gospel, and they would infallibly inherit eternal life (f). The Jewish Christians, while Jews,

had

(d) St. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians speaks highly of their former Faith, but when he wrote to them, he was "afraid, lest he should have bestowed upon them labour in vain." Gal. c.4. v. II.

(e) 1 Tim. c. I. v. 19.

(f) This is acknowledged by Dr. Doddridge: Several of the Jewish Christians discovered a dispo

had been accustomed to think themselves the peculiar favourites of Heaven, and had neglected "the weightier matters of the Law;" and now that they had embraced the Gospel, they easily fell into the opinion, that a bare profession of Christianity was sufficient to secure their Salvation; and this erroneous opinion they supported by misinterpreting St. Paul's doctrine of Justification by Faith. The error, however, was not confined to the Jewish Christians, but quickly spread, as might naturally be expected, among the Gentile converts also. St. James, in his Epistle written several years after St. Paul wrote to the Romans and Galatians, opposes this dangerous tenet, and proves that Faith alone will not justify, that is, will not preserve a Christian in a state of Justification in this world, so as to secure his Salvation in the next. He does not mean to assert, that sincere Faith alone will not justify a man when first converted to the Gospel, by procuring him remission of the sins committed by him previous to his conversion; but that when a man has been converted and justified, a bare belief of the Gospel will not keep him in a state of Justification. He says, that besides Faith, a Christian must have works, not the ceremonial works of the Law, but the moral works

of

sition to rest in an external and empty profession of religion, probably from an abuse of the doctrine of Jus tincation by Faith." Pref. to St. Jas. Ep.