The Doctrine of Justification by Faith

4. Some of late are not of this mind: They contend earnestly that Paul is to be interpreted by James, and not on the contrary. And unto this end they tell us that the Writings of Paul are obscure, that sundry of the ancients take notice thereof, that many take occasion of errors from them, with sundry things of an alike nature, indeed scandalous to Christian Religion. And that James writing after him, is presumed to give an interpretation unto his sayings, which are therefore to be expounded and understood according unto that interpretation. Ans. (1) As to the vindication of the Writings of St. Paul, which begin now to be frequently reflected on with much severity (which is one effect of the secret prevalency of the Atheism of these days) as there is no need of it, so it is designed for a more proper place. Only I know not how any person that can pretend the least acquaintance with Antiquity can plead a passage out of Irenaeus wherein he was evidently himself mistaken, or a rash word of Origen, or the like in derogation from the perspicuity of the Writings of this Apostle, when they cannot but know how easy it were to overwhelm them with Testimonies unto the contrary from all the famous Writers of the ⟨p. 561⟩Church in several ages. And (as for instance in one) Chrysostom in forty places gives an account why some men understood not his Writings which in themselves were so gloriously evident and perspicuous; so for their satisfaction I shall refer them only unto the Preface unto his Exposition of his Epistles, of which kind they will be directed unto more in due season. But he needs not the Testimony of men, nor of the whole Church together, whose safety and security it is to be built on that Doctrine which he taught. In the mean time it would not be unpleasant to consider (but that the perverseness of the minds of men is rather a real occasion of sorrow) how those who have the same design do agree in their conceptions about his Writings, for some will have it, that if not all, yet the most of his Epistles were Written against the Gnostics and in the confutation of their error; others, that the Gnostics took the occasion of their errors from his Writings. So bold will men make with things Divine to satisfy a present interest.

4. Some of late are not of this mind: They contend earnestly that Paul is to be interpreted by James, and not on the contrary. And unto this end they tell us that the Writings of Paul are obscure, that sundry of the antients take notice thereof, that many take occasion of errors from them, with sundry things of an alike nature, indeed scandalous to Christian Religion. And that James writing after him, is presumed to give an interpretation unto his sayings, which are therefore to be expounded and understood according unto that interpretation. Ans. (1) As to the vindication of the Writings of St. Paul, which begin now to be frequently reflected on with much severity (which is one effect of the secret prevalency of the Atheism of these days) as there is no need of it, so it is designed for a more proper place. Only I know not how any person that can pretend the least acquaintance with Antiquity can plead a passage out of Irenaeus wherein he was evidently himself mistaken, or a rash word of Origen, or the like in derogation from the perspicuity of the Writings of this Apostle, when they cannot but know how easie it were to overwhelm them with Testimonies unto the contrary from all the famous Writers of the