Faith at work. A brief and plain essay, upon certain articles of the Gospel,…

First, A man may be Accused of Iniquity; It may be said, Thou hast broken the Law, and thereby wronged the Name, of God, and the terrible penalty of that Law, now belongs unto thee. The Answer to this Accusation is to be, My Lord Jesus Christ ha's fully obeyed the will of God, and suffered the penalty due to me for my Disobedience; and I do by Faith depend on this Righteousness of my Lord Jesus Christ, for my Acceptance with God for ever.

First, A man may be Accused of Iniquity; It may be said, Thou hast broken the Law, and thereby wronged the Name, of God, and the terrible penalty of that Law, now belongs unto thee. The Answer to this Accusation is to be, My Lord Jesus Christ ha's fully obey'd the will of God, and suffered the penalty due to me for my Disobedience; and I do by Faith depend on this Righteousness of my Lord Jesus Christ, for my Acceptance with God for ever.

Secondly, A man may be Accused of Hypocrisy ▪ It may be said, Thou Talkest of thy Faith; but is […] not mere Talk? How canst thou prove, that thy Faith is any more, than what is in the very Devils themselves? The Answer to this Accusation is, The works of a Sanctified man, which I am doing every Day, are the Proof of my Faith According […] ⟨p. 6⟩by Paul, That a man is Justified alone by Faith: but it is asserted by James, That a man is not Justified by a Faith which is alone. The Question discoursed by Paul is, How a Guilty Person may come to be Acquitted by the Lord, from all the Guilt that lies upon him? The Answer to this Question, is, Not by any Works of our own, but only by the Righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is, on our part, only by Faith applied unto us. The Question discoursed by James, is, Whether a man pretending to Faith in the Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, shall be saved, though he continue without the works of an Holy Life, agreeable thereunto? The Answer to this Question is, No, Such a man ha's no Saving Faith at all. And that James is to be taken in that sense, is evident from. This: He does insist upon the Instance of Abraham; and yet Abraham was a Justified man, Thirty years, before those Works, which are said here to Justify him. Upon the whole then, we see Paul and James, Reconciled, or, indeed, never contradicting. And we are Advised after all; Tis a Vanity in any man to Profess, that he ha's a True Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, if his Faith be not Fruitful in those Good Works, which may Justify the mans Profession.