us believing, willing, desiring, endeavouring, labouring, watching, studying, asking, seeking, knocking, without the grace of God, but doth not confess that it is only by the infusion and inspiration of the Holy Ghost into us that we believe, will, and are able to do all these things as we ought to do, and makes the help of grace to follow after either humility or obedience, nor will grant that it is the gift of grace itself that we are obedient and humble, he resisteth the apostle, saying, "What hast thou that thou hast not received?" and" by the grace of God I am what I am.'

And so the African council tood, We determine that the sentence against Pelagius and Cœlestius, uttered by the reverend bishop Innocent from the see of the blessed apostle, do remain until they acknowledge, by open confession, that the grace of God by Jesus Christ our Lord doth help us by single acts, not only to know but also to do righteousness; so that without it we can neither have, think, speak, nor do any true and holy piety.' Which in effect is the same that our English council here determined, That the condition of man is such after the fall of Adam, that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own strength and good works to faith and calling upon God; wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of Christ preventing, that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will.'

aut obedientiæ humanæ subjungit gratiæ adjutorium, nec ut obedientes et humiles simus ipsius gratiæ donum esse consensit, resistit apostolo dicenti, 'Quid habes quod non accepisti?' Et'Gratiâ Dei sum id quod sum.’— Concil. Arusic. 2. Can. 6.

d Constituimus in Pelagium et Cœlestium per venerandum episcopum Innocentium de beatissimi apostoli sede prolatam manere sententiam, donec apertissimâ confessione fateantur gratiam Dei per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum, non solùm ad cognoscendam, verùm etiam ad faciendam justitiam, nos per actus singulos adjuvare; ita ut sine illa nihil veræ sanctæque pietatis habere, cogitare, dicere, agere valeamus. — Concil. African. apud Prosper. contra Collatorem. Vide et Synod. Carthag. Can. 114. Balsam. 733. Vide et Ush. de Succes, 55.

ARTICLE XI.

Of the Justification of Man.

WE ARE ACCOUNTED RIGHTEOUS BEFORE

GOD, ONLY

FOR THE MERIT OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST BY FAITH, AND NOT FOR OUR OWN WORKS OR DESERVINGS. WHEREFORE THAT WE ARE JUSTIFIED BY FAITH ONLY, IS A MOST WHOLESOME DOCTRINE, AND VERY FULL OF COMFORT, AS MORE LARGELY IS EXPRESSED IN THE HOMILY OF JUSTIFICATION.

ORIGINAL sin (as we saw in the eighth Article) being both the fault and corruption of the human nature, and so all of us not only defiled with it, but also guilty of it, man was thereby plunged into such a gulf of misery, that it is impossible for him by his own strength ever to recover himself from it. That he is not able to wash away that filth of sin that is inherent in him, hath been proved in the foregoing Article. That he is not able of himself to blot out that guilt of sin that lies upon him is asserted in this. There we see we could not be made righteous, but by God's grace implanted in us; here we see we cannot be accounted righteous, but by Christ's merits imputed to us. Where we may likewise observe, how whatsoever we lost in the first, we gained in the second Adam. Are we accounted sinners by Adam's sin imputed to us? We are accounted righteous by Christ's righteousness laid upon us. Are we made sinners also by Adam's sin inherent in us? We are made righteous also by Christ's righteousness imparted to us; his Spirit being ours for the sanctification, as well as Adam's sin ours for the corruption of our natures; and his merit ours for the justification, as well as Adam's transgression is ours for the condemnation of our persons.

By this merit it is that we are accounted righteous before God; where we may take notice by the way, how our being justified is here expressed by our being accounted righteous, and not by our being made righteous. For it

is not by the inhesion of grace in us, but by the imputation of righteousness to us that we are justified; as it is not by the imputation of righteousness to us, but by the inhesion

of grace in us, that we are sanctified. Thus we find the

apostle speaking of the justification of Abraham, saying, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for

a There hath been much opposition against this translation of the words, Καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην, “ And it was counted [reckoned or imputed] to him for righteousness;” and λογίζεται ἡ πίστις αυτοῦ εἰς δικαιοσύνην, "his faith is accounted or reckoned to him for righteousness.' But certainly this is both the truest and most ancient notion of the words. For so the

Et reputatum est ei ' ܕܘܙܬܚܫܟܬ ܠܗ ܠܙܕܥܩܘ ,Syiae

6

in justitiam,' and Lowasa and be

943

aa, Reputatur fides ad justitiam.' Where we may observe how this translation renders the Greek λoyoual, by

حسبي

6

wn and so

doth the Arabic HHASHIB, in both places. So that what is the right notion of an under the Old Testament, must also be received as the truest interpretation of λoyquaι under the New. Now though awn do signify often simply cogitavit, putavit,' yet we know how in the Hebrew language, where there is no composition of verbs, the compound is always implied in the simple, and the simple used to express the compound, e. g. that signifies simply venit,' signifies also advenit, pervenit, evenit, convenit,' &c. And so here awn, that signifies simply 'cogitavit, putavit,' signifies also imputavit, reputavit, computavit, supputavit.' So a

wxb, 'Sanguis reputabitur illi viro,' Lev. xvii. 4. Gr. Kaì λoyicOnosrai TM ȧvůρúπæ inεíva alua, Et imputabitur illi sanguis,' as the Latin translation

אדם קטול יתחשב לגברא ההוא ותהי ליה,hath it. Jonathan expresseth it clearly

W* * *. The blood of homicide shall be imputed to him, and it shall be to him as if he had shed innocent blood.' So that w here intimates such an imputation as makes a man accounted as if he had shed innocent blood, which in himself he was not guilty of. So Numb. xviii. 27., Syriac No, Samaritan JM, Arabic all using still the same word with the Hebrew, viz. 2wn, which "the LXX. render, Kai Koyiodhoɛrai iμív, Vulg.' Et reputetur vobis.' And so I might easily show how this word doth very frequently signify to be counted or imputed; and if in other places, why not in the place from whence the apostle takes this sentence, viz. Gen. xv. 6. npay 15 nawn“ m 1, which the Septuagint render, Kai iwoTevσEv Algaàpe τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἐλογίσθη ἀυτῷ ἐις δικαιοσύνην, the very words the apostle quotes in the place we are speaking to," It was counted [or imputed] to him for righteousness." So that both in the Hebrew, awn, which the Septuagint translates by oyiμa in the Old Testament, and Greek λoyizoμai, which the Oriental translations render by an in the New, do both import an external imputation of a thing to a man, not an internal inhesion of it

righteousness," Rom. iv. 3. and again, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness," ver. 5. And if faith is accounted for righteousness, we must needs be accounted righteous by faith, and so we be justified by faith that is accounted for righteousness to us, not by grace as a principle of righteousness in us. Which also further appears in that justification is here said to be of the ungodly, "Who justifieth the ungodly." For so long as a man is ungodly, he cannot be said to be justified by any inward and inherent, but only by an outward and imputed righteousness; so that justification is properly opposed to accusation. So St. Paul plainly, "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died." Rom. viii. 33, 34. Who shall accuse or lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? The devil, their own consciences; but it is God that will justify and pronounce them righteous. How? Because they are righteous in themselves? No; but because Christ's merits are imputed to them, who is therefore said, "To be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him," 2 Cor. v. 21. How was Christ made sin for us? Not by our sins inherent in him, that is horrid blasphemy; but by our sins imputed to him, that is true divinity. And as he was made sin for us, not by the inhesion of our sins in him, but by the imputation of our sins to him, so are we made the righteousness of God in him, by the imputation of his righteousness to us, not by the inhesion of his righteousness in us. He was accounted as a sinner, and therefore punished for us; we are accounted as righteous, and therefore glorified in him. Our sins were laid upon him, and therefore he died for us in time; his righteousness is laid upon us, and therefore we shall live with him to eternity. Thus was the innocent in him. So that the righteousness that is here said, λoyilera, is not any thing in ourselves to whom it is imputed, but in him who doth impute it.

b Ποῖον δὴ τοῦτο ; τὸν μὴ γνόντα ἐμαρτίαν, φησί, τὸν αὐτοδικαιοσύνην ὄντα ἁμαρτίαν ἐσπόιησε· τουτέστιν ὡς ἁμαρτωλὸν κατακριθῆναι ἀφῆκεν ὡς ἐπικατάρατον ἀποθανεῖν· Éminarágaros yàg ó ngeμáμevos éπì Gúnov. - Chrysost. in 2. ad Corinth. Hom. 11. Ed. Savil. Τόν μὴ γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν, φησὶ, τουτέστι τὸν ἀυτοδικαιοσύνην ὄντα καὶ ἅγι ασμὸν, τὸν Ὑιὸν ἀυτοῦ ὁ Πατὴς ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησε, τουτέστιν ὡς ἁμαρτωλον τινα καὶ κατάδικον εἴασε σταυρωθῆναι. Ecumen. in loc.

punished as if he was guilty, that the guilty might be rewarded, as if they were innocent. And thus are we accounted as righteous in him, as he was accounted as a sinner for us. He was accounted as a sinner for us, and therefore he was condemned; we are accounted as righteous in him; and so we are justified. And this is the right notion of justification as distinguished from sanctification. Not as if these two were ever severed or divided in their subjects; no, every one that is justified is also sanctified, and every one that is sanctified is also justified. But yet the acts of justification and sanctification are two distinct things for the one denotes the imputation of righteousness to us; the other denotes the implantation of righteousness in us. And therefore, though they be both the acts of God, yet the one is the act of God towards us, the other is the act of God in us. Our justification is in God only, not in ourselves; our sanctification is in ourselves as well

:

c'Longè à facie mea verba delictorum meorum.' Quorum delictorum de quo dictum est, qui peccatum non fecit, nec inventus est dolus in ore ejus? Quorum modo ergo dicit 'delictorum meorum,' nisi quia pro delictis nostris ille precatur, et delicta nostra sua delicta fecit, ut justitiam suam nostram justitiam faceret?-Aug. in Psa. xxi. Expos. sec.

There are many expressions in the fathers that import so much, that our justification is in God only, not in ourselves. Thus Austin: 'Omnes tamen qui ex Adam cum peccato peccatores; omnes qui per Christum justificati, justi, non in se sed in illo. Nam in se si interroges Adam sunt; in illo si interroges Christi sunt. - Aug. in Joh. Tract. 3. Ipse ergo peccatum ut nos justitia non nostra sed Dei, nec in nobis sed in ipso.-Id. Enchirid. ad Laurent. cap. 41. Ipsa quoque nostra justitia, quamvis vera sit propter veri boni fidem ad quem refertur, tamen tanta est in hac vita, ut potius peccatorum remissione constat quam perfectione virtutum.-Id. de Civitate Dei, lib. xix. cap. 27. init. And that it consists in the forgiveness of our sins, it must needs be in God only, not in ourselves. So Bernard: Sufficiat mihi ad omnem justitiam solum habere propitium cui soli peccavi. Omne quod mihi ipse non imputare decreverit sic est quasi non fuerit. Non peccare Dei justitia est; hominis justitia indulgentia Dei. — Bernard. in Cant. Hom. 23. Τάυτην δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ δικαιοσύνην τὴν ἐκ πίστεως διὰ τὸ ὁλόκληρον αυτὴν ἐκ τῆς ἄνωθεν εἶναι χάριτος, καὶ οὐχὶ πόνοις ἀλλὰ Θεοῦ δικαιοῦσθαι δωρεᾷ. Chrysost. in Rom. Hom. 17. Ed. Savil. 'Exsin yàg ʼn #goréga vóμov nai Egyor dinalooúvn, avrn di Deoũ dinasoσúvn. — Id. in 2. ad Corinth. Hom. 11. Tunc ergo justi sumus quando nos peccatores fatemur. Et justitia nostra non ex proprio merito, sed ex Dei consistit misericordia. -Hieron. ado. Pelag. lib. i. And so Ambrose: Quicunque ergo dicit iniquitates Deo, justificatur; et quicunque justificatur retributionem non timet sed poscit.— Ambros. in Psal. cxix. Conc. 3.

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