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1. Good works are only such as God hath 1commanded in his holy word; and not such as without the warrant thereof are devised by men out of blind zeal 2or upon any pretense of good intentions.
2. These good works, done in obedience to God’s commandments, are the fruits and evidences 3of a true and lively faith; and by them believers manifest their 4thankfulness, strengthen their 5assurance, edify their 6brethren, adorn the profession of the gospel, stop the mouths of the adversaries and glorify 7God whose workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus 8thereunto, that having their fruit unto holiness, they may have the end 9eternal life.
3. Their ability to do good works is not at all of themselves, but wholly from the Spirit 10of Christ; and that they may be enabled thereunto, besides the graces they have already received, there is necessary an 11actual influence of the same Holy Spirit to work in them to will and to do of his good pleasure; yet are they not hereupon to grow negligent, as if they were not bound to perform any duty unless upon a special motion of the Spirit; but they ought to be diligent in 12stirring up the grace of God that is in them.
4. They who in their obedience attain to the greatest height which is possible in this life, are so far from being able to supererogate and to do more than God requires, as that 13they fall short of much which in duty they are bound to do.
5. We cannot by our best works merit pardon of sin or eternal life at the hand of God by reason of the great disproportion that is between them and the glory to come; and the infinite distance that is between us and God, whom by them we can neither profit nor satisfy for the debt of our 14former sins; but when we have done all we can, we have done but our duty and are unprofitable servants; and because as they are good they proceed from his 15Spirit, and as they are wrought by us they are defiled 16and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection that they cannot endure the severity of God’s judgement.
6. Yet notwithstanding, the persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted in 17him; not as though they were in this life wholly unblameable and unreprovable in God’s sight; but that he looking upon them in his Son is pleased to accept and reward that which is 18sincere although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections.
7. Works done by unregenerate men, although for the matter of them they may be things which God commands and of good use both to themselves and 19others; yet because they proceed not from a heart purified by 20faith, nor are done in a right manner according to the 21word, nor to a right end the 22glory of God; they are therefore sinful and cannot please God; nor make a man meet to receive grace from 23God; and yet their neglect of them is more sinful and 24displeasing to God.
- Micah 6:8; Hebrews 13:21 ↩︎
- Matthew 15:9; Isaiah 29:13 ↩︎
- James 2:18,22 ↩︎
- Psalm 116:12,13 ↩︎
- 1 John 2:3,5; 2 Peter 1:5-11 ↩︎
- Matthew 5:16 ↩︎
- 1 Timothy 6:1; 1 Peter 2:15; Philippians 1:11 ↩︎
- Ephesians 2:10 ↩︎
- Romans 6:22 ↩︎
- John 15:4,6 ↩︎
- 2 Corinthians 3:5; Philippians 2:13 ↩︎
- Philippians 2:12; Hebrews 6:11-12; Isaiah 64:7 ↩︎
- Job 9:2,3; Galatians 5:17; Luke 17:10 ↩︎
- Romans 3:20; Ephesians 2:8,9; Romans 4:6 ↩︎
- Galatians 5:22,23 ↩︎
- Isaiah 64:6; Psalm 143:2 ↩︎
- Ephesians 1:6; 1 Peter 2:5 ↩︎
- Matthew 25:21,23; Hebrews 6:10 ↩︎
- 2 Kings 10:30; 1 Kings 21:27,29 ↩︎
- Genesis 4:5; Hebrews 11:4,6 ↩︎
- 1 Corinthians 13:1 ↩︎
- Matthew 6:2,5 ↩︎
- Amos 5:21,22; Romans 9:16; Titus 3:5 ↩︎
- Job 21:14,15; Matthew 25:41,42,43 ↩︎