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description of the great Christian doctrine concerning the Justification of a sinner in the sight of God . Yet I would say , that I have assumed no more than is contained in the definition of this subject given by Valentinus Smalcius in the Racovian
Catechism : * ' By faith in Christ we obtain Justification . —Justification is God ' s esteeming us as righteous ; which he does by granting us the pardon of our sins and the bestowment of eternal life ; of which the Apostle Paul clearly testifies , when he says that ' the blessedness of man consists in the Lord ' s
imputing to him righteousness ; ' and then adds from the Psalm , * Blessed is the man to whom the Lord iinputeth not sin . *"—P . 240 , ed . Racov .
1609 . Requesting attention to these preliminary positions , I answer Mr . Gibson ' s question by the following remarks :
i . Every man is either justified or not justified , in the righteous and unerring judgment of his holy Sovereign . There is no intermediate or neutral condition .
ii . If a man thinks himself to be justified , while he does not from the heart abhor and renounce all sin , and with equal earnestness cultivate all holiness , he is under an awful
delu-. in . Yet it is a fact which we know by painful and humbling experience , that sincerity of motive , uprightness of intention , and circumspection of practice , with regard to all the duties
of holiness , do not imply perfection , in the present life . There are low degrees , as well as high , in the character of genuine and cordial obedience ; and there are all the
intermediate points of the scale : but the lowest , be it ever remembered , is honest , sincere , upright , allowing of no sin , and aiming at perfection . The Omniscient alone knows unerringly the real character and state of
individuals . If we see a person who seriously professes faith in Christ , according to the Scriptures , and whose conduct exhibits all the appearances of Christian integrity , we rejoice in the rational evidence that he is a justified person , pardoned and accepted by God . If , with the same outward evidence , we are conscious of " sim-
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plicity and godly sincerity , " we are scripturally encouraged to t $ ke the same consoling hope to ourselves ; yet ever remembering' the apostolic caution , " Examineyourselves : —thou standest by faith : —be not high-minded , but fear . '
iv . Sanctification , or the sincere love and persevering practice of all holiness , is the necessary and invariable adjunct of Justification . It is the criterion of all well-founded hope of favour with God . As , in the animal frame , the nervous and the arterial
parts of the constitution are totally different in structure and function , yet neither can subsist without the other , and both are essential tQ life ; so , in the moral system , Justification and
Sanctification are blessings of salvation quite distinct , yet each absolutely necessary , the one inseparable from the other , and both equally essential to the spiritual life or the reality of religion .
The following distinctions may be of some use to preclude misapprehension : 1 . Justification respects the state of the soul as standing in the judicial
presence of God , the Supreme Lawgiver and Ruler . Sanctification respects the inward and conscious perceptions of the mind , in its inclinations , aversions , motives , aims and practical determinations .
2 . Justification is an act of Divine Benevolence ; yet , through the infinitely valuable mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ , it is conferred without compromising the honour of
the divine law , in either ita requirements or its sanctions . The penitent and believing sinner is pardoned , because Christ gave himself a sacrifice ,
a ransom , an atonement ; not to purchase the Father ' s grace , but as a fruit and effect of that grace , and in order that this exercise ofa mercy might be just , fit and glorious , and in no way disparaging to the claims of infinite and unchangeable rectitude . The
penitent and believing sinner is also beheld with complacency by the Holy One ; and supreme happiness is conferred upon him as the recompense of merit to Christ , whose righteousness is no more than justly acknowledged by the conferring of ail the blessings of salvation on those who seek then )
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78 Dr . J . Pye Smith ' s Reply to Mr . Gibson's Questions .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1825, page 78, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2533/page/14/
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