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Here , we-must cpnfess , he has apt gratified pur expectation . Not tl ^ at such " minute discussions" were reasonably to he lpoj ^ ed for in $ n episcopal Charge ; but that , in point of fact , scarcely any thing which professes to be a discussion qf the sense and testimony of Scripture , falls from his Lordship . To be sure , tfy . e controversy lies almost exclusively between Churchmen and Churchmen : therefore , as we presume , he appeals mainly to the catechisms , homilies , articles , of his own communion . Still , we must again express
our disappointment . On another theme , and with regard to the Romanists , the Bishop urges " above all the appeal to the simple Scripture : " * and we should be happy in seeing them join issue with him ; we should be curious to know their plpa and his replication . Afterwards , too , he properly calls on his clergy to " be more earnest in study of the Scriptures . ' f We naturally hoped , thep , that on the momentous tenet of justification by faith , he would bring forward passages from the records of Revelation , in preference to any from human symbols and Dean Nowell's Catechism .
May we beg to assure his Lordship ( we can do it with sincerity ) , that we are far from viewing with indifference a discussion concerning Justification ? Not belonging to any of the classes of men whom he generally designates as Sociniart t jirian Pelagi an ^ , we account no genuine doctrine of Scripture " foolishness , " and humbJy trust that no such doctrine will be to us , as he affirms it is " to the self-satisfied of every communion , a stumblings block . " At the same time , we shall carefully discriminate between " the simple
Scri pture , " on the one side , and tjje statements of individual men , and of bodies of men , on . the other . ' * — from first to last , " says Dr . Ryder , — in the commencement—and
through the course of our religious career—at its close in death—and at its trial in judgment— Faith is the only instrument of our justification , as form - ing the only bond of union with Him , whose atonement alone must plead for our pardon , daily , hourly , momentarily , —whose intercession alone must obtain for us grace— -no less urgently an 4 uniformly required—and whose righteousness alone must secure pur final and everlasting acceptance . "
Yet his Lordship takes two distinctions , first , between " a dead or barren and a lively , operative faith ; and , " secondly , between " justification acceptably before C * o d who searcheth the heart—and justification declaratively before men now- ^ -and before the assembled world at the great day of account—distinctions as clearly scriptural , as they are obviousl y importantand affording , in my view , the only satisfactory means of reconciling the apparently contradictory statements of St . Paul and St . James . "S
The position that faith is the only instrument of our justification , cannot , we think , be controverted , if it be rightly understood . Our previous inquiry , however , should be , What does the New Testament mean by faith , and what by justification ? We conceive faith to be reliance , belief , trust , confidence : faith supposes the evidence of testimony , and gives credit to it ; and faith , trulv religious and Christian , goes far beyond the bare assent of
the mind ; forasmuch as it influences the will , the affections , the deportment , and the character . This account of faith we deem clearly scriptural ; while it harmonizes , of course , with the soundest intellectual philosophy . Let us add , that here only , in our humble judgment , have we satisfactory meaps of reconciling the apparently contradictory statements of St . Paul and St . James .
* P . 11 . f P- 47 . I P . 18 . § Pp . 19 , 20 , 21 .
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Bfthop ofLicftfieldU Chqrge . 75
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1829, page 75, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2569/page/3/
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