"tion either the time, the place, or the "occasion of his undergoing any remark"able change, either of his views, his re"solutions, his affections, or conduct," they "call it his experience; if it be scrip"tural and rational," they "approve it; if "otherwise," they "disapprove itm." This use of the word is certainly" not scriptural; and although the fruits of the Spirit are seen in "all goodness, and righteousness, "and truth," the original formation and gradual maturity of them are often secret and indiscernible; and we are taught, that as "the wind bloweth where it listeth, and "thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst

m

Williams, p. 302. Overton, p. 110. Scott, vol. i. p. 112. 143-148.

n Scott, vol. i. p. 144. "The word 'experience' does "not frequently occur in Scripture, but the thing itself "meets us every where." The word doxin, translated experience, Rom. v. 4. occurs frequently; meaning, in that text, the proof which is afforded of God's goodness in support under persecution; more commonly the proof which another person affords in his actions, of liberality, 2 Cor. ix. 13. of obedience, 2 Cor. ii. 9. of ministerial faithfulness, Philip. ii. 22. and authority, 2 Cor. xiii. 3. In no one of these texts does it signify the consciousness of the individual. Ephes. v. 9.

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"not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth, so is every one that is born of the "Spirit"."

IV. 1. On the doctrine of justification by faith without works, the Calvinists "con"sider justification as an act of sovereign 66 grace and mercy, vouchsafed to sinners "on account of what the Lord Jesus "Christ hath done and suffered for them, "and in no respect on account of their own merits and deserts; and it is solely

through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ "that we do or ever can obtain this mercy "at God's hands." Let fatherly be substituted for sovereign grace, and this is sound apostolical doctrine, not peculiar to the Calvinists; for "no man can lay any "other foundation than that which is laid, " even Jesus Christ," "neither is there "salvation in any other; for there is no “other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved"."

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2. In the same sense probably it is as

P John iii. 8.

a Simeon, p. 60. r1 Cor. iii. 11.

serted, that "good works have nothing to "do with our justification," and "that all "works of man are wholly excluded from

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any share in our justification"." So also when Calvinists speak of being justified by faith without works, they "do not mean that "a justified person is at liberty to neglect

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good works, but that the person who "seeks for acceptance through Christ must "not bring with him any works whatever, "either ceremonial or moral, as a joint "ground of his hope, or as a price which "he is to pay for an interest in Christ." This also in a certain sense we admit to be true, for we have been "justified freely by "his grace through the redemption which "is in Christ Jesus'," and "God saveth "us according to his mercy, and not by "works of righteousness which we have ❝ done."

3. By the faith which justifies is meant,

a cordial belief of God's testimony, "and a reliance on his promises

t Vaughan's Account, p. 64. u Scott, vol. i. p. 283. * Simeon, p. 59. y Rom. iii. 24. z Titus iii. 5.

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a

"a receiving with interest and approbation "the witness of God which he hath testi"fied of his Son, and a sure trust and "confidence in God for salvation, through "Jesus Christ"." "The way in which it justifies is not as possessing any merit, "but as the only ordained mean and in"strument by which we thus receive, ap"prehend, and apply to ourselves the fruits "and merits of Christ's death".' "This "faith by which we are justified, though our own, is not of ourselves; it is the gift "of God... and it is therefore of the Spi"rit of Christ that we are primarily united "to him," and "the condition of our con"tinuance in justification ... must... be "the possession of that lively faith, which "is the inseparable effect of possessing "the Spirit of Christ." The faith which constitutes a justifying union, is “a living, "not a dead and unproductive faith","

Simeon, p. 57. Williams, p. 154.

257. b b Overton, p. 188. 199.

a Overton, p. 188. Scott, vol. i. p. 257. liams, p. 128, 129. 194. 291.

© Wil

d Ibid.

P. 132.

e Ibid.

p. 128.

a faith which produces, though it doth not comprise, good works.

4. The distinction between a primary and final justification is rejected by Calvinists as an absurdity of Socinianism. This distinction is nevertheless maintained in the Scriptures, in which our common present justification is always spoken of as perfect and complete, but liable to be forfeited, and generally with reference to some obligation or privilege ensuingh. It is for want of this distinction, that good works are described as not being "the appointed "condition of justification," which is represented as "an abiding state of accept"ance with God;" as "a state of entire "and meritorious acceptance, obtained by

f Scott, passim.

8 Overton, p. 179. 210, 211. The British Review calls it "the unscriptural doctrine of a double justification." No. xxiii. p. 134.

h Rom. vi. 4. 22. viii. 3, 4. 2 Cor. v. 17. 21.

i Overton, p. 273. Scott, vol. i. p. 283. 356. 389. he

objects altogether to the use of the word conditions.' See vol. i. p. 168. 265. 354. 356. 383.

k Scott, vol. i. p. 285.