T a work of obedience or an act of duty, which God accepts instead of other duties or other obedience, and that therefore the man who has faith, is justified, whilst the man who has not faith, is condemned for wanting it. The meaning is, that Christ has redeemed from the wrath to come' as many as receive him, and believe in his name:' but that he must be trusted by those whom he redeems that his death must be relied on, in order that it may be efficacious for salvation: faith being, as it were, the graft by which a believer is united to the 'true vine,' and separated from the natural corrupt stock, to the root of which the axe is laid. "It may seem a nice distinction, to allow that a man is not saved without good works, and yet to deny that his works contribute to his justification. But though a nice distinction, it is perfectly intelligible and reasonable. Above all, it is scriptural. It is that conclusion from the whole volume of antecedent revelation which St. Paul was empowered to indite for the instruction and guidance of that world for which Christ died. Whereas to unite together two things so distinctly separated in the Christian scheme, as man's Justification and his Sanctification, is, in effect,to devise a scheme of salvation for ourselves. It confounds the new state in which we are placed, with the new nature which we are to receive. It removes the distinction between what is, and what is not, inherent in us: between what Christ has done, and what he enables us to do. Man's condition, without the satisfaction of Christ, may be illustrated by that of Peter; when being cast into prison by Herod, he was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains; and the keepers before the door kept the prison. An angel came, raised him up, released him from his fetters, opened the prison doors, and set him free. In all this Peter had no more part, than man has in his justification. It is the Lord our righteousness' who delivers us from the wrath to come.' But man being thus delivered, is sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,' and walks before God in righteousness and holiness; just as Peter gave proof of the liberty which he had attained by the angel's power, when in his own power he hastened to the house of Mary, the mother of John, and joined the assembly of the disciples. "This may serve as an illustration of the manner in which the believer is first justified, and then sanctified. He begins by perceiving himself lost, and betaking himself to Christ for deliverance. He proceeds to live, as his Deliverer instructs him to live, and enables him to live, and declares that he must live, if he is to receive the benefit he desires. But his instructor and strengthener is still his deliverer, because without him he would have been lying in darkness: but his works are not perfect, and need his constant thankfulness that they are not his trust; that his ground of confidence is in Him who died for our sins, and rose again for our justification:-though still he has no other evidence of a title to depend upon his Lord and Saviour, than the testimony of his conscience, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, he is living righteously, soberly, and godly, in this present world,' and striving to be perfect, even as his Father who is in heaven is perfect.' "So that the doctrine on which St. Paul insists, is this: that the good works which the Christian performs, whether before or after believing, are no meritorious cause of our salvation; have no share in effecting our acceptance with God. And St. James, when he affirms that by works faith is made perfect,' does not mean that those works procure our reconciliation with God, but prove it; and in declaring that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only,' he means that a man does not with his heart believe unto righteousness, who does not in his life make confession unto salvation: For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law are justified.' No others have been justified before God. Known unto him are all things from the beginning. And none are ever received into his favour, whose patient continuance in well doing' he has not foreseen. "There is, in truth, in the doctrine itself a provision against the licence which is sometimes alleged to spring from it. The more the atonement of Christ is dwelt upon, the greater will appear the heinousness of sin requiring such an expiation. St. Paul lays great stress on this; and repudiates the idea, that those who have been 'baptized into the death of Christ' for sin, who believe in his death as a propitiation for sin,' should yet admit it into their practice, instead of being deterred by the example which that affords. "And if anything can be relied on as the result of experience, this may be fearlessly maintained, and must be re-asserted whenever it is denied: viz. that they who have most intimately understood, in their own hearts, the doctrine of justification by faith, have been the most careful to maintain good works :' Such statements as the above are bright sunshine, after the murkiness-we will not say of the Oxford Tracts, for these are worse than murky; they glare with the deceptive meteors of human tradition-but of many publications which pass current for sound divinity, but are defective and unsafe, for want of clear scriptural views on the doctrine of a sinner's justification before God. With a distinct recollection of most of the Bishop of Chester's writings, and highly valuing them, we remember no portion more satisfactory, useful, and seasonable, especially in reference to some of the delusions of the present day, than the above prefatory dissertation, which might be easily moulded into a suitable form for distinct publication as a "Tract for the Times." We have taken occasion to advert to some of the successive portions of his Lordship's Exposition as they were issued; but a tractate would fly on lighter wings than a series of octavo volumes. We are thankful that his Lordship, amidst his arduous labours as a Bishop, has been able to proceed so far with his expository volumes; for though his duties as a ruler in the Church, especially in such a diocese as that of Chester, and with the overwhelming pressure which his own conscientious zeal has caused to accumulate upon him, would be a sufficient reason for his confining his pen to the daily recurring demands upon it; yet, remembering that it was first as an author that his Lordship gained his hold upon the public, and that his writings did good service for the glory of God and the good of his Church, long before he was generally known by his personal presence, weighty words, and active labours, we would not that the world should lose the benefit of "the gift that was in him" antecedently to his being called to discharge the office of a Bishop; for which the exercise of that gift had aided to prepare him, and still more had prepared his countrymen to hail his accession to the office. For the Bishop of Chester was not one of those whose elevation outruns the suffrage of the wise and good; the only surprise expressed upon his election to the episcopate was that it had not occurred earlier; and the only regret was that the Church had lost several years of valuable service. It may not be known to some of our readers, that forty years have elapsed since his Lordship began to edify the Church by his writings, in an Essay to shew "That the Prophecies now accomplishing are an evidence of the Christian Religion." His chief subsequent publications have been reviewed in our pages; particularly his " Apostolical Preaching," in our Volume for 1816; his "Creation and Attributes of God," in 1817; and in 1821 his "Sermons on the Christian Faith and Character." Most of these sermons were addressed to the young gentlemen at Eton. The writer lamented the general absence of catechetical instruction for youth; for want of which, chiefly, a large proportion of the population, he said, grow up (there is happily much amendment, but not sufficient to throw the remark into the past tense) in gross ignorance of the doctrines, and neglect of the duties, of the Gospel; to which ignorance Mr. Sumner attributed much of "the effect produced, and the benefits conferred -for he thankfully acknowledged those benefits-"by such treatises as Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul; Baxter's Call to the Unconverted; and other writings of a similar stamp; seeing that they suppose the reader to be, what he so frequently is, uninformed; his taking up the book generally implies that he is inquiring; and he there finds the Gospel explained and applied to his own case, in a manner almost as new and unexpected as if the revelation were made to him for the first time." We will copy the concluding paragraph of our review of those excellent sermons, on account of the tribute of respect paid in it to Bishop Barrington. "We must not conclude our remarks without adverting to a circumstance mentioned in the dedication prefixed to the volume-a circumstance equally honourable to Mr. Sumner and his Honourable and Right Reverend patronthat these discourses were composed under the sanction and advice of the venerable Bishop of Durham, to whose favourable opinion of his former writings Mr. Summer states himself to be indebted for a very valuable ecclesiastical preferment. Patronage thus acquired, and thus bestowed, confers honour upon both parties. It augurs well for the Church of England, when her guardians are thus influenced by a wise, liberal, and disinterested spirit, in distributing the honours and emoluments placed at their conscientious disposal. We shall only add our earnest prayers that both the reverend prelate and our respected author may be amply repaid for their benevolent wishes and exertions, by a wide extension of Scriptural piety among the successive generations of youth in that important public institution before whose members these discourses were delivered; and in which, at his advanced and lucrative appoinments in his cathedral, as a public trust for public purposes; he wished, he said, to collect at Durham a constellation of piety and talent; he therefore determined not to listen to political, family, or local interest; and though he favourably considered diocesan claims, he did not allow them to outweigh extensive public services; for he was of opinion that the Anglican communion is not sectional; and his biographers state that he never inquired in what portion of the common vineyard a clergyman had served God and the Church, if his services were such as he judged entitled the party to be sought out and rewarded by those who are entrusted, for the general weal, with official patronage. A like tribute of respect it would be unjust to withhold from his munificent successor, Dr. Van Mildert; who, though his views differed in some important matters from those of Bishop Barrington, exercised his patronage with similar care and disinterestedness, according to what he believed to be for the good of the Church. the Church. Mr. Faber gratefully acknowledges, in the dedication of one of his publications to Bishop Van Mildert, that he was indebted to his Lordship for a valuable appointment, which, freeing him from pecuniary cares, allowed him to devote his leisure to the service of God and the Church in the diligent use of his pen; and the Anglican communion, and our common Christianity, have in consequence been greatly benefited by his elaborate replies to the Tractarian errors, in his "Provincial Letters," and his treatise upon "Justification." The auguries which we formed in 1821 have been more than fulfilled; and much would it have gladdened the heart of Bishop Barrington, had he lived to witness the many blessings which it has We must defer our remarks pleased God to confer upon the upon the Charges of the Bishop Church through the instrumen- of Llandaff, and the Dean of Salistality of his younger friend. That bury, to another Number, as they venerable prelate regarded his pa- are too important to be dismissed tronage, particularly the dignified in a few sentences. (To be Continued.) 192 VIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS. THE Queen's Speech, at the opening of the session of Parliament, was chiefly a statement of facts with which the public were already acquainted; and the reply to it in each House was carried without much debate. Both Houses have voted thanks to the naval and military forces in China, and the Governor General of India, and the troops employed in Affghanistan, on account of their brilliant achievements. The Duke of Wellington's speeches in proposing the vote were striking specimens of the varied and ever-ready talents of that eminent man. Amidst the painful topics connected with the Chinese expedition, it is gratifying to learn that our brave countrymen acted in a spirit of justice and humanity in their intercourse with the people, which commanded their esteem, and mitigated the horrors of war. Some difference of opinion was expressed as to the Governor-General's title to thanks in the conduct of the war in Affghanistan; but the result of the investigation was in his favour. We cannot say so much for his "Jehovah, Jove, O Lord" Somnauth proclamation; which was strongly objected to by various members on account of its impolicy; and by some, especially Sir R. H. Inglis, on account of the sanction which it appears to give to the idolatrous rites of Hindoo Paganism. Sir R. Peel did not say much to defend it; and stated that a suitable letter had been addressed to his Lordship respecting it. Our solution is, that Lord Ellenborough did not very carefully consider the matter; or perhaps he had, during his voyage, been amusing himself with reading the account of the discovery of India by Vasco de Gama, in the Luciad of Camoens, in which the poet gives us as curious a jumble of mythology as that of the Somnauth proclamation; making the Pagan gods to be true deities, and Christ and the Virgin Mary (though Camoens was a Romanist) subordinate agents; the object of the expedition being to propagate Christianity and extirpate Mahommedanism, in effecting which the Portuguese are aided by Venus, and opposed by Bacchus, whom Vasco had offended; but Jupiter holds a council, and foretels the triumph of the Gospel, and the downfall of the false Prophet; and when in a storm Vasco prays to Christ and the Virgin, imploring the same aid which was given to the Israelites at the Red Sea, and to St. Paul in his shipwreck, Venus appears, complains to Jupiter of the malevolence of the god who had raised the storm, and procures it to be assuaged. But we ought not to wonder at the strange mythological blendings of Camoens or Lord Ellenborough, when we find an English clergyman, the pastor of Dorney near Windsor, selecting two heathen statues to decorate the eastern end of his church; and the patron, Mr. Palmer, the High Sheriff of Bucks, vindicating it, on the ground that one of them (we suppose Hebe, or it might be a Bacchante) holds a cup, and the other (we suppose Ceres) ears of corn; emblematical," says the High Sheriff, "of the bread and wine used in one of the holiest mysteries of our Church." There have been protracted debates in the House of Commons upon the distresses of the people, chiefly the operatives engaged in manufactures; but the proposition to appoint a Committee has been refused by large majorities, on the ground that it was intended for ulterior purposes; such as to imply want of confidence in Her Majesty's advisers, or to re-open the Corn-law question; and that nothing could be effected by it but to raise hopes which could only be disappointed. Mr. Walter also has been defeated in his endeavour to procure a vote of censure upon the present Poor-law sys tem. More than four millions of money are expended annually for the relief of the poor-besides endowed and casual charities-and we do not see how this enormous sum could be much better administered than it is; though many abuses still exist, and some, we fear, are unavoidable. We can only repeat, upon the general question, what we said last month in reply to Mr. Paget. Sir R. Peel statesthat his intended measure for Church extension is confined to the rendering as available as possible the resources at present possessed by the Church. We trust that this statement does not preclude all hope that something will be granted to render those resources more efficient; for though an improved management of Church property would in many cases increase its value, it cannot be stretched so as to meet the enlarged and enlarging demands upon it. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. R. B.; W. W. H.; J. B.; T. G.; J. J.; J. E.; C. T.; CHRISTOPHILUS; W. C.; A. B.; VICANUS; A CURATE; A. R.; and READER; are under consideration. BUT HAPPINESS HEREAFTER. (Continued from p. 135.) For the Christian Observer. UT while, as in my former paper, we assert an infinite variety of condition in the future state as most agreeable to reason, to Scripture, and to the intention of the present life, not only as a state of probation in the general, but as a school of discipline, and training, and preparation for Heaven; and while, in the very language of Scripture, we say that every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour; we should carefully guard this and similar statements from misapplication and perversion, by altogether denying that they have any reference whatsoever to the sinner's justification. Still more, we should be careful so to guard them, as not, in the first place, to encourage a servile, sordid, yet proud spirit, which would extract from our obedience all its virtue; and in the next place, not to discourage the dying penitent who has been converted to God upon his death bed, and there turned with his whole heart to the Saviour, but who may perhaps fear that the want of time and opportunity to perform those works of faith and labours of love after which his heart now yearns, though it will not bar his justification and pardon, yet must hopelessly and eternally exclude him from that nearness of access to God, in the life to come, after which his soul has now learned to pant as its highest happiness. No. Scripture everywhere contemplates our works as the necessary fruits, and therefore palpable evidence, of our faith and love, the outward manifestation and expression of inward holiness. By our works alone can man form an estimate of us. In every department, civil, military, or religious, we must pass examination, before man can ascertain what is in us, and what we are fit for. But God needs not the evidence of our works to decide upon the sincerity of our repentance, the genuineness of our faith, the fervor and purity of our love. He sees intimately into the heart. He knows infallibly what each man is. He heedeth not that any should testify of man, for he knoweth what is in man; and, at the inquest of the great day, will marshal each man unerringly in that rank for which he is exactly fitted. The' man who, upon his death CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 64. 2 C |