You add, ¹_You write in other places so variously about this matter, that I despair to find any consistency. Once you held “a degree of justifying faith, short of_ the full assurance _of faith, the_ abiding witness _of the Spirit, or the clear perception that Christ abideth in him.”――――And yet you afterwards “warned all, not to think they were justified before they had a_ clear assurance, _That God had forgiven their sins.”――――What difference there is between_ this clear assurance, _and the former_ full assurance _and_ clear perception, _I know not_.
¹ Page 40.
Let us go on step by step, and you will know. _Once you held a_ “Degree _of justifying faith, short of the_ full assurance _of faith_, the abiding _witness of the Spirit, or the_ clear perception that Christ abideth _in him_.” And so I hold still, and have done for some years. _And yet you afterwards warned all, not to think they were justified, before they had a clear assurance that God had forgiven their sins_――――I did so――――_What difference there is between this_ clear assurance, _and that_ full assurance and clear perception, _I know not_――――Sir, I will tell you. The one is, an _assurance_ that _my_ sins are forgiven, _clear_ at first, but soon clouded with doubt or fear. The other is, such a plerophory, or full assurance, that I am forgiven, and so clear a perception, that Christ abideth in me, as utterly excludes all doubt and fear, and leaves them no place, no not for an hour. So that the difference between them is as great as the difference between the light of the morning and that of the mid-day sun.
9. On the second proposition you remark, 1. That ¹_I ought to have said, the merits of_ Christ, _are (not the_ sole _cause, but) the_ sole meritorious _cause of this our justification_. 2. _That_ St. _Paul and the church, by justifying_ faith _mean, faith in the gospel and merits of_ Christ. The very thing; so I contend, in flat opposition to those, who say they mean, only the object of this faith.
¹ Remarks, page 41.
Upon the third proposition, “By our being justified by faith only, both St. _Paul_ and the church mean, that the condition of our justification, is _faith alone_ and not good works:” You say, ¹_Neither of them mean any such thing. You greatly wrong them, in ascribing so mischievous a sentiment to them._ Let me beg you, Sir, to have patience, and calmly to consider, 1. What I mean by this proposition. Why should you any longer run as uncertainly, and fight as one that beateth the air? 2. What is advanced touching the sentiments of the church, in the tract referred to above. Till you have done this, it would be mere loss of time to dispute with you on this head.
¹ Ibid.
I wave therefore, for the present, the consideration of some of your following pages. Only I cannot quite pass over that (I believe, new) assertion, ¹_That the 13th article, intitled_,
“_Of Works done before justification_”
_does not speak of works done_ before justification, _but of works_ before grace, _which is a very different thing_! I beseech you, Sir, to consider the 11th, 12th, and 13th articles, just as they lie, in one view. And you cannot but see, that it is as absolutely impossible to maintain that proposition, as it is to prove, that the 11th and 12th articles _speak not of justification_, but of some _very different thing_.
¹ Page 45.
10. Against that part of the 4th proposition, “faith is a sure trust which a man hath, that Christ loved _him_ and died for _him_:” you object, ¹_This definition is absurd; as it supposes that such a sure trust can be in one who does not repent of his sins._――――I suppose quite the contrary, as I have declared over and over: nor therefore is there any such _danger_ as you apprehend.
¹ Page 48.
But you say, ¹_There is nothing distinguishing enough in this, to point out the true justifying faith._ I grant it: supposing a man were to write a book, and say this of it, and no more. But did you ever see any treatise of mine, wherein I said this of faith, and no more? Nothing whereby to distinguish _true_ faith from _false_? Touching this journal, your own quotations prove the contrary. Yea, and I every where insist, that we are to distinguish them by _their_ fruits, by inward and outward _righteousness_, by the _peace_ of God filling and ruling the heart, and by patient, active _joy_ in the Holy Ghost.
¹ Ibid.
You conclude this point; ¹_I have now, Sir, examined at large your account of justification; and I hope fully refuted the several articles in which you have comprized it_.――――We differ in our judgment. I do not apprehend, you have _refuted_ any one proposition of the four. You have indeed amended the second, by adding the word _meritorious_; for which I give you thanks.
¹ Page 49.