which we hear fuch a continual boaft! These are the good works which are to contribute fo much to wards obtaining heaven and immortality." P. 272.

As Mr. O. has not produced a fingle paffage to prove, that fuch are the good works recommended by the author of "a Guide to the Church," as thofe, for the performance of which CHRIST came into the world, "to purify unto himself a peculiar people;" it is not neceffary to dwell on this part of Mr. O.'s publication. It is to be lamented, that any minister of the Church of England should have fuffered his zeal fo far to annihilate his charity, and destroy his judgment, as to have been able to write it. Those gentlemen, whofe names are introduced into this fection, would think it impertinent in me to fay a fyllable in their defence; knowing that a charge thus libelously drawn, and thus indifcriminately applied, answers itself, and can bring disgrace on no one, so much as on the perfon who drew it. For my own part, my object in anfwering Mr. O.'s book having been, not so much to defend myself against his uncharitable attack, as to maintain, what I understand to be, the genuine doctrines of the Church of England, more particular attention to the contents of this fection would be time thrown away; and confidering that no man can speak long of himfelf without fin or folly, my reply to Mr. O., on the general fubject of this fection, fhall be comprehended in the following fhort fentence. My writings, my

character, and my profeffional conduct, are before the world; fhould the world be indifpofed to give me that credit for either, which their intention at least should fecure, I thank God, I can look forward, "through faith and patience," from this world to the next, unto that Master whofe fervant I am, and "to whom I ftand or fall."

ON

refers, fo much has at different times been faid and written, as to render the faying or writing any thing new or even inftructive upon it a hopeless undertaking. The great object in view, therefore, in handling it must be, not to add to the many pages that have been already written, fo much as to compress what occafion may require to be still said, within the least intelligible compass.

With this object I enter upon the present section; in my treatment of which, I fhall confine myself, as much as poffible, to the analysis of the argument which Mr. O. has employed, together with the evidence which he has adduced. All the advantage

that might be gained in the judgment of fome readers, by the use of sneering and supercilious language, is utterly difclaimed. It is not the language of the gentleman; much lefs fhould it difgrace the page of the divine. However Mr. O. and myself may differ in opinion, we have each a right to be treated, as Minifters of the Church of CHRIST ought to treat each other. Such treatment it has not, indeed, been my lot always to experience; ftill of my deficiency on this head no brother Clergyman, I truft, will ever have caufe to complain; for though zeal may not at all times be accompanied with competent knowledge, ftill zeal, when fincere, is entitled to respect. Mr. O.'s arguments and mine, therefore, on the much-controverted fubject of faith and works, fhall be left to their own weight in the reader's mind, whofe office it is to determine fairly and impartially, which moft ftrictly correspond with the language of Scripture, with the fentiments of our Reformers, and the doctrine of our Church.

Mr. O. opens this fection with the fhort ftatement of the point, which it was his principal object in a former Chapter to maintain, namely, that "good works are neither the meritorious cause nor the appointed condition of juftification." The first part of this pofition conftitutes no fubject of controverfy in the Church at prefent; and that the latter branch of it should be objectionable, appears to me irreconcileable with the confideration, that

2.

the conditions in queftion are conditions of God's making. As fuch they are not an encroachment ön Divine grace on the part of man, (the ground on which objection to them has been built) fo much as an extenfion of that grace on the part of GOD. Now if the conditions annexed to the free gift of GOD through CHRIST, are calculated to render man, what he otherwife would not be, fit to be a partaker of the gift, they muft be confidered as an additional manifeftation of that loving-kindnefs, from which the gift itself originally proceeded; becaufe they are a merciful provifion, on the part of the Benefactor, for the fecurity of the benefit to the parties for whom it was defigned. In this light conditions of falvation have ever appeared to me; confidering that the fame all-gracious Being, who made thofe conditions, has engaged, provided man be not wanting to himself, to enable him to perform them. That good works are an appointed condition of juftification, the reader has feen proved, both by the language of Scripture and the doctrine of our Church; at the fame time that the error entertained by Mr. O. on this fubject was traced to his misapplication of the Eleventh Article. This ground then having been cleared, I pafs on to the leading fubject of the prefent fection, which appears to have been written, partly at least, for the purpose of maintaining a doctrine originally advanced, if I mistake not, by the celebrated Mrs. MORE.

The grand pofition laid down by Mr. O. in limine is this:-That " our Church fecures the interefts and inculcates the neceffity of morality, by confidering good works the natural fruit and necessary effect of that faith which juftifieth." P. 273. To inculcate the neceffity of morality by proper argument, is one thing; but to inculcate the neceffity of morality, by fhewing that it muft naturally and neceffarily take place, appears to me an unneceffary undertaking. On this point, however, Mr. O. obferves, our Church" is moft full and decifive." To prove this, various extracts are made from the Homilies on Faith and Salvation, and our Twelfth Article, calculated to determine the nature of true faith, in contra-distinction to that which is falfe and confequently vain; by which the reader is to understand generally, from the words of our Article, that "good works are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification," and from the language of the Homily, that " where these fruits do not follow, men are destitute of the true faith, and that if they pretend to have it, they deceive themselves, mock GOD, and manifeftly fhew, that they know not what true faith meaneth."** To this language of

our Articles and Homilies is added the distinction made by the Apoftles St. PAUL and St. JAMES between a right, a perfect faith, and a dead, devilish

*Homily on Faith.