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passage from the Homily; but omits the beginning, which I beg leave to prefix.

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'Because all men be sinners and offenders ' against God, and breakers of his law and commandments, therefore can no man by his own ' acts, works, and deeds (seem they never so good,) 'be justified and made righteous before God: but every man of necessity is constrained to seek for ' another righteousness or justification, to be re'ceived at God's own hands, that is to say the forgiveness of his sins and trespasses, in such things as he hath offended. And this justification, or righteousness, which we so receive of God's mercy and Christ's merits, embraced by faith, ' is taken, accepted, and allowed of God, for our 'perfect and full justification. For the more full 'understanding hereof, it is our parts and duties ' ever to remember the great mercy of God, how ' that, all the world being wrapped in sin by breaking of the law, God sent his only Son our Saviour 'Christ into this world, to fulfil the law for us, and, by shedding his most precious blood, to make a 'sacrifice and satisfaction, or, as it may be called, ' amends to his Father for our sins, to assuage his 'wrath and indignation conceived against us for 'the same. Insomuch that infants, being baptized ' and dying in their infancy, are by this sacrifice 'washed from their sins, brought to God's favour, ' and made his children, and inheritors of his king'dom of heaven. And they which in act or deed 'do sin after their baptism, when they turn again " to God unfeignedly, they are likewise washed by 'this sacrifice from their sins, in such sort that 'there remaineth not any spot of sin that shall

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'be imputed to their damnation.

This is that

justification or righteousness which St. Paul 'speaketh of, when he saith, No man is justified by the works of the law, but freely by faith in 'Jesus Christ.'1

'Infants, being baptized, and dying in their in'fancy, are by this sacrifice' (not by baptism) 'washed from their sins.' There is no intimation, that sins before baptism are washed away by any other washing than sins after baptism; but both by the sacrifice of Christ.-In another part of the same Homily, we read thus: "The apostle toucheth specially three things, which must go together in our justification.2 Upon God's part, his great mercy ' and grace upon Christ's part, justice; that is, the satisfaction of God's justice, or the price of ' our redemption, by the offering of his body, and shedding of his blood, with fulfilling of the law < perfectly and throughly: and upon our part, true ' and lively faith in the merits of Jesus Christ.'

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St. Paul declareth here nothing upon the behalf ' of man, concerning his justification, but only a 'true and lively faith, which nevertheless is the gift of God, and not man's only work without 'God. And yet that faith doth not shut out repentance, hope, love, dread and the fear of God, to be joined with faith, in every man that is justi

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Homily on Salvation, Part I.-Both the Article and his Lordship call this The Homily of Justification:' yet in the Book of Homilies it is called A Sermon on the salvation of 'mankind by only Christ our Saviour, from sin and death ever'lasting' and there is no homily called The Homily of Justification.' It does not appear how or when the title was altered. Rom. iii. 19-26.

VOL. VII.

x. 4.

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'fied; but it shutteth them out from the office of justifying. So that, although they be all present 'together in him that is justified, yet they justify 'not altogether. Neither doth faith shut out the justice of our good works, necessarily to be done ' afterwards of duty towards God; (for we are most 'bounden to serve God, in doing good deeds, com'manded by him in his holy scripture, all the days

of our life;) but it excludeth them, so that we 'may not do them to this intent, to be made just

by doing them. Christ is now the righteous'ness of all them that truly do believe in him. "He for them paid their ransom by his death: he ' for them fulfilled the law in his life; so that now, in him, and by him, every true Christian man may be called a fulfiller of the law; forasmuch as 'that which their infirmity lacked, Christ's justice hath supplied.'-If good works had, in the judgment of our reformers, been needful for this special purpose, in order to continue a justified man in a justified state, they would surely have given some hint of this, when directly speaking of the necessity of good works in a justified person, and of the good works done after justification.-They are needful for important purposes, yet not for this; at least in the sense contended for in the Refutation. But I trust that what his Lordship has said concerning this Homily, as introducing his quotation from it, will induce all his readers to study the whole of it and of those connected with it, carefully and diligently, for themselves.

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"This saying, that we be justified by faith only, freely, and without works, is spoken for to take away clearly all merit of our works, as being un' able to deserve our justification at God's hands, ' and thereby most plainly to express the weakness ' of man, and the goodness of God; the great in'firmity of ourselves, and the might and power of 'God; the imperfection of our own works, and the ' most abundant grace of our Saviour Christ; and 'therefore wholly to ascribe the merit and deserving of our justification unto Christ only, and his 'most precious blood-shedding.'1

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The saying here referred to, stands thus in the Homily:- These and other like sentences, that 'we be justified by faith only, freely, and without 'works, we do read oft-times in the best and most 'ancient writers; as, besides Hilary, Basil, and St. Ambrose, before rehearsed, we read the same in Origen, St. Chrysostom, St. Cyprian, St. Augustine, Prosper, Oecumenius, Phocius, Bernardus, Anselm, and many other authors, Greek and Latin. Nevertheless this sentence, that we be 'justified by faith only, is not so meant of them, 'that the said justifying faith is alone in man, 'without true repentance, hope, charity, dread, and 'the fear of God, at any time and season.'-I have not read all, or even the most, of these ancient writers, and so am not competent to judge on the subject; but it is the express declaration of our reformers, (who were deeply versed in these studies, especially Cranmer, to whom this Homily is generally ascribed,) that they all maintain justi

'Quotation from Part 2. of Homily on Salvation, Ref. 150.

fication by faith, 'only, freely and without works,' in exactly the same sense, as far as I can perceive, in which the evangelical clergy at present do.

Although this doctrine be never so true, as it ' is most, true indeed, that we be justified freely, ' without all merit of our own good works, as St. 'Paul doth express it, and freely, by this lively and 'perfect faith in Christ only, as the ancient authors ' used to speak it; yet this true doctrine must be ' also truly understood, and most plainly declared, 'lest carnal men should take unjustly occasion thereby to live carnally, after' the appetite and 'will of the world, the flesh, and the devil.'- The 'true understanding of this doctrine, we be justi'fied freely by faith without works, or that we be 'justified by faith in Christ only, is not that this

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our own act to believe in Christ, or this our faith ' in Christ, which is within us, doth justify us, and 'deserve our justification unto us; (for that were 'to count ourselves to be justified by some act or 'virtue that is within ourselves :) but the true understanding and meaning thereof is, that, although we hear God's word and believe it; although we have faith, hope, charity, repentance, 'dread and fear of God within us, and do never so many good works thereunto; yet we must renounce the merit of all our said virtues, of faith, hope, charity, and all our other virtues and good

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deeds, which we either have done, shall do, or can

do, as things that be far too weak, and insufficient, ' and imperfect, to deserve remission of our sins, ' and our justification; and therefore we must ' trust only in God's mercy, and that sacrifice which

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