Daus,

them; by making fuch Chriftians understand the
difference between faith and faith; between that faith
which qualifies for admiffion into the Gofpel cove-
nant, and that faith by which Christians, in order
to entitle them to the rewards of it, are expected to
live, and by which their character is rendered com-
plete. "The just shall live by faith:" that is, fuch
a faith as grows from ftep to ftep, till the whole)
righteousness of GOD be fulfilled in it. "From

faith to faith, (faith the Apoftle) which ST. AUGUS-
TINE thus expounds; from faith believing to faithf
obeying; from imperfect faith to faith made perfect
by the animation of charity; that he who is juftified
by his admiffion into the covenant of grace by bap-
tifm, may be justified ftill at the day of final retri-
bution. For as there are feveral degrees and parts
of juftification, so there are feveral degrees of faith
answerable to it; that in all fenfes it may be true,
that "by faith we are juftified," and "by faith we
live," and "by faith we are faved.'
For if we
proceed from faith to faith, from believing to obeying;
from faith in the understanding to faith in the will;
from faith barely affenting to the revelations of GOD,
to faith obeying the commandments of GOD; from
the body of faith to the foul of faith, that is, to

faith formed and made alive by charity; then we fhall proceed from juftification to justification; i. e. from remiffion of fins in baptifm to become the fons leath of GOD; by which we become, first, partakers of the benefits of his death, and at last to an actual poffeffion of those glories to which we were configned by the fruits of the Holy Ghost." TAYLOR'S Life of CHRIST, page 266. In this fenfe it is, that the holy JESUS is called by the Apostle the Author and Finisher of our faith. He is the author of it, because he is the principle upon which it is founded. He begins our faith in revelations, and perfects it in commandments. He leads us by the affent of our understanding, and finishes the work of his grace by enabling us to lead a holy life.

Having premised thus much, I proceed to the confideration of those pages, in which you have placed a prefbyter of the church of England in oppofition to the church herself; which I am sure you will pardon me, if I cannot help regarding as a very unfeemly fight; and if, as such, I am anxious to remove it.

The paffages you have cited from the Articles and Homilies fay no more than what I have already again and again avowed, that true lively Christian faith muft produce good works; for if it did not, it

The

would not be entitled to that diftinction.
epithets true and lively added to faith appear de-
figned to diftinguish it from that falfe and dead faith,
of which ST. JAMES fpeaks, which fubftitutes nomi-
nal profeffion for Christian practice. It was in order
to guard against this abufe, that I obferved that
faith, abstractedly confidered, did not produce good
works. It might, or it might not, according to the
ftate in which it was. If in a lively state, that ftate
in which it is defcribed in the Article and Homilies,
and in which it ought to be, it must produce its cor-
refpondent fruits. A tree, when in a lively vigorous
state, must, accidents excepted, produce fruit. But
a tree may still be a tree, though in that stunted state
as to be incapable of producing any fruit, and confe-
quently fit only for the fire. So long as there are
profeffors who take the form for the fubftance of
Christianity, fuch a distinction between nominal and
true faith will, it is prefumed, be neceflary to be kept
up. By the help of this fimple explanation, the contra-
diction which you had found between the prefbyter
and the church of England, will be eafily reconciled.

The contradiction which you have discovered, between what I fay, p. 287, refpecting the unqualified manner in which faith is described, as the only cause

of man's falvation, and the Eleventh Article of our church, will, I truft, find a no less eafy forütion.

The Eleventh Article fays, that "we are accounted righteous before GoD only for the merits of our LORD JESUS CHRIST by faith, and not for our works and defervings." Having fubfcribed to this article, I muft, if an honest man, affent to the foregoing propofition. In what, then, do we difagree? Our disagreement, if any, appears to be a distinction without a difference. You fay, man is justified by faith only; but then it is to be understood, that that faith is accompanied with its necessary appendages of repentance and good works; otherwise it cannot be justifying faith. Taking faith in this fenfe, I fay the fame. Because your faith comprehends under it thofe qualities of repentance and obedience, which, in order to guard against that deception which has been continually taking place upon this fubject, I have thought it neceffary to describe separately, with the view of discriminating between faith confidered fimply as a nominal profeffion, and its practical effects.

And I feel myself justified in making this discrimination by your own authority; for you fay, p. 46, "that it is for want of confidering these different kinds of faith, the one dead, the other living, that

fo many have set two Apoftles at variance." There are then, according to your own account, two different kinds of faith; and the manner in which harmony has been restored between the two supposed combatants, ST. PAUL and ST. JAMES, appears to be exactly fimilar to that above adopted by myself, for the purpose of reconciling the doctrine of the presbyter with that of the church of England.

"All preachynge and learnyng of the worde of GOD in CHRISTIS churche, ought to tende to this ende, that men maie be induced, not onely to knowe GOD, and to beleve and trufte in Hym, but also to honour and ferve Hym with good workes." Such is the language of our church in the "Neceffary Doctrine." "This is a faithful faying, and these things I will that thou affirm conftantly, that they which have believed in GoD, might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men." TITUS iii. 8. Such is the language of fcripture; and fuch is the idea meant to be conveyed in my book, by the difcrimination there made between theoretical and practical faith.

I am forry to obferve, Sir, that when speaking of falvation you object to the word condition. I do not understand the Bible, if it be not from beginning to