A Summary of Christian Faith and Practice Confirmed by References to the Text of Holy Scripture

Introduction.

Of the means which the Author of the following pages has employed to effect his purpose, without relying, more than has been absolutely necessary, on his own judgement; and of the plan on which his SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN FAITH AND PRACTICE has been constructed,-some previous account is requisite, in order that it may be clearly seen on what foundation he has worked, and what degree of credit and authority is to be attached to the several writers, of whose assistance he has freely, and, he hopes, not less profitably, availed himself.

The order observed in the arrangement of the materials has been this: A distinct chapter is appropriated to every prominent point of doctrine and of morals; in the series suggested by the successive Articles of the Apostles' Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer. In each of these chapters,-which are divided into sections, for the sake of precision,-stands first the original matter; this is followed by the texts selected from Scripture to confirm and authorize not only the general import of each paragraph,

but almost every expression made use of throughout the book;-by extracts from the Book of Common-Prayer, shewing the direct references, and indirect allusions to the several parts of the great scheme of man's redemption, which are scattered so abundantly over the leaves of the English Liturgy and Offices;-by one or more of the Thirty-nine Articles, as they declare the consent of the Church on the various topics under discussion;-by notices of the two Books of Homilies:-to these succeed quotations from works of minor authority, but of great value, as will be shewn, in establishing the true interpretation of Scripture, and in explaining and corroborating the Articles of Religion, to which assent is required in the Church of England. These are arranged in the chronological order in which they were published; and consist, of "The Sum and Content of the Holy Scripture," prefixed to some of the earliest authorized Bibles, after the work of Reformation had commenced in this kingdom,-a Preface to the Bible, by Archbishop Cranmer,-a Catechism, edited by Cranmer, Edward the Sixth's Catechism, Jewell's Apology, -a Preface to the Bible, by Archbishop Parker, Nowell's Catechism, — and lastly, a work entitled, "Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum, &c." the extracts from which are literally translated out of the original Latin, into English, for the use of those who may not be conversant with the former lan

In the prosecution of his design, the Author has not rejected terms, only because they have been abused, and made to represent ideas which they were not originally intended to convey. He has, without hesitation, adopted phrases which are

* Thus the term "imputation of Christ's righteousness or merits" has been admitted, because it appeared to the Author to convey, in the most concise manner, a scriptural doctrine, though the words, so arranged, be not literally scriptural; and because it is used by the fathers of the English Church, as will be seen in the extracts from their works. They too may be supposed to have borrowed it, together with their accurate view of the doctrine of which it is descriptive, from Melancthon.

That it has been taken advantage of to inculcate a notion very dangerous in its effects, and very incompatible with the principles of the Reformers relative to man's justification, the Author is quite aware; but that it should therefore be totally rejected does not seem necessary or expedient.

In the Saxon Confession, presented to the Council of Trent in 1551, which was not only written by Melancthon, but was in fact a carefully revised and perfected editiona repetition”—of the Confession of Augsburg, which he had written some years before, the words, of which these are a literal translation, are found:-" In explanation of the term to be justified, it is commonly said, To be justified signifies, of unjust to be made just. Which, rightly understood, is perfectly consistent with what has gone before. Of unjust, that is, of guilty and disobedient and being without Christ, to be made just, that is, to be absolved from guilt, on account of the Son of God and that Christ, apprebended by faith, who is our righteousness, as Jerome and Paul affirm: because his righteousness is imputed to us (quia ejus justitia nobis imputatur,) and because he brings us to life and regenerates us by the gift of

constantly employed by other persons to inculcate tenets not only at variance with, but absolutely

his Holy Spirit.” And again: "Therefore this consolation is to be held fast, that our person is accepted on account of the Son of God, his righteousness being imputed to us (imputata nobis ipsius justitia.") Yet no one acquainted with the works of this great Reformer will attribute to him any but the most sound and perspicuous principles on this important point of doctrine. Whenever therefore the phrase is used in these volumes, it is meant, -in accordance with the chapter on Justification,—that the righteousness of Christ is so imputed or reckoned to the person justified, as that on account of it, that is, on account of Christ's active and passive obedience—on account of his perfect fulfilment of the law and of his meritorious sacrifice on the cross, those who believe on him are accepted and treated as righteous by God: “so that," as the Homily on Salvation expresses it, "Christ is now the righteousness 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." The imputation of Christ's righteousness, in the above sense, seems also to bear an obvious proportion to the imputation of Adam's guilt, according to the remarkable parallel drawn by St. Paul in Romans v.

All this is very different from the doctrine, that the personal righteousness of Christ is so transferred to a certain number of Christians, that, being in itself perfect, it must render them inherently so, and must exclude the possibility of falling from a state of justification. The term certainly does not require this latter sense to be put upon it. It is not necessary, therefore, to relinquish it. With regard to the expediency of doing so, it may, perhaps, be said gene

Thus the term "imputation of Christ's righteousness or merits" has been admitted, because it appeared to the Author to convey, in the most concise manner, a scriptural doctrine, though the words, so arranged, be not literally scriptural; and because it is used by the fathers of the English Church, as will be seen in the extracts from their works. They too may be supposed to have borrowed it, together with their accurate view of the doctrine of which it is descriptive, from Melancthon.

In the Saxon Confession, presented to the Council of Trent in 1551, which was not only written by Melancthon, but was in fact a carefully revised and perfected edition-

a repetition" of the Confession of Augsburg, which he had written some years before, the words, of which these are a literal translation, are found:-" In explanation of the term to be justified, it is commonly said, To be justified signifies, of unjust to be made just. Which, rightly understood, is perfectly consistent with what has gone before. Of unjust, that is, of guilty and disobedient and being without Christ, to be made just, that is, to be absolved from guilt, on account of the Son of God and that Christ, apprebended by faith, who is our righteousness, as Jerome and Paul affirm: because his righteousness is imputed to us (quia ejus justitia nobis imputatur,) and because he brings us to life and regenerates us by the gift of

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A Summary of Christian Faith and Practice Confirmed by References to the ...