APPENDIX, CONTAINING A COMPARISON OF SOME OF THE DOCTRINAL VIEWS OF J.J. GURNEY, WITH THOSE OF SEVERAL STANDARD WRITERS AMONG THE EARLY FRIENDS, AND SEVERAL TESTIMONIES AND LETTERS RELATIVE TO THE DOCTRINES AND CONDITION OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.

[6: JUSTIFICATION, PAGES 295-297]


John Wilbur

Wilbur, John. A Narrative and Exposition of the Late Proceedings of New England Yearly Meeting, With Some of its Subordinate Meetings & Their committees, in Relation to the Doctrinal Controversy Now Existing in the Society of Friends: Prefaced by a Concise View of the Church, Showing the Occasion of its Apostacy, both Under the Former and Present Dispensations, With an Appendix. Edited from Record Kept, From Time to Time, of Those Proceedings, and Interspersed With Occasional Remarks and Observations. Addressed to the Members of the Said Yearly Meeting. New York: Piercy & Reed, Printers, 1854, pages 277-325.

(All italics added by J.W. for emphasis. All words supplied in [Square Brackets] by J.W.
Page numbers from original publication by -pds in {Set Brackets.}

This Document is on The Quaker Writings Home Page.



J.J. Gurney (Essays, American edition, p. 357.): "From these premises it follows, that in the order of the grace of God, justification precedes sanctification, and that the faith in Jesus Christ, by which the ungodly are justified, has respect, in a very pre-eminent manner, to the atonement which he has made for the sins of the world."
(p. 358.) "While however the justification of the sinner, through faith in a crucified Redeemer, precedes the work of sanctification, its close and inseparable connexion with that work is evinced by tho fact, that in the economy of God's spiritual government this very faith is the constituted means, through which we obtain the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Contrast the above with--

Richard Claridge (Works, as quoted, Friends, vol. XI., p. 231.): "If we attend to the order of the apostle's testimony (1 Cor. vi: 2,) we must be washed and sanctified, before we can be justified. And if we come to witness the efficacious work of the spirit of Christ, in our cleansing and sanctification, we shall know ourselves to bo in a state of justification and not till then. For though Christ be a propitiation for the sins of the whole world, yet no man can comfortably apply him as such to his own soul, but as he first experiences the sanctifying work of the spirit."
"The Antinomian insisted much upon the priority of justifieation, to sanctification, alleging that men are first justified, and then sanctified. R. Ciaridge replied, that complete justification denoted a being made inwardly just, by putting an end to sin, finishing transgression, and bringing in Christ's everlasting righteousness; and this being the work of the spirit in sanctification, sanctification must of necessity precede our justification."
R. Barclay (Apol. Prop. VII., p. 196.): "As many as resist not this light, but receive tlle same, it becomes {p. 296} in them an holy, pure and spiritual birth; bridging forth holiness, righteousness, purity, and all those other blessed fruits which are acceptable to God: by which holy birth, to wit: Jesus Christ formed within us, and working his work in us, as we are sanctified, so are we justified in the sight of God," &c.
(p. 217.) "Therefore, as none are said to be sanctified that are really unholy, while they are such; so neither can any be truly said tu be justified, while they actually remain uniust," &c.
(p. 3.) Having thus sufficiently proved, that by justification is to be understood really being made righteous, I do boldly affirm, and that not only from a notional knowledge, but from a real, inward, experimental feeling of the thing, that the immediate, nearest, or formal cause (if we must in condescension to some use this word) of a man's justification in the sight of God, is, the revelation of Jesus Christ. in the soul, (changing, altering and renewing the mind, by whom even the author of this inward work) thus formed and revealed, we are truly justified and accepted in the sight of God," &c.
(p. 225.) That it is by this revelation of Jesus Christ, and the new creation in us, that we are justified, doth evidently appear from that excellent saying of the apostle," &c. "According to his mercy he hath saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost," &c.  Now, that whereby we are saved, that we are also no doubt justified by; which words are in this respect synonymous, here the apostle clearly ascribes the immediate cause of justifcation to this inward work of regeneration, which is Jesus Christ revealed in the soul, as being that which formally states us in a capacity of being reconciled with God," &c.
William Penn (Primitive Christianity Revived.--Works, Vol. V., p. 310.): "We cannot believe that Christ's death and sufferings so satisfy God, or justify men, as that they are thereby accepted of God: they are, indeed, thereby put into a state capable of being accepted of God, and, through the obedience of faith, and sanctification of the spirit, are in a state of acceptance {p. 297} for we can never think a man justified before God, while self-condemned," &c.
(p. 311.) "In short, justification consists of two parts, or hath a two-fold consideration, viz: justification from the guilt of sin and justification from the power and pollution of sin, and in this sense justification gives a man a full and clear acceptance before God; for want of this latter part it is, that so many souls, religiously inclined, are often under doubts, scruples, and despondencies, notwithstanding all that their teachers tell them of the extent and efficacy of the first part of justification. And it is too general an unhappiness among the professors of Christianity, that they are too apt to cloak their own active and passive disobedience with the active and passive obedience of Christ:--The first part of justification we do reverently and humbly acknowledge, is only for the sake of the death and sufferings of Christ: nothing we can do, though by the operation of the Holy Spirit, being able to cancel old debts, or wipe out old scores; it is the power: and efficacyof that propitiatory offering, upon faith and repentance, that justifies us from the sins that are past; and it is the power of Christ's spirit in our hearts, that purifies and makes us acceptable before God. For till the heart of man is purged from sin, God will never accept of it. He reproves, rebukes, and condemns those that entertain sin there, and therefore such cannot be said to be in a justified state; condemnation and justification being contraries; so that they that hold themselves in a justified state by the active: and passive obedience of Christ, while they are not actively and passively obedient to the spirit of Christ Jesus, are under a strong and dangerous delusion."
I. Penington (Works, Vol. I., p. 96.): "Mark then, the justification or redemption is not by believing of a thing done without man (though that also is to be believed) but by receiving Him into the heart."
 

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