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.
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."