.I (lnclt1nbent OJ St. Jmnes's, Ryde, Isle oj Wigllt.) - The Gospel ...

756 The Gospel Magazine
me in consequence of that fall? I am a dying man because of the fall.
1 am expQsed to evil, sorrow, trouble, and trial because of the fall of
Adam. Can I get rid of that? Can any man do it? Impossible.
So you see we are at once brought face to face with the work of the
Lord Jesus as the only way of escape from that wrath which as fallen
beings we have deserved. The Article is clear on that subject.
Then, as regards the free-will of man, concerning which so many
people form erroneous views, the Article is clear also-" The condition
of Man after the fall of Adam is such, that he can not turn and prepare
himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith and calling
upon God: Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant
and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing
us "-that is, going before us-" that we may have a good will, and
working with us, when we have that good will." What could be
clearer than that? People complain sometimes of what are called
extreme views; people connected with the Church of England complain
of what are called Calvinistic views. Take our Articles, examine
them one by one, and I venture to say that you can come to but one
conclusion, and that is, that the Church of England adopts all those
views which are called extreme. Then there is the Justification of
Man-" We are accounted righteous before God. only for the merit of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by Faith, and not for our own works
or deservings: Wherefore, that we are justified by Faith only is a
most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely is
expressed in the Homily of Justification." With such glorious truths
as are in these Articles, it seems strange that any person can turn away
and say they prefer a system of religion so utterly devoid of these
precious truths as the Romish system is, to this, with all its clear
utterances on the subject of Scripture, and other cognate subjects.
Observe now the Article on Good Works: "Albeit that Good Works,
which are the fruits of Faith, and follow after Justification, can not put
away our sins, and endure the severity of God's judgment: yet are
they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarilyof
a true and lively Faith; insomuch that by them a lively Faith
may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit." How
beautifully true to Scripture that is, and see how clear and simple it is.
Then the Articles proceed to set forth those glorious doctrines of
Predestination and Election. I can not help naming them. Those
doctrines are in our Church. If anyone objects to them, or objects to
my teaching them, my reply, as a clergyman of the Church of England,
simply is, " r am bound to preach them, because here they are." The
seventeenth Article says: "Predestination to Life is the everlasting
purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were
laid) He hath constantly decreed by His counsel secret to us, to
deliver from curse and damnation those whom He hath chosen in
Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting
salvation, as vessels ma.de to honour. Wherefore, they which be endued
with so excellent a benefit of God, be called, according to God's purpose,