of sins is granted to us, and that of unrighteous, we are made righteous, in virtue of the merits of Christ, and in consideration of Faith, which, if sincere, produces many other virtues; and finally, that (x) Good Works are necessary.

From the Saxon Confession, which received the title from Melancthon himself of Repetitio Augustana Confessionis, and which has avowed its (y) accordance with that of Augsburg, I have thought it necessary, therefore, to make no other citation, than the entire comprehensive Article on Justification; as a proper supplement to what is delivered on the subject, in the Confession of Augsburg; and as illustrating, also, in another respect, what the Church of England has professed and observed. For it has been said, that (%)" according to the words of Dr. Hey, the Confes

(x) See the present volume, p. 156, et seq.

6

(y) "Hanc commemorationem doctrinæ nunc factam congruere cum Confessione Augustæ exhibitâ, anno 1530, sentimus." Conf. Sax.

(z) Sermon preached at Leicester, May 20, 1807, at the Visitation of the Rev. Archdeacon Burnaby, by the Hon. and Rev. H. Ryder, A. M. Rector of Lutterworth, [now Lord Bishop of Gloucester,] p. 6. c 2

omits,

sion of Augsburg omits, and the Saxon Confession delines,' the subject of Predestination. Dr. Laurence, in his Bampton Lecturces, has very fully shewn the remarkable agreement between our Articles and these Confessions, as to all other points. Dr. Hey has accounted for their disagreement in this point, by supposing that the compilers of our Articles thought it proper, to declare against the abuses of certain doctrines then prevailing,' which they could not well do without touching upon the doctrines themselves." Now it is not hence to be admitted, that, in these eminent Confessions, there is no reference whatever to the subject of PREDESTINATION; though Dr. Tucker also, dean of Gloucester, seems to have long since led the reader to such a supposition. "In regard to PREDESTINATION; from the year 1547, to the year 1551, a total silence was observed concerning that capital Article: a silence the more remarkable, as the AUGUSTAN CONFESSION, drawn up by MELANCTHON, thirty years before, had observed the same silence." Letter to Dr. Kippis, &c. 1783, p. 101. Dr. Tucker was, therefore, a stranger to the following passage, as it stands in the edition of the Augsburg Confession of 1540; and as it has

been

1

been cited by Dr. Winchester. Yet Dr. Tucker notices the Saxon Confession of 1551, where the words of Melancthon, now given, are found with little variation. After (a) asserting the preaching of repentance and promise of grace, to be universal, and explaining the grounds of the remission of our sins and justification, Melancthon pronouces in the first: (b) "Non est hic opus disputationibus de PRÆDESTINATIONE aut similibus. Nam promissio est universalis, et nihil detrahit operibus, imò exuscitat ad fidem, et verè bona opera." In the second: (c) “Quia conscientiis in pœnitentiâ consolationem proponimus, non addimus hic quæstiones de PRÆDESTINATIONE, seu de ELECTIONE; sed deducimus omnes lectores ad Verbum Dei; et jubemus, ut voluntatem Dei ex Verbo ipsius discant, sicut Eternus Pater expressâ voce præcipit, Hunc audite. Non quærant alias speculationes.” This, with the two (d) concluding paragraphs of the Article, Dr. Tucker has cited, (e) because the

(a) Dr. Winchester on the 17th Article, Oxf. 1773, p. 31. (b) See the present volume, p. 152.

(c) Ibid. p. 183.

(d) Ibid. pp. 183, 184.

(e) Letters to Dr. Kippis, &c. p. 102.

concluding

'concluding clause of our 17th Article plainly refers to the Saxon; and because published by Melancthon." The substance, as we now see, is in the elder Confession. These notices, I humbly conceive, are too important to be buried under the chilling description of a subject neglected, or wholly overpassed. Nay, the spirited admonition on this subject, in the (f) Necessary Erudition of a Christian Man, may even be traced, I think, to the passage in the elder Confession. On this subject, also, towards the close of the sixteenth century, the publick determinations of the electorate of Saxony, I may add, are (g) ample and perspicuous. It

(f) See the present volume, p. 33.

was

(g) Articuli Visitatorii anno Christi, M.D.XCII. in Electoratu et Prov. Sup. Saxoniæ publicati, &c. Semleri Appa. rat. ad Libros Symbolicos Eccl. Lutheranæ, 1775, p. 437.

"ART. IV.

"DE PREDESTINATIONE ET ÆTERNA PROVIDENTIA DEI.

"Pura et vera doctrina nostrarum Ecclesiarum de hoc Articulo.

"I. Quòd Christus pro omnibus hominibus mortuus sit, et ceu Agnus Dei totius mundi peccata sustulerit.

"II. Quòd Deus neminem ad condemnationem condi

was then, in other parts, as in England, the food of controversy; and was considered one of (h) the three great causes of discord in the Reformed Churches. Accordingly it here be

derit, sed velit, ut omnes homines salvi fiant et ad agnitionem veritatis perveniant; propterea omnibus mandet, ut Filium suum Christum in Evangelio audiant, et per hunc auditum promittit virtutem et operationem Spiritus Sancti ad conver

sionem et salutem.

"III. Quòd multi homines propriâ culpâ pereant ; alii qui Evangelium de Christo nolunt audire; alii, qui iterum excidunt de gratiâ, sive per errores contra fundamentum, sive per peccata contra conscientiam.

"IV. Quòd omnes peccatores, pœnitentiam agentes, in gratiam recipiantur, et nemo excludatur, etsi peccata ejus rubeant ut sanguis; quandoquidem Dei misericordia major est quàm peccata totius mundi, et Deus omnium suorum operum miseretur."

(h) Ratio ineundæ Condurdiæ inter Ecclesias Reformatas. 4to. 1579. No place where printed, nor person by whom printed, is named. It opens thus: "Brevis et dilucida declaratio, quâ ratione controversiæ, quæ nunc sunt inter ecclesias Reformatæ Religionis, componi et fieri possint. C. Q.D. A. nobili viro authore.-Inter ecclesias evangelicas præcipuæ controversiæ hæ sunt. (1.) De Cœnâ Domini. (2.) De Prædestinatione seu Providentiâ Dei. (3.) Et de personâ Christi." Some judicious remarks are offered on the subject of Predestination.

came