Note 56 — Chapter III

The Writer trusts he cannot be misunderstood to mean that any, continuing sinners and ungodly, can, by believing, be accepted or finally saved. The following chapter, particularly the latter part of it, (Section vi.) would abundantly vindicate him from any such misconstruction. Meanwhile, he will only remark, that true faith (in which repentance is considered as involved) is in Scripture regarded as the radical principle of holiness. If the root exist, the proper fruits will be brought forth. An attention to this consideration would have easily explained and reconciled those passages of St. Paul’s and St. James’s Epistles, which have furnished so much matter of argument and criticism. St. James, it may be observed, all along speaks of a man, not who has faith, but who says that he has faith. Vide James ii. 14. &c. &c.