the Reformers held and taught, that, as Justification properly consists in the free pardon of sin and a sure title to eternal life, so it is the present privilege of every believer from the instant when he receives and rests on Christ alone for salvation,-that it is a complete, final, and irreversible act of divine grace, by which he is translated, at once and for ever, from a state of wrath and condemnation, into a state of favour and acceptance; and that it is either accompanied or followed in the present life by the assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end,'-while it is indissolubly connected with 'glory, honour, and immortality' in the world to come. 'For whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.' So wide was the difference between the two parties in regard to the effect of Justification.

On a review of the whole controversy at the era of the Reformation, the two antagonist systems, considered generally, as each unfolding a method of Justification for sinners, may be briefly characterized. The Romish doctrine was one which engrafted a method invented by man, on a method revealed by God,-retaining some part. of divine truth, but mixing it with much human error, and thereby obscuring and corrupting it. In so far as it was of human invention, its whole tendency was to exalt man, and everything of human attainment, instead of glorifying God, and the riches, freeness, and efficacy of His grace. In so far as it recognised the grace of God, it made the exercise of it dependent on man's free-will, by speaking of predisposing qualifications in the sinner which fitted, and in equity entitled him, to receive it, and of his

subsequent co-operation with grace, by which he might even merit eternal life. In so far as it recognised the merits of Christ, they were exhibited, not as the immediate and all-sufficient ground of a sinner's justification, but only as the remote procuring cause of that infused personal righteousness which was the real reason of his being accepted as righteous in the sight of God. It thus fluctuated between the free grace of God and the free-will of man,-between the merits of Christ and the merits of His people; and attempted to combine these heterogeneous elements in one system, as if Justification depended partly on grace, and partly on works-partly on the perfect righteousness of Christ, and partly on the imperfect righteousness of man. But it went beyond this, and had characteristics which were distinctive and peculiar to itself. It did not recognise One only Mediator, and One only sacrifice for sin: it taught the merits and mediation of saints, the repetition of the one sacrifice on the Cross by the sacrifice on the Altar,-and additional satisfactions for sin in the austerities of penance, and the pains of purgatory. It made the pardon of sin dependent on the confession of the penitent and the absolution of the priest, thereby placing the Church in the room of Christ, and interposing the priest between the sinner and God: and when absolution was granted on condition of penance, or some other work of mere external obedience, it led men to look to something which they could themselves do or suffer, instead of relying by faith simply and solely on Christ and His finished work.

Such were the general characteristics of the Romish doctrine at the era of the Reformation; and that of the Reformers offered a striking contrast to them all. It proclaimed at once the glorious truth, that every sinner to whom the Gospel comes has direct and free access to God,

through the sole mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ; that he is independent of all priestly absolution, since 'none can forgive sins but God only;' that he is independent of all other merits and mediation than those of Christ, the one Mediator between God and man;' that a full pardon of all sin, and a sure title to eternal life, are freely offered to him, in Christ's name, and may be immediately appropriated and enjoyed by faith; that he is warranted, and even bound, guilty and condemned as he is, to receive and rest upon Christ at once as his Saviour; that nothing which he ever did, or may yet do, is necessary to constitute any part of the ground of his present acceptance or of his eternal hope; and that, being united to Christ by faith, he will be made partaker in due time of all the blessings of a complete and everlasting salvation. Such, in substance, was the doctrine of the Reformers; and it imparted immediate relief and comfort to many anxious and distressed consciences, which all the masses and indulgences of Rome had failed to pacify; it passed through Europe, like an electric current, and proved, at many a homely hearth, and in many a monastic cell,-in some, even, of the palaces of princes,-that it was still, as of old, 'the power of God unto salvation.' It reformed a large part of the Church, and constituted it anew after the model of primitive times; and it is yet destined to overthrow the whole fabric of Popery, and to be hailed as God's Gospel in every part of a regenerated world. (8)

LECTURE V.

HISTORY OF THE DOCTRINE IN THE ROMISH CHURCH AFTER THE REFORMATION.

THE

HE controversy between Rome and the Reformation was carried on, with much keenness and with great ability on both sides, long after Protestantism had acquired a firm footing in Europe, and assumed a distinct and permanent form, as an ecclesiastical organization. The history of that protracted struggle is replete with interest and instruction;-and no part of it is more important than that which relates to the doctrine of a sinner's Justification in the sight of God. The more salient points of this part of the history may be sufficiently illustrated by considering the original charge of the Romanists against the Protestant doctrine of Justification, as contrasted with their subsequent treatment of it; and the persistent attempts which were made by some men on both sides to effect a reconciliation and compromise between the two antagonist systems, and even to harmonize the symbolical books in which they were respectively embodied, by leaving out of view, or explaining away, whatever was peculiar or distinctive either in the Protestant, or in the Popish, doctrine.

The original charge of the Romanists against the Protestant doctrine of Justification should be carefully considered, in the first instance, and then compared with their subsequent treatment of it.

The light in which the Protestant doctrine was universally regarded at first by the adherents of the Church of Rome,―by the Pope and his legates, by the Emperor and his princes, by the Bishops and their clergy, and, generally, by both the civil and ecclesiastical partisans of the Papal See, is sufficiently shown by the treatment which they bestowed on the 'Confession,' which was presented at the Diet of Augsburg, and afterwards on the 'Apology' for it, which was prepared in reply to their objections. Both the 'Confession' and the Apology' were carefully composed by the learned, prudent, and conciliatory Melancthon, but were revised and cordially approved by Luther and the Elector of Saxony; and they contained, in substance, a faithful exhibition of the doctrine which was then held by the whole body of the Reformers. (1) The method of Justification by the free grace of God, through faith alone in the sole merits of Christ, as the only Saviour of sinners, was there stated in the most moderate, and least offensive, terms; yet the Romish divines-Faber and Eckius-who undertook to answer the 'Confession,' rejected the Protestant doctrine on that subject entirely, and, on their report, it was rejected also in the Edict of the Diet. (2) The chief ground of their opposition to it, at that time, was its alleged 'novelty,' as a method of teaching which was now introduced for the first time, and which was at direct variance with that which had long prevailed in the Romish Church. It was this doctrine, more than any other, that excited the hostility both of the Papal See, and of the Imperial Diet; and the Reformers were made to feel that, unless they could consent to abandon, or at least to modify it, they must expose themselves and their cause to imminent danger. 'It cannot be denied,' says Melancthon, 'that we are brought into trouble, and exposed to danger, for