Question: What  is  the  common  doctrine  Jield  by  evangelical  Christians  ?

Answer: 1st. That there are in the soul, besides its several faculties, habits, or dispositions, of which some are innate and others are acquired, which lay the foundation for the soul's exercising its faculties in some particular way. Thus we intuitively judge a man's moral disposition to be permanently evil when we see him habitually acting sinfully, or to be permanently good when we see him habitually acting righteously. 2d. These dispositions are anterior to moral action, and de- termine its character as good or evil. 3d. In creation God made the disposition of Adam's heart holy. 4th. In the new creation God recreates the governing dis- position of the regenerated man's heart holy. It is, therefore, properly called a " regeneration," a " new creation," a "new birth." 8. Whe7i it is said that regeneration consists in giving a new heart, or in implanting a new ^principle or disposition., ivhat is meant by the terms '•'■hearty' ^^ princijJile" or ^^disposition" ? President Edwards says, " By a principle of nature in this place, I mean that foundation which is laid in nature, either old or new, for any particular kind or manner of exercise of the faculties of the soul. So this new ' spiritual sense ' is not a new faculty of luiderstanding, but it is a new foundation laid in the natiu-e of the soul for a new kind of exercise of the same faculty of ui]de,rstanding. So that new holy disposition of heart that atteiuls this new sense is not a new faculty of will, but a foundation laid in the nature of the soul for a new kind of exercise of the same faculty of will." — Edwards on " Keligious Affections, " Pt. III., sec. 1. IT INVOLVES NO PHYSICAL CHANGE. 459 The term "heart," signifying that prevailing moral dispo- sition that determines tlie volitions and actions, is the phrase most commonly used in Scripture. — Matt. xii. 33, 35; xv. 19; Luke vi. 43, 45. 9. Sow may it he shoivn that this vieiu of regeneration does not represent it as involving any change in the essence of the soul? This charge is brought against the orthodox doctrine by all those who deny that there is any thing in the soul but its con- stitutional faculties and their exercises. They hence argue that if any thing be changed except the mere exercises of the soul, its fundamental constitution would be physically altered. In opposition to this, we argue that we have precisely the same evidence for the existence of a permanent moral quality or disposition inherent in the will, as the reason why a good man acts habitually righteously, or a bad man viciously, that we have for the existence of the invisible soul itself, or of any of its faculties, as the reason why a man acts at all, or why his actions are such as thought, emotion, volition. It is not possible for us to conceive of the choice being produced in us by the Holy Spirit in more than three ways: "■First, by his direct agencj'- in producing the choice, in which case it would be no act of ours. Second, by addressing such motives to our constitutional and natural principles of self-love as would in- duce us to make the choice, in which case there would be no morality in the act. Or, thirdly, by producing such a relish for the divine character, that the soul as spontaneously and immediately rejoices in God as its portion as it rejoices in the perception of beauty." " If our ^Nlaker can endow us, not only with the general sus- ceptibility of love, but also with a specific disposition to love our children; if he can give us a discernment and susceptibility of natural beauty, he may give us a taste for spiritual loveliness. And if that taste, by reason of sin, is vitiated and perverted, he may restore it by means of his spirit in regeneration." — Hodge's Essaj^s. 10. In lohat seme may the soul he said to he passive in regen- eration ? Dr. Taylor maintains that regeneration is that act of the soul in which man chooses God as his portion. Thus, the man himself, and not God, is the agent. But the Christian church, on the contrary, holds that in regeneration the Holy Ghost is the agent, and man the subject. The act of the Holy Spirit, in implanting a new principle, does not interfere with the essential activity of the soul itself, but 460 REGENERATION. simply gives to that activity a new direction, for the sonl, though active, is nevertheless capable of being acted upon. And although the soul is necessarily active at the very time it is regenerated, yet it is rightly said to be passive with respect to that act of the Holy Spirit whereby it is regenerated. 1st. The soul, under the conviction of the Holy Ghost, and in the exercise of merely natural feelings, regards some aspect of saving truth, and strives to embrace it. 2d. The Holy Ghost, by an exertion of creative power, changes the governing dispo- sition of tlie heart in a manner inscrutable, and by an influence not apprehended by the consciousness of the subject. 3d. Simul- taneously the soul exercises new affections and experimentally embraces the truth. 11. What is the difference between regeneration and conversion ? The term conversion is often used in a wide sense as includ- ing both the change of nature and the exercise of that nature as changed. When distinguished from regeneration, however, conversion signifies the first exercise of the new disposition implanted in regeneration, i. e., in freely turning unto God. Regeneration is God's act; conversion is ours. Regenera- tion is the implantation of a gracious principle ; conversion is the exercise of that principle. Regeneration is never a matter of direct consciousness to the subject of it; conversion always is such to the agent of it. Regeneration is a single act, com- plete in itself, and never repeated ; conversion, as the beginning of holy living, is the commencement of a series, constant, end- less, and progressive. " Draw me, and I will run after thee." Cant. i. 4. This distinction is signalized by the divines of the seventeenth century (Turretin, L. 15, Ques. 4, § V6) by the phrases '■'• conversio habitualis seu passiva" i. e., the infusion of a gracious habit of soul by God, m respect to which the subject is passive; and "■conversio actualis seu acfiva,'^ i. e., the consequent acts of faith and repentance elicited by co-operative grace and acted by the subject. 12. Hoiu can it he proved that there is any such thing as that commonly called regeneration ? 1st. By those Scriptures that declare such a change to be necessary. — John iii. 3; 2 Cor. v. 17; Gal. vi. 15. 2(1. By those passages which describe the change. — Eph. ii. 5; iv. *24; James i. 18; 1 Pet. i. 23. 3d. From the fact that it was necessary for the most moral as well as for the most profligate. — 1 Cor. xv. 10; Gal. i. 13-16. 4th. That this inward change is not a mere reformation is SUPERNATURAL ILLUMINATION. 461 proved by its being referred to the Holy Spirit. — Eph. i. 19, 20 ; Titus iii. 5. 5th. From the comparison of man's state in grace with his state by nature. — Rom. vi. 13; viii. 6-10; Eph. v. 8. 6th. From the experience of all Christians, and from the testimony of their Jives.


Question: What  is  the  nature  of  supernatural  illumination  ?

Answer: The soul of man is a unit. A radically defective or per- verted condition of any faculty will injuriously affect the exer- cise of all the other iaculties. The essence of sin consists in the perverted moral dispositions and affections of the will. But a perverted condition of these affections must affect the exer- cises of the intellect, concerning all moral objects, as much as the volitions themselves. We can not love or desire any object unless we perceive its loveliness, neither can we intellectually perceive its loveliness unless its qualities are congenial to our inherent taste or dispositions. Sin, therefore, is essentially deceitful, and man as a sinner is spiritually blind. This does not consist in any physical defect. He possesses all the facul- ties requisite to enable him to see the beauty, and to experi- ence the power of the truth, but his whole nature is morally perverted through his evil dispositions. As soon as these are changed he will see, and, seeing, love and obey the truth, although no constitutional change is wrought in his nature, i. €., no new faculty given, but only his perverted faculties morally rectified. This illumination is called supernatural, 1st, because, having been lost, it can be restored only by the immediate power of God. 2d. In contradistinction to the maimed condition of man's present depraved nature. It, how- ever, conveys no new truths to the mind, nor does it relieve the Christian, in any degree, from the diligent and prayerful study of the Word, nor does it lead to any fanciful interpreta- tions of Scripture foreign to the plain sense of the letter; it only leads to the perception and appreciation of the native spiritual beauty and power of the inspired word, and the truths therein revealed. 14. Hoiv may it be jyroved that believers are the subjects of such iUumination ? 1st. It is necessary. — 1 Cor. ii. 14; 2 Cor. iii. 14; iv. 3; John xvi. 3. From the constitution of our nature we must apprehend an object as lovely before we can love it for its own sake. 2d. The Scriptures expressly affirm it. " To know God is eternal life."— John xvii. 3; 1 Cor. ii. 12, 13; 2 Cor. iv. 6; Eph. 462 RE GENERA TION. i. 18; Phil, i 9; Col. iii. 10; 1 John iv. 7; v. 20; Ps. xix. 7, 8; xliii. 3, 4. As the soitI is a unit, a change in its radical moral disposi- tions must simultaneously modify the exercise of all its facul- ties in relation to moral and spiritual objects. The soul can not love that the loveliness of which it does not perceive, neither can it perceive the loveliness of an object which is totally un- congenial to its own nature. The first effect of regeneration, or a radical change of moral disposition, in the order of nature, therefore, is to open the eyes of our understandings to the excellency of divine truth, and the second effect is the going forth of the renewed affections toward that excellency so per- ceived. This is what Pres. Edwards (" Religious Affections," Pt. III., sec. 4) calls "-tlie sense of the heart." 15. What is the nature of that conviction of sin lohich is the attendant of regeneration ? Spiritual illumination immediately leads to the perception of the righteousness, goodness, and exceeding breadth and exactness of God's law, and by contrast of the exceeding sin- fulness of sin in the abstract, Rom. vii. 7, 13; and above all of his own sin — thus revealing, in contrast to the divine purity and righteousness, the pollution of his own heart, his total ill- desert, and his entire helplessness in all his relations to God. Job xlii. 5, 6. This is a practical experimental knowledge, — produced by the wrestling sXeyxo'^, of the Holy Ghost (John xvi. 8) — of guilt, of pollution, and of helplessness. 16. What is the nature of that conviction of sin tvhich often occurs before or ivithout regeneration, and hoiv may it be distin- guished from tJie genuine ? Natural conscience is an essential and indestructible element of human nature, including a sense of right and wrong, and pain- ful emotions associated with a sense of the latter. Although this faculty may be for a time perverted, and the sensibihty associated with it hardened, yet it may be, and often is, in the case of the unregenerate, quickened to a painful activity, lead- ing to a sense of ill-desert, pollution, helplessness, and danger. In eternity this will constitute a large measure of the suffer- ings of the lost. On the other hand, that conviction of sin which is peculiar to the regenerate is distinguished by being accompanied by a sense of the positive beauty of holiness, and an earnest desire to escape not merely the pangs of remorse, but chiefly the pollution and the dominion of sin. ITS ABSOLUTE NECESSITY. 463 17. What is the nature of those new affections ivhicJi flow from tJie renewal of the heart, and how are they distinguished from tli£, exercises of unreneived men ? Spiritual illumination gives the perception of that loveliness which the renewed affections of the heart embrace and delight in. These are spiritual because they are formed in us, and preserved in healthy exercise by the Spirit of God. They are holy because their objects are holy, and because they delight in their objects as holy. The affections of unrenewed men, on the other hand, however pure or even religious they may be, are merely natural in their source, and attach merely to natural objects. They may be grateful to God for his benefits, but they never love him simply for the perfections of his own nature. 18. What is the nature of that neio obedience which results from regeneration, and hoio does it differ from mere morality ? The perfect law is spiritual, and consequently requires per- fect conformity of being as well as of action ; the central and governing principles of life must be in harmony with it. The regenerate man, therefore, thinks, and feels, and wills, and acts in conformity w-ith the spirit of the whole word of God as far as revealed to him, because it is God's word, from a motive of love to God, and with an eye single to his glory. The sancti- fied affections are the spring, the heart-searching laAv the rule, and the glory of God the end, and the Holy Ghost the co- worker in every act of Christian obedience. Morality, on the other hand, has its spring in the merely natural affections; it aims only at the conformity of the outward actions to the letter of the law, while self, in some form of self- righteousness, reputation, safety, or happiness, is the determin- ing end.


Question: Hoio  may  the  absolute  necessity  of  regeneration  he  proved  ?

Answer: 1st. The Scriptures assert it. — John iii. 3; Rom. viii. 6; Eph. ii. 10; iv. 21-24. 2d. It is proved from the nature of man as a sinner. — Rom. vii. 18; viii. 7-9; 1 Cor. ii. 14; Eph. ii. 1. 3d. From the nature of heaven. — Isa. xxxv. 8; iii. 1; IMatt. v. 8; xiii. 41; Heb. xii. 14; Rev. xxi. 27. The restoration of holiness is the grand end of the whole plan of salvation. — Eph. i. 4; V. 5, 26, 27. 20. Are infants susceptible of regeneration; and, if so, lohat is the nature of regeneration in them ? Infants, as well as adults, are rational and moral agents, 7-^ and by nature totally depraved. The difference is, that the '/ 464 REGENERA TION. faculties of infants are in the germ, while those of adults are developed. As regeneration is a change wrought by creative power in the inherent moral condition of the soul, infants may plainly be the subjects of it in precisely the same sense as adults ; in both cases the operation is miraculous, and therefore inscrutable. The fact is established by what the Scriptures teach of in- nate depravity, of infant salvation, of infant circumcision and baptism. — Luke i. 15; xviii. 15, 16; Acts ii. 39. See below. Chapter XLII. AUTHOEITATIVE STATEMENTS. Roman Doctetne. — ^^ Cone. Trent" Sess. vi. Ch. 7. — "Justification (Kegeneration) is not only a remission of sins, but also a renewal of the inner man through the voluntary reception of the gi'ace and gifts whereby a man born unjust becomes just, and from an enemy becomes a friend, that so he may be an heir according to the hojDe of eternal life. The causes of this justification are — the ^/^rr/ cause, the glory of God and of Christ, and eternal life; the efficient cause, the merciful God who gratu- itously washes and sanctifies, sealing and anointing mth the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance; the meritorious cause, his own most beloved and only begotten Son, oiir Lord Jesus Christ, ■who, when we were enemies, did, on account of the great love where- with he loved us, merit justification for us by his most holy passion on the wood of the cross; and did for us, make satisfaction to God the Fa- ther; also the instrumental cause, the sacrament of baptism, which is the sacrament of faith, without which (faith) justification has never come to any one; and finally i\\e formal cause, is the righteousness of God, not that whereby he is himself righteous, but that whereby he makes us righteous, namely that with which we, being by him endowed, are re- newed in the spirit of our mind, and are not only reputed, but are truly called, and are righteous." Lutheran Doctrine. — " Formtda Concordice" (Hase), page 679. — "For conversion is such a change of the man through the operation of the Holy Spirit in the understanding, will, and heart of man, that he is able (/. «., by the operation of the Holy Spirit) to embrace the offered grace. Jb. p. 681. — But the understanding and will of the man not as yet renewed are only the subject to be converted, because they are the understanding and will of a man spiritually dead, in whom the Holy Ghost works conversion and renewal ; in whicli work the man to be con- verted contributes nothing, but is acted upon, until he is regenerated. But afterwards in other good works enduring, he co-operates vnth the Holy Spirit, doing those things which are well pleasing to God, in that manner which has now been declared by us fully enough in this treatise. " Reformed Doctrine and Remonstrant Doctrine. — See under Chap- ter XXVIII.


Question: Hoio  may  faith  be  defined?

Answer: Faith is a complex act of the soul, involving the concurrent action of the understanding and the will, and modified in dif- ferent instances of its exercise by the nature of its object, and of the evidence upon which it rests. The most general defini- tion, embracing all its modifications, affirms faith to be "assent 30 466 FAITH. 1/ to truth upon the exhibition of the appropriate evidence. But ^ it is evident that its nature must vary with the nature of the truth beheved, and especially with the nature of the evidence upon which oin* assent is founded. Assent to a speculative or abstract truth is a speculative act ; assent to a moral truth is a moral act; assent to a promise made to ourselves is an act of trust. Our belief that the earth moves round its axis is a mere assent; our belief in the excellence of virtue is of the nature of a moral judgment; our belief in a promise is an act of trust." So likewise with respect to the evidence upon which our faith is founded. "The same man may believe the same truth on different grounds. One may believe the Christian system sim- ply because others around him believe it, and he has been brought up to receive it without question ; this is the faith of credulity. Another may believe it on the ground of its external evidence, e. gr., of miracle, prophecy, history, its logical consist- ency as a system, or its plausibility as a theory in accounting for the phenomena of creation and providence. This is specu- lative taith. Another may believe, because the truths of the Bible recommend themselves to his reason and conscience, and accord with his inward experience. This faith is founded on moral evidence. There is another faith founded on the intrinsic excellence, beauty, and suitableness of the truth from a sense and love of its moral excellence. This is spiritual faith, which is the gift of God."—" Way of Life." Religious faith is hdxef of the truth on the testimony of God. It includes, (1) Notiiia, knowledge; (2) Assensus, assent; (3) Fi- ducia, trust. 4. How far is faith an act of the understanding, and how far an act of the ivill ? The one indivisible soul knows and loves, desires and de- cides, and these several acts of the soul meet on the same object. The soul can neither love, desire, nor choose that which it does not know, nor can it know an object as true or good without some affection of will towards it. Assent to a purely speculative truth may be simply an act of understand- ing, but belief in a moral truth, in testimony, in promises, must be a complex act, embracing both the understanding and the will. The understanding apprehends the truth to be believed, and decides upon the validity of the evidence, but the disposi- tion to believe testimony, or moral evidence, has its foundation in the will. Actual trust in a promise is an act of the will, and not a simple judgment as to its trustworthiness. There is an exact relation between the moral judgment and the affections, and the will, as the seat of the moral affections, determines RELATION OF FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE. 467 the moral judgments. Therefore, as a man is responsible for his will, he is responsible for his faith. As far as faith includes an act of " cognition " it is, of course, purely an act of the imderstanding. But as far as it includes "Assent" and "Trust," it involves also the spontaneous and active powers of the soul, that is, " the will," and in its higher exercise it often involves deliberate volition itself


Question: What  is  tJie  difference  hehveen  knowledge  and  faith  ?

Answer: Generall}'', knowledge is the apprehension of an object as true, and faith is an assent to its truth. It is obvious, there- fore, that in this general sense of the term every exercise of faith includes the knowledge of the object assented to. It is impossible to distinguish between the apprehension of the truthfulness of a purely speculative truth and an assent to it as true. In such a case faith and knowledge appear identical. But while the apprehension of the trustworthiness of a promise is knowledge, the actual reliance upon it is faith. The appre- hension of the moral truthfulness of an object is knowledge, the assent to it, as good and desirable, is faith. Sometimes the Scriptures use the word knowledge as equiv- alent to faith. — John x. 38 ; 1 John ii. 3. Generally, however, the Scriptures restrict the terra knowl- edge to the apprehension of those ideas which we derive through the natural sources of sensation and reason and human testi- mony, while the term faith is restricted to the assent to those truths which rest upon the direct testimony of God alone, object- ively revealed in the Scriptures, as discerned through spiritual illumination. Thus, faith is the " evidence of things not seen." Heb. xi. 1. We are commanded " to walk by faith, and not by sight." — 2 Cor. v. 7. Here the distinction between faith and knowledge has reference particularly to the mode of know- 1 ing. The one is natural and discursive, the other supernatural and intuitive. "" 6. What distinction do the Romanists make heticeen implicit and explicit faith ? Romanists and Protestants agree that it is not essential to faith that its object should be comprehended by the understand- ing. But, on the other hand, Protestants affirm, and Eoman- ists deny, that it is essential that the object believed should be apprehended by the mind; that is, that knowledge of what we believe is essential to faith. The Romanists, therefore, liave invented the distinction between explicit faith, Avliich termi- nates upon an object distinctly apprehended by the mind, and implicit faith, which a man exercises in the truth of proposi- 468 FAITH. tions of which he knows nothing. They hold that if a man exercises expHcit faith in a general proposition, he therein ex- ercises implicit faith in every thing embraced in it, whether he knows what they are or not. If a man, for instance, has explicit faith that the chin-ch is an infallible teacher, he thereby exercises virtual or implicit faith in every doctrine taught by the church, although he may be ignorant as to what those doc- trines are. They distinguish, moreover, between those truths which -it is necessary to regard with explicit faitli, and those which may be held implicitly. They commonly teach that it is necessary for the people to hold only three doctrines expli- citly, 1st, that God is; 2d, that he is a rewarder, including future rewards and punishments ; 3d, that he is a redeemer. " This doctrine has been recently revived by the Puseyites, under the title of reserve. The distinguisliing truths of the gospel, instead of being clearly presented, should, it is said, be concealed or kept in reserve. The people may gaze upon the cross as the symbol of redemption, but need not know whether it is the form, or the material, or the great sacrifice once enacted on it, to which the efficacy is due. ' Religious light is intellectual darkness,' says Dr. Newman. This theory rests upon the same false assumption that faith can exist with- out knowledge." — Dr. Hodge. 7. What is the difference heticeen hioicing and understanding a thing, and how far is knoioledge essential to faith ? We know a thing when we simply apprehend it as true. We understand it only when we fully comprehend its nature, and the perfect consistency of all its properties with each other and with the entire system of things of which it forms a part. We know the doctrine of the trinity when its several parts are stated to us, but no creature can ever understand it. That knowledge, or simple apprehension of the object be- lieved and confided in, is essential to faith, is evident from the nature of faith itself It is that state of mind which bears the relation of assent to a certain object, involving that action of understanding and of will which is appropriate to that object. If a man loves, fears, or believes, he must love, fear, or believe some object, for it is evident that these states of mind can exist only in relation to their appropriate objects. If a real object is not present the imagination may present an ideal one, but that very fiction of the imagination must first be apprehended as true (or known) before it can be assented to as true (or be- lieved). Just as it is impossible for a man to enjoy beaiity with- out perceiving it in some object of the mind, or to exercise complacent love in a virtuous act without perceiving it, so it KNOWLEDGE ESSENTIAL TO FAITH. 469 is, for the same reason, impossible for a man to exercise faith without knowing what he beHeves. " Imphcit faith" is a per- fectly unmeaning formula. /^ 8. How can the fact that knowledge is essential to faith he proved from Scrijjture ? 1st. From the etymology of the word Tti6rii, from TcsiQco, to persuade, instruct. Faith is that state of mind which is the result of teaching. 2d. From the use of the word knowledge in Scripture as equivalent to faith. — John x. 38 ; 1 John ii. 3. 3d. From what the Bible teaches as to the source of faith. It comes by teaching. — Eom. x. 14-17. 4th. The Scriptures de- clare that the regenerate are enlightened, have received the unction, and know all things. — Acts xxvi. 18; 1 Cor. ii. 12-15; Col. iii. 10. 5th. The means of salvation consist in the dissem- ination of the truth. Christ is the great teacher. Ministers are teachers. — 1 Cor. iv. 1 ; 1 Tim. iii. 2 ; iv. 13. Christians are begotten by the truth, sanctified by the truth. — John xvii. 19 ; James i. 18. Dr. Hodge. 9. How are those passages to he explained tvhich speak of knowl- edge as distinguished from faith ? Although every act of faith presupposes an act of knowl- edge, yet both the faith and the knowledge vary very much, both with the nature of the object known and believed, and with the manner in which the knowledge is received, and with the evidence upon which the faith rests. The faith which the Scriptures distinguish from knowledge is the strong persuasion of things not seen. It is the conviction of the truth of things which do not fall within the compass of our own observation which may entirely transcend the powers of our understand- ing, and which rest upon the simple testimony of God. This testimony faith relies upon in spite of whatever to human rea- son appears inconsistent or impossible. Knowledge though essential to faith may be distinguished from it — 1st. As faith includes also an act of the will assent- ing, in addition to the act of the understanding apprehending. 2d. As knowledge derived through a natural is distinguished from knowledge derived through a divine source. 3d. As pres- ent imperfect apprehension of divine things (;'. e., faith) differs from that perfect knowledge of divine things we shall have in heaven. — 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 10. If faith necessarily includes knoidedge, hoiv can men he com- manded to helieve? 1st. No man is ever commanded to believe that which is 470 FAITH. not revealed to him, either in the light of nature or by the inspired word. 2d. No man is ever commanded to believe a purely speculative truth. The truths of religion rest on the testimony of God. They are enforced by moral evidence, and faith in them involves a moral and spiritual knowledge of them, and delight in tliem. jMoral evidence can be appreciated only by a mind possessed of moral sensibility. And such moral in- sensibility as leads to blindness to the distinction between right and wrong is itself a very aggravated state of depravity. The Scriptures, therefore, luminous with their own self- evidencing light, present the truth to all to whom they come, and demand its instant reception upon the testimony of God. If that evidence is not felt to be conclusive by any one, it must be because of the sinful blindness of his mind. Therefore Christ says, "ye loiU not come unto me that ye may have life." And unbelief is uniformly charged to the " evil heart." 11. Wliat are the iiUimate grounds of that assent to the truth which is of the essence of faith ? I, In general, the ultimate ground upon which our assent to the truth of any object of knowledge rests is the veracity of God. The testimony of our senses, the integrity of our con- sciences, the intuitions of our reasons, all rest upon his vera- city as Creator. Practically the mind is moved to this assent through our universal and instinctive confidence in the con- stitution of our own natures. "^ Keligious faith rests, l^t, upon the faithfulness of God as pledged in his supernatural revelation, John iii. 33 ; 2d^ upon the evidence of spiritual illumination, personal experience of the power of the truth, and the witness of the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier, and thus "not in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God." — 1 Cor. ii. 5-12, 12. What are the two hinds of evidence hy which ive hnoiv that God has revealed certain truths as objects of faith ? 1st. The evidence which resides in the truth itself IMoral, spiritual, experimental, rational. — John vi. 63; xiv. 17, 26; Jer. xxiii. 29. 2d. The accrediting evidence of the presence and power of God accompanying the promulgation of the truth, and proving that it is from him. Tliese are miracles, provi- dential dispensations, the fulfilment of prophecy, etc. — John v, 36; Heb. ii. 4. 13. Hoio can it he shoivn that the authority of the Church is not a ground of faith ? See above, Chapter V., Question 18, DISTINCTION BETWEEN HISTORICAL AND SA VING FAITH. 471 14. Wliat is the nature of historical f ait] i, and iqjon ivhat evi- dence does it rest? That mode of purely rational faith called historical is that apprehension of and assent to the truth which regards it in its purely rational aspects as mere facts of history, or as mere parts of a logical system of opinion. Its appropriate evidence is purely rational, e. (/., the solution aiForded by the Scriptures of the facts of history and experience, and the evidence of his- tory, prophecy, miracles, etc. 15. What is the nature of temporary faith, and of the evidence upon which it is founded? Temporary faith is that state of mind often experienced in this world by impenitent hearers of the gospel, induced by the moral evidence of the truth, the common influences of the Holy Ghost, and the power of religious sympathy. Sometimes the excited imagination joyfully appropriates the promises of the gospel. — Matt. xiii. 20. Sometimes, like Felix, the man be- lieves and trembles. Oftentimes it is at first impossible to dis- tinguish this state of mind from genuine saving faith. But not springing from a divine work of recreation it has no root in the permanent principles of the heart. It is always, there- fore, 1st, inefficient, neither purifying the heart nor overcom- ing the world; 2d, temporary. 16. What is the specific evidenjce upon ivhich saving faith is founded ? This is the light let into the soul by the Holy Ghost in his work of spiritual illumination. Thus is the beauty, and excel- lence, and the suitableness of the truth to the practical wants of the subject apprehended. With this the witness of the Holy Ghost with and by the truth co-operates. — 1 Cor. ii. 4, 5; Rom. viii. 16; 2 Cor. iv. 6; Eph. ii. 8. 17. Hoio may it he proved from Scripture and experience that spiritual illumination is the ground of saving faith ? 1st. The Scriptures, wherever they come, make a demand unconditional, immediate, and universal upon the most intelli- gent and the most ignorant alike, that they should be received and believed, and unbelief is always charged as sin, and not as mere ignorance or mental incapacity. The faith which tliey demand must, therefore, be a moral act, and must depend upon the spiritual congeniality of the believer with the truth. 2d. By nature men are spiritually blind, and subjects of an "evil heart of unbelief." — 2 Cor. iii. 14; iv. 4. V. 472 FAITH. 3d. Believers are said to be enlightened, and to discern the things of the Spirit. — Acts xiii. 48; 2 Cor. iv. 6; Eph. i. 17, 18; 1 John ii. 20, 27 ; v. 9, 10. 4t]i. JMen believe because they are taught of God. — John vi. 44, 45. 5th. Every Christian is conscious of believing, because he sees the trutli believed to be true, lovely, powerful, and satis- fying. 6th. This is proved by the effects of faith. "We are said to live by faith, to be sanctified by faith, to overcome by faith, to be saved by faith. Blind consent to authority, or rational con- viction, produce no such effects; if the effects are spiritual, the source must be also spiritual." 18. Wliat are the different opinions as to the relation hetiveen faith and trust ? In consequence of their doctrine of implicit faith, that noth- ing is required beyond blind assent to the teachings of the church, Eomanists necessarily deny that trust enters into the essence of saving faith. The Sandemanians, as the Campbellites, holding that faith is a mere affirmative judgment of the understanding passed upon the truth on the ground of evidence, also deny that trust is an element of saving faith. Some orthodox theologians have held that trust is rather to be regarded as an immediate and invariable consequent of sav- ing faith, than an element of that faith itself Religious faith, resulting from spiritual illumination, respects the entire word of God and his testimony, and, as such, is a complex state of mind, varying with the nature of the partic- ular portion of revealed truth regarded in any particular act. Many of tlie propositions of Scripture are not the proper objects of trust, and then the faith which embraces them is only a reverent and complacent assent to them as true and good. But the specific act of saving faith which unites to Christ, and is the commencement, root, and organ of our whole spiritual life, terminates upon Christ's person and work as Mediator, as presented in the offers and promises of the gospel. This assuredly includes trust in its very essence, and this is called " saving faith " by way of eminence, since it is the faith that saves, and since only tln-ough this as their principle, are any other more general exercises of saving faith possible. 19. Hoiv may the fad that saving faith indwies trust he proved from, the language of Scripttire ? The uniform and single condition of salvation presented in DOCTRINE PROVED. 473 the Scriptures is expressed in the words beheve in or on Christ, fiS or kni rov xfti^i^ov. — John vii. 38; Acts ix. 42; xvi. 31; Gal. ii. 16. To beheve in or on a person necessarily implies trust as well as credit. The same is abundantly proved by the usage with respect to the phrases "by faith in or on Christ." — 2 Tim. iii. 15; Acts xxvi. 18; Gal. iii. 26; Heb. xi. 1. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, but the foundation of hope is trust. 20. Hoio may the same he proved from those expressions which are used in Scripture as equivalent to the phrase ^'■believing in Christ " ? "Receiving Christ." — John i. 12; Col. ii. 6. "Looking to Christ." — Is. xlv, 22; compare Num. xxi. 9 with John iii. 14, 15. " Flying to Christ for refuge." — Heb. vi. 18. " Coming to Christ."— John vi. 35; Matt. xi. 28. " Committing."— 2 Tim. i. 12. All these illustrate as well as designate the act of saving faith, and all equally imply trust as an essential element, for we can "receive," or "come to," or "look to," Christ only in that character of a propitiation, an advocate and a deliverer, in which he offers himself to us. 21. How may the same he proved from the effects ivhich the Scriptures ascf'ibe to faith ? The Scriptures declare that by faith the Christian "embraces the promises," "is persuaded of the promises," "out of weak- ness is made strong," "waxes valiant in fight," "confesses him- self a stranger and pilgrim seeking a better country." As faith in a threatening necessarily involves fear, so faith in a promise necessarily involves trust. Besides, faith rests upon the trustworthiness of God, and therefore necessarily involves trust. — Heb. x. 23, and the whole of the 11th chapter. 22. How may it he shoivn that this vieio of faith does not con- found faith and hope ? To our doctrine that saving faith involves trust, the Eo- manist objects that this confounds faith and hope, which the Scriptures distinguish (1 Cor. xiii. 13), since hope is only strong- trust. But hope is not merely strong trvist. Trust rests upon the grounds of assurance, while hope reaches forward to the object of which assurance is given. Trust is the foundation of hope. Hope is the fruit of trust. The more confiding the trust, the more assured the hope. 474 FAITH. 23. Wlmt are the different opinions as to the relation betiveen faith and love, and the Romish distindion betiveen "fides inibrmis" and " fides formata " ? 1st. The Romanists, in order to maintain their doctrine that faith alone is not saving, distinguisli between a formed, or per- fect, and an unformed faith. They acknowledge that faith is distinct from love, but maintain tliat love is essential to render faith meritorious and effectual as the instrument of our salva- tion. Fides iriformis is mere assent, explicit or implicit, to the teachings of the Church. It necessarily precedes "justificatio" as its condition. Fides formcda is the fruit of the first justifica- tion, and the condition of those good works which merit further grace. 2d. Some have regarded love as the root out of which faith springs. 3d. The true view is that love is the immediate and neces- sary effect of faith. Faith includes the spiritual apprehension of the beauty and excellence of the trutli, and an act of the will embracing it and relying upon it. Yet these graces can not be analytically separated, since they mutually involve one another. There can be no love without faith, nor any faith without love. Faith apprehends the loveliness of the object, the heart spontaneously loves it. Thus "faith works by love," since these afl"ections are the source of those motives that con- trol the will. The Romish doctrine is inconsistent with the essential prin- ciples of the gospel. Faith is not a work, nor can it have, when formed or unformed, any merit; it is essentially a self- emptying act, which saves by laying hold of the merits of Christ. It leads to works, and proves itself by its fruits, but in its relation to justification it is in its very nature a strong pro- test against the merits of all human works. — Gal. iii. 10, 11; Epli. i'i. 8, 9. The Protestant doctrine that love is the fruit of faith, is established by what the Scriptures declare concerning faith, tliat it " sanctifies," " works by love," " overcomes the world." Gal. V. 6; Acts xxvi. 18; 1 John v. 4. This is accomplished thus — by faith we are united to Christ, Eph. iii. 17, and so become partakers of his Spirit, 1 John iii. 24, one of the fruits of the Spirit is love. Gal. v. 22, and love is the principle of all obedience. — Rom. xiii. 10.


Question: What  is  the  object  of  saving  faith  ?

Answer: The spiritual illumination of the understanding and renewal of the affections, which lays the foundation for the soul's acting MATTERS OF FAITH AND OPINION: 475 faith in any one portion of the testimony of God, lays the fonn- dation for its acting faith in all that testimony. The whole i:eyealadjy_9rcl_o.f God, then, as far as known to the individual, to the exclusion of all traditions, doctrines of men, and pre- tended private revelations, is the object of saving- faith. .That particular act of taith, however, which unites to Christ, called, \)j way of distinction, justifying faith, has for its object the person and work of Christ as Mediator. — John vii. 38; x4cts XVI. 31. 25. What is meant hy an article of faith as distinguished from a matter of opinion ? The Romanists hold that every dogma decided by the church to be true, whether derived from Scripture or tradition, is, upon pain of damnation, to be believed by every Christian as an article of faith, if known to him by an explicit, if not known by an implicit faith. On the other hand, with respect to all subjects not decided by the church, every man is left free to believe or not as a matter of opinion. 26. What is the Anglican or PuseijUe criterion for distinguish- ing those doctrines which must be hnoivn and believed in order to salvation ? They agree with the Romanists (see above, Question 6) that knowledge is not essential to faith. As to the rule of faith, however, they differ. The Romanist makes that rule the teach- ing of the Papal Church. The Puseyites, on the other hand, make it the uniform testimony of tradition running in the line of the succession of apostolic bishops. 27. What is tJie common Protestant doctrine as to fundamen- tals in religion, and by ivhat evidence can such fundamentals be ascertained ? Every doctrine taught in the Bible is the object of an en- lightened spiritual faith. No revealed principle, however com- paratively subordinate, can be regarded as indifferent, to be adopted or rejected at will. Every man is bound to credit the whole testimony of God. Yet the gospel is a logically con- sistent system of truth, some of whose principles are essential to its integrity, while others are essential only to its symmetry and perfection ; and ignorance, feebleness of logical comprehen- sion, and prejudice may, and constantly do, lead good men to apprehend this system of truth imperfectly. A fundamental doctrine, then, is either one which every soul must apprehend more or less clearly in order to be saved, or one which, when known, is so clearly involved with those 476 FAITH. the knowledge and belief of which is essential to salvation, that the one can not be rejected while the other is really believed. A fundamental doctrine is ascertained — 1st. In the same way that the essential principles of any other system are deter- mined, by their bearing upon the system as a whole. 2d. Every fundamental doctrine is clearly revealed. 3d. These doctrines are in Scripture itself declared to be essential. — John iii. 18; Acts xvi. 31; 2 Cor. v. 17; Gal. ii. 21; 1 John i. 8. 28. What is the ohject o/" fides specialis," or that specific act of faith ivhereby we are justified? The person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ as ^Mediator. This is proved — 1st. The Scriptures expressly declare that we are justified by that faith of which Christ is the object. — Rom. iii. 22, 25; Gal. ii. KJ; Phil. iii. 9. 2d. We are said to be saved by faith in Christ. — John iii. 16, 36; Acts X. 43; xvi. 31. 3d. Justifying faith is designated as a "looking to Christ," a "coming to Christ," etc. — John i. 12; vi. 35, 37; Isa. xlv. 22. 4th. Pi ejection of Christ; a refusal to submit to the right- eousness of God is declared to be the ground of reprobation. John viii. 24; iii. 18, 19. 29. Hoiv is the Romish doctrine on this point opposed to the Protestant ? The Romanists, confounding justification and sanctification, hold that faith justifies through the sanctifying power of the truth. As all revealed truth has this sanctifying virtue, it fol- lows that the whole revelation of God as ascertained by the decisions of the church, is the object of justifying faith. This is refuted by all we have established from Scripture concerning justification, sanctification, and faith. 30. Is Christ in all his offices, or only as priest, the immediate ohject of justifying faith ? In this act the believer appropriates and rests upon Christ as Mediator, which includes at once all his functions as such. These may be analytically distinguislied, but in fact they are always inseparably united in him. When he acts as prophet he teaches as king and priest. When he reigns he sits as prophet and priest upon his throne. Besides this, his prophet- ical and kingly work are consciously needed by the awakened soul, and are necessarily apprehended as inseparable from his priestly work in the one act of faith. RELATION OF FAITH AND ASSURANCE. 477 It is true, however, that as the substitutionary work Avhich Christ accomphshed as priest is the meritorious ground of our salvation, so his priestly character is made the more prominent, both in the teachings of Scripture and in the experience of his people. 31. How far is 'peace, of conscience and peace luitli God a neces- sary consequence of faith ? Peace with God is reconciliation with him. Peace of con- science may either mean consciousness of that reconciliation, or the appeasement of our own consciences which condemn us. Faith in every instance secures our peace with God, since it unites us to Christ, Rom. v. 1 ; and in the proportion in which faith in the merits of Christ is clear and constant will be our consciousness of reconciliation with God, and the satisfaction of our own moral sense that righteousness is fulfilled, while we are forgiven. Yet as faith may be obscured by sin, so the true believer may temporarily fall under his Father's displeasure, and lose his sense of forgiveness and his moral satisfaction in the perfection of the atonement. 32. What are tlie three vieios entertained as to the relation he- V tween faith and assurance ? 1st. The Reformers generally maintained that justifying faith consisted in appropriating the promise of salvation through Christ made in the gospel, i. e., in regarding God as propitious to us for Christ's sake. Thus the very act of faith involves-- ■ assurance. 2d. Some have held that assurance in this life is unattain- able. The Romanists, holding that Christian faith is chiefly implicit assent and obedient conformity to the teachings of an infallible, visible society, called the Church, strenuously denied that private individuals have any Scriptural authority to enter- tain an assured persuasion that they are specially objects of divine favor. They were accustomed to assert that it is neither "obligatory," nor "possible," nor "desirable" that any one should attain such^^assurance without a special supernatural revelation. See Bellarmin, etc., quoted below. 3d. The true view is that " although this infallible assurance does not belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long and conflict with many difliculties before he partake of it, yet being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given him by God, he may, witliout extraordinary revelation, in the right use of ordinary means attain thereunto. And, therefore, it is the duty of each one to give diligence to make his calling and election sure." It is 478 FAITH. agreed by all that a true faith can not admit of any doubt as to its object. What is believed is assuredly believed. But the object of saving faith is Christ and his work as JNIediator guar- anteed to us in the promises of the gospel on the condition of faith. True faith does, therefore, essentially include the assur- ance— 1st. That Christ is able to save us. 2d. That he is faith- ful and will save us if loe helieve. It is meant that this is of the essence of faith, not that every true believer always enjoys a state of mind which excludes all doubt as to Christ's power or love; because the spiritual illumination upon which faith rests is often imperfect in degree and variable in exercise. Faith may be weak, or it may be limited by doubt, or it may alternate with doubt. Yet all such doubt is of sin, and is alien to the essential nature of faith. But the condition, if ive believe, upon which all assurance of our own salvation is suspended, is a matter not of revelation, but of experience, not of faith, but of consciousness. Theologians have, therefore, made a distinction between the assurance of faith, Heb. x. 22, and the assurance of hope, Heb. vi. 11. The first is of the essence of saving faith, and is the assurance that Christ is all that he professes to be, and will do all that he promises. The second is the assurance of our own personal salvation, is a fruit of faith, and one of the higher attainments of the Christian life. 33. Hoio may it he proved that assurance of our oivn personal salvation is not essential to saving faith? 1st. From the true object of saving faith as given above. 2d. From the examples given in the Scriptures of eminent saints who doubted with regard to themselves. — 1 Cor. ix. 27. 3d. from the exhortations addressed to those who were already believers to attain to assurance as a degree of faith beyond that which they already enjoyed. 4th. From the experience of God's people in all ages. 34. Hoio may it he proved that assurance is attainable in this life? 1st. This is directly asserted. — Kom. viii. 16; 2 Pet. i. 10; 1 John ii. 3; iii. 14; v. 13. 2d. Scriptural examples are given of its attainment. — 2 Tim. i. 12; iv. 7, 8. 3d. JNIany eminent Christians have enjoyed an abiding assurance, of the genuine- ness of which their holy walk and conversation Avas an indubi- table seal.


Question: On  what  grounds  may  a  man  he  assured  of  his  salvation?

Answer: "It is an infallible assurance of faith, founded, 1st, upon the FAITH PRODUCES GOOD WORKS. 479 divine truth of the promises of salvation ; 2d, the inward evi- dence of those graces unto Avhicli those promises are made, and, 3d, the testimony of the spirit of adoption, Eom. viii. 15, 16, witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God. Which Spirit, Eph. i. 13, 14; 2 Cor. i. 21, 22, is the earnest of our inheritance whereby we are sealed to the day of redemp- tion."— "Con. of Faith," Chap, xviii. This genuine assurance may be distinguished fi'om that presumptuous confidence which is a delusion of Satan, chiefly by these marks. True assurance, 1st, begets unfeigned hu- mility, 1 Cor. XV. 10; Gal. vi. 14; 2d, leads to ever-increasing diligence in practical religion, Ps. li. 12, 13, 19; 3d, to candid self-examination, and a desire to be searched and corrected by God, Ps. cxxxix. 23, 24 ; 4th, to constant aspirations after nearer conformity, and more intimate communion with God. — 1 John iii. 2, 3. 36. How may it he slioivn that a living faith necessarily leads to good ivorks ? 1st. From the nature of faith. It is the spiritual apprehen- sion and the voluntary embrace of the whole truth of God, — the promises, the commands, the threatenings of the Scripture, — viewed as true and as good. This faith occasions, of course, the exercise of the renewed affections, and love acted out is obedience. Each separate truth thus apprehended produces its appropriate effect upon the heart, and consequently upon the life. 2d. The testimony of Scripture. — Acts xv. 9 ; xxvi. 18 ; Gal. V. 6 ; James ii. 18 ; 1 John v. 4. 3d. The experience of the universal church. Attthoritative Statements. St. Augustine. — "Quid est fides nisi credere quod non vides ? " EoMiSH DocTEiNE. — "Cat. Counc. Trent," i. 1. — 1. "We here speak of that faith, by force of which we yield our entire assent to whatsoever has been divinely delivered, .... by virtue of which we hold that as fixed whatsoever the authority of our holy mother the church teaches us to have been delivered from God. " Bellarmin, "Ju.<iti/.," 1, 4. — "(Catholics) teach that historic faith, both of miracles and of promises, is one and the same thing, and that this one thing is not properly a knowledge or assurance, but a certain and most fixed assent, on the authority of the ultimate verity. . . . The object of justifying faith, which heretics restrict to the single object of special (personal) mercy, Catholics wish to extend as broadly as the word of God extends; nay, they contend that the promise of special mercy belongs not so much to faith as to presumption. Hence they difl'er (from Protestants) as to the faculty and power of mind which is the seat of faith. Inasmuch as they (Protestants) locate faith in the will, they define it to 480 FAITH. be assurance [fiducia) (or trust), and so confound it with hope, for trust (or assurance) is nothing more than strong hope, as holy Thomas teaches. Cathohcs teach that faith has its seat in the intellect. Lastly (they dif- fer) as to the act itself of the intellect (in which faith consists). They (Protestants), indeed, define faith as a form of knowledge; we (Catholics) as assent. For we assent to God, although he proposes things to us to be beheved which we do not understand. Ch. 7. — In him, who believes, there are two things, apjDrehension, and judgment or assent. But ap- prehension is not faith, but something that precedes faith. Besides apprehension is not properly called knowledge. For it may happen that an unlearned Catholic may only very confusedly apprehend the three names (of the Trinity), and nevertheless may truly believe in them. But judgment or assent is twofold, the one follows reason and the evi- dence of a thing, the other follows the authority of the jaropounder; the first is called knowledge, the latter faith. Therefore the mysteries of faith, which transcend the reason, we believe but do not understand, so that faith is distinguished as opposite to science, and is better defined as ignorance than as knowledge. " ^'Cans. Counc. Trent" Sess. 6, ch. 9. — "For even as no pious person ought to doubt of the mercy of God, of the merits of Christ, and of the virtue and efficacy of the sacraments, even so each one, when he regards himself and his own weakness and indisposition, may have fear and ap- prehension touching his own grace; seeing that no one can know with a certainty of faith, which can not be subject to error, that he has obtained the grace of God." Bellarmin, ^'Justif." 3, 3, says, "The question in debate between Romanists and the Beformed was. Whether any one should or could, without a special revelation, be certain with the certainty of a divine faith, to which error can in no way pertain, that his sins are remitted ? " The Pkot:estant Doctkine of Faith and Assurance. Calvin's "Institutes,'' B. 3, ch. 2, | 7. — "We shall have a complete definition of faith, if we say that it is a steady and certain knowledge of the divine benevolence towards us, which, being founded on the truth of the gratuitous promise in Christ, is both revealed to our minds and confirmed to our hearts by the Holy Spirit." "Heidelberg Cat.," Ques. 21. — "What is true faith ? It is not a mere knowledge, by which I firmly assent to all that God has revealed to us in his word, but it is also an assured confidence kindled in my heart by the Holy Ghost through the gospel, whereby I acquiesce in God, cer- tainly knowing, that nol to others only, but to me also, remission of sins, eternal righteousness and fife, is given gratuitously, of the mercy of God, on account of the merit of Christ alone." "Apol. Aiir/b. Con/.," p. 68. — "But that faith which justifies is not merely a knowledge of history; but it is assent to the promise of God in which is freely, for Christ's sake, offered the remission of sins and justi- fication. . . . This special faith, therefore, whereby each one beheves that his own sins are remitted to him for Christ's sake, and that God is reconciled and propitious through Christ, (is the faith that) attains remis- sion of sins, and (that) justifies." '^West. Con/. Faith," ch. 18, § 2. — "This certainly is not a bare con- jectiiral and probable persuasion, grounded upon a fallible hope, but an infallible assurance of faith, founded on (a) the divine truth of the prom- ises, {/>) the inward evidence of those graces to which the promises are made, and (c) the testimony of the Holy Spirit .... ^ 3. — This infal- lible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true AUTHORITATIVE STATEMENTS. 481 believer may wait long and conflict with many difiSculties before lie par- take thereof. . . Yet he may, without extraordinary revelation, in the right use of ordinary means attain thereto. And, therefore, it is the duty of every one to give all dihgence to make his calUng and election sure." Turretin, L. 15, Q. 10. — "The diversity (of expression) which occurs between the orthodox has arisen from a different usage of the word fiducia (confidence), which may be taken in three senses : 1. For confi- dent assent, or persuasion, which arises from the practical judgment of the understanding, concerning the truth and goodness of the evangelical promises, and concerning the power, willingness, and faithfulness of God promising. In which sense 7ZEi6f.ioyTJ (persuasion). Gal. v. 8, is used syn- onymously with it, and nXripocpopia (full assurance) is attributed to faith, Col. ii. 2, and Heb. x. 22. 2. For the act of fleeing to, and of receiving Christ, by which the believer, the truth and goodness of the promises being known, flees to Christ, receives and embraces him, and reclines alone on his merits. 3. For confidence, satisfaction, and tranquillity of mind, which arise from the refuge of the mind to Christ and reception of him. For he who firmly reclines on Christ and embraces him, can not fail to acquiesce in him securely, and to consider himself to have found and to have received that which he sought. In the first and second sense confi- dence {fiducia) is of the essence of faith, is rightly said by theologians to be its form; because, as afterwards proved against the Papists, it is a con- fidential (trusting) apprehension of Christ and of all the benefits ofi'ered in the word of the gospel. But in the third sense it is by others rightly said not to be iYieform, but the fruit, of faith; because it is born from it, but does not constitute it. 4-


Question: To  ivJiom  are  all  men  united  in  their  natural  estate  ?

Answer: To Adam. Our union with him includes, 1st, his federal headship under the covenant of works. — Rom. v. 12-19. 2d. His natural headship, as per force of ordinary generation, the source of our nature, and of its moral corruptions. — Gen. v. 3 ; 1 Cor. XV. 49. But the law upon which rested the covenant of works, whereby we were held in union with Adam, having been slain by Christ, "that being dead wherein we were held," we were "married to another," that is, to Christ. — Rom. vii. 1-4.


Question: What  is  the  general  nature  of  out  union  with  Christ?

Answer: It is a single, ineifable, and most intimate union, presenting to our view two different aspects, and giving rise to two dif- ferent classes of consequents. 1st. The first aspect of this union is its federal and repre- sentative character, whereby Christ, as the second Adam (1 Cor. XV. 22), assumes in the covenant of grace those broken obHgations of the covenant of works which the first Adam failed to discharge, and fulfils them all in behalf of all his " sheep," "they whom the Father has given him." The conse- quences which arise from our union with Christ under this aspect of it are such as the imputation of our sins to him, and of his righteousness to us, and all of the forensic benefits of justification and adoption, etc. — See Chaps. XXXI II., XXXIV. 2d. The second aspect of this union is its spiritual and vital character, the natvu'e and consequences of which it is our business to discuss under the present head.


Question: Whai  is  the  foundation  of  this  union?

Answer: (1.) The eternal purpose of the triune God, expressed in the ITS ESSENTIAL NATURE. 483 decree of election (we were chosen hi him before the foun- dation of the world. — Eph. i. 4), providing for its own fulfil- ment in the covenant of grace between the Father as God absolute, and the Son as Mediator. — John xvii. 2-Q; Gal. ii. 20; (2) in the incarnation of the Son, whereby he assumed fellowship with us in community of nature, and became our brother. — Heb. ii. 16, 17; and (3) in the mission and official work of the Spirit of Christ (1 John iv. 13), through the powerful operation of whom in the bodies and souls of his people the last Adam is made a quickening spirit (1 Cor. xv. 45), and they are all constituted the body of Christ and members in particular. 1 Cor. xii. 27. 4. By ivhat analogies drawn from, earthly relations is this union of believers ivith Christ illustrated in Scripture ? The technical designation of this union in theological lan- guage is "mystical," because it so far transcends all the anal- ogies of earthly relationships, in the intimacy of its communion, in the transforming power of its influence, and in the excellence of its consequences. Yet Holy Scripture illustrates different as- pects of this fountain of graces by many apt though partial analogies. As, 1st, foundation of a building and its superstructure. — 1 Pet. ii. 4, 6. 2d. Tree and its branches. — John xv. 5. 3d. Head and members of the body. — Eph. iv. 15, 16. 4th. Husband and wife. — Eph. V. 31, 32; Rev. xix. 7-9. 5th. Adam and his descendants, in both their federal and natural relations. — Rom. V. 12-19; 1 Cor. xv. 22, 49.


Question: What  is  the  essential  nature  of  this  union  ?

Answer: On the one hand, this union does not involve any mysterious confusion of the person of Christ with the persons of his people ; and, on the other hand, it is not such a mere association of separate persons as exists in human societies. But it is a union which, 1st, determines our legal status on the same basis with his. 2d. Which revives and sustains, by the influence of his indwelling Spirit, our spiritual life, from the fountain of his life, and which transforms our bodies and souls into the like- ness of his glorified humanity. It is, therefore — 1st. A spiritual union. Its actuating source and bond is the Spirit of the head, Avho dwells and Avorks in the members. 1 Cor. vi. 17; xii. 13; 1 John iii. 24; iv. 13. 2d. A vital union, i. e., our spiritual life is sustained and determined in its nature and movement by the life of Christ, through the indwelling of his Spirit. — John xiv. 19; Gal. ii. 20. 484 UNION OF BELIEVERS WITH CHRIST. 3d. It embraces our entire persons, onr bodies through our spirits. — 1 Cor. vi. 15, 19. 4th. It is a legal or federal union, so that all of our legal or covenant responsibilities rest upon Christ, and all of his legal or covenant merits accrue to us. 5th. It is an indissoluble union. — John x. 28; Eom. viii. 35, 37 ; 1 Thess. iv. 14, 17. 6th. This union is between the believer and the person of the God-man in his office as Mediator. Its immediate organ is the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, and through him we are virtually united to and commune with the whole Godhead, since he is the Spirit of the Father as well as of the Son. — John xiv. 23; xvii. 21, 23. 6. How is this union between Christ and the Christian estab- lished ? It was established in the purpose and decree of God, and in the Covenant of the Father with the Son from eternity. — Eph. i. 4; John xvii. 2, 6. Nevertheless, the elect, as to personal character and present relations, before their effectual calling by the Spirit, are born and continued "by nature children of wrath even as others," and " strangers to the covenants of promise." Eph. ii. 3, 12. In God's appointed time, with each individual of his chosen, this union is established mutually — 1st. By the commencement of the effectual and permanent workings of the Holy Spirit within them (they are quickened together with Christ) ; in the act of the new birth opening the eyes and renew- ing the will, and thus laying in their natures the foundation of the exercise of saving faith. 2d. Which faith is the second bond by which this mutual union is established, by the con- tinued actings of which their fellowship with Christ is sus- tained, and its blessed consequences developed. — Eph. iii. 17. Thus we "come to him," "receive him," "eat of his flesh and drink of his blood," etc.


Question: What  are  the  consequences  of  this  union  to  the  believer  ?

Answer: 1st. They have a community with him in his covenant standing, and rights. Forensically they are rendered "com- plete in him." His righteousness and his Father is theirs. They receive the adoption in him, and are accepted as to both their persons and services in the beloved. They are sealed by his Holy Spirit of promise; in him obtain an inheritance; sit with him on his throne and behold his glory. — Rom. viii. 1 ; Col. ii. 10; Eph. i. 6, 11, 13; Phil. iii. 8, 9. As Mediator, Jesus is " the Christ," the anointed one, and the believer is the Christian, or receiver of "the unction." — Acts THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. 485 xi. 26; 1 John ii. 20. His mediatorial office embraces three principal functions — (1.) That of prophet, and in fellowship with him the believer is a prophet. — John xvi. 13; 1 John ii. 27. (2.) That of priest, and the believer also is a priest in him. Isa. Ixi. 6; 1 Pet. ii. 5; Rev. xx. 6. (3.) That of king, and in him the believer is a king. — 1 Pet. ii. 9; Rev. iii. 21; v. 10. 2d. The}'^ have fellowship with him in the transforming, assimilating power of his life, making them like him; every grace of Jesus reproducing itself in them; "of his fulness we have all received, and grace for grace." This holds true, (1) with regard to our souls, Rom. viii. 9; Phil. ii. 5; 1 John iii. 2 ; (2) with regard to our bodies, causing them to be now the temples of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. vi. 17, 19; and his resur- rection to be the cause of ours, and his glorified body to be the type of ours. — Rom. vi. 5; 1 Cor. xv. 47, 49; Phil. iii. 21. And thus believers are made to bear fruit in Christ, both in their bodies and spirits, which are his. — John xv. 5; 2 Cor. xii. 9; 1 John i. 6. 3d. This leads to their fellowship with Christ in their expe- rience, in their labors, sufferings, temptations, and death. — Gal. vi. 17; Phil. iii. 10; Heb. xii. 3; 1 Pet. iv. 13. Thus rendering sacred and glorious even our earthly life. 4th. Also to Christ's rightful fellowship with them in all they possess. — Prov. xix. 17; Rom. xiv. 8; 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. 5th. Also to the consequence that, in the spiritual reception of the holy sacraments, they do really hold fellowship with him. They are " baptized into Christ." — Gal. iii. 27. " The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ; the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ," — 1 Cor. x. 16; xi. 26; John vi. 51-56. 6th. This leads. also to the fellowship of believers with one another through him, that is, to the communion of saints. 8. What is tJw nature of that " communion of saints " which springs from tJw union of each saint with the Lord? See " Confession of Faith," Chapter xxvi. Believers being all united to one head are, of course, through him mutually related in the same community of spirit, life, status, and cove- nanted privileges with one another. This involves upon the part of all believers — Ist. Reciprocal obligations and offices according to the spe- cial grace vouchsafed to each. Like the several organs of the body all have part in the same genei-al life, yet each has his own individual difference of qualification, and consequently of 486 UNION OF BELIEVERS WITH CHRIST. duty; "for the body is not one member but many." — 1 Cor. xii. 4-21; Eph. iv. 11-13. 2d. They have fellowsliip in each other's gifts and comple- mentary graces, each contributing his special loveliness to the beauty of the whole. — Eph. iv. 15, 16. ■ 3d. These reciprocal duties have respect to the bodies and temporal interests of the brethren, as well as to those which concern the soul. — Gal. ii. 10; 1 John iii. 16-18. 4th. They have fellowship in faith and doctrine. — Acts ii. 42 ; Gal. ii. 9. 5th. In mutual respect and subordination. — Eom. xii. 10; Eph. V. 21 ; Heb. xiii. 17. 6th. In mutual love and sympathy. — Rom. xii. 10; 1 Cor. xii. 26. 7th. This fellowship exists unbroken between believers on earth and in heaven. There is one " whole family in heaven and on earth." — Eph. iii. 15. 8th. In glory this communion of saints shall be perfected, when there is "one fold and one shepherd," when all saints shall be one as Father and Son are one. — John x. 16; xvii. 22.


Question: What  is  saving  repentance  ?

Answer: See "Con. Faith," Chap, xv.; "Larger Cat," Q. 76; "Shorter Cat.," Q. 87. It includes — 1st. A sense of personal guilt, pollution, and helplessness. 2d. An apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. 3d. Grief and hatred of sin, a resolute turning from it unto God, and a persistent endeavor after a new life of holy obedience. 3. Prove that repentance is a grace or gift of God. 1st. This is evident from the nature of repentance itself It includes, (1) sense of the hatefulness of sin, (2) sense of the beauty of holiness, (3) apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. It, therefore, presupposes faith, which is God's gift. Gal. V. 22; Eph. ii. 8. 2d. The Scriptures expressly affirm it. — Zech. xii. 10; Acts V. 31 ; xi. 18 ; 2 Tim. ii. 25. 4. What is the nature of that sense of sin ivhich is an essential element of repentance ? That spiritual illumination and renewal of the affections 488 REPENTAXCE— ROMISH DOCTRINE OF PENANCE. which is effected in regeneration, brings the believer to see and appreciate the hohness of God as revealed alike in the law and the gospel, Rom. iii. 20; Job xlii. 6, and in that light to see and feel also the exceeding sinfulness of all sin, and the utter sinfulness of his own nature just as it is in truth. This sense of sin, thus corresponding to the facts of the case, includes, 1st, consciousness of guilt, i. e., exposure to righteous punish- ment, as opposed to the justice of God. — Ps. li. 4, 9. 2d. Con- sciousness of pollution as opposed to the holiness of God, Ps. li. 5, 7, 10; and, 3d, consciousness of helplessness. — Ps. li. 11; cix. 22. See " Way of Life."


Question: What  are  the  fruits  and  evidences  of  this  seme  of  sin  ?

Answer: A sense of guilt, especially when coupled with a sense of helplessness, will naturally excite apprehension of danger. This painful feeling is experienced in infinitely various degrees and modifications, as determined by natural temperament, educa- tion, and the special dealings of the Holy Spirit. These legal fears, however, are common both to false and to true repent- ance, and possess no sanctifying influence. A sense of pollution leads to shame when we think of God, and to self-loathing when we think of ourselves. Confession of sin, both in private to God and before men, is a natural and indispensable mode in which this sense of sin will give genuine expression to itself — Ps. xxxii. 5, 6; Pro v. xxviii. 13; James v. 16; 1 John i. 9. The only indubitable test of the genuineness of such a sense of sin, however, is an earnest and abiding desire and endeavor to be delivered from it. 6. Shoiv that an appreJiension of tJie mercy of God in Christ is essential to repentance. 1st. The awakened conscience echoes God's law, and can be appeased by no less a propitiation than that demanded by di- vine justice itself, and until this is realized in a believing ap- plication to Christ, either indifference must stupefy, or remorse must torment the soul. 2d. Out of Christ God is a consuming fire, and an inextin- guishable dread drives the soiil away. — Deut. iv. 24 ; Heb. xii. 29. 3d. A sense of the amazing goodness of God to us in the gift of his Son, and of our ungrateful requital of it, is necessary to excite in the repentant soul the proper sliame and sorrow for sin as committed against God. — Ps. li. 4. 4th. This is proved by the teachings and examples furnished in Scripture. — Ps. li. 1 ; cxxx. 4, EVIDENCES OF GENUINE REPENTANCE. 489 7. What is the nature of that " turning unto God " ivhich con- stitutes the essence of genuine repentance ? It is a voluntary forsaking of sin as evil and hateful, with sincere sorrow, humiliation, and confession; and a returning unto God, because he has a right to us, and because he is mer- ciful and willing to forgive, together with a determination to live, by the help of his grace, in obedience to his commandments.


Question: What  are  the  evidences  of  genuine  repentance  ?

Answer: 1st. The agreement of our own internal experience with the teachings of the word of God on this subject. This is to be de- termined by the prayerful study of the Scriptures in connection with self-examination. 2d. The permanent effects realized in the life. These are the hatred and forsaking of secret as well as of open sins, the choice of God's service as both riglit and desirable, public confession, and entire practical consecration. "These things must be in us and abound." — 2 Cor. vii. 11. 9. What are the relations ivhich the ideas represented by the terms ^\faith" ^^ repentance,'^ ^^regeneration" and ^'•conversion" mu- tually sustain to one anotlier ? Regeneration is the ineffable act of God implanting a new nature. The terra conversion is used generally to express the first exercises of that new nature in ceasing from the old life and commencing the new. Faith designates the primary act of the new nature, and also that permanent state or habit of mind which continues the essential condition of all other graces. It is the spiritual apprehension of the truth by the mind, and the loyal embrace of the truth by the will, without Avhicli there can be neither love, hope, peace, joy, nor repentance. The com- mon sense attached to the word repentance is ver}^ similar to that attached to the word conversion, but it differs from it as to its usage in two particulars — 1st. Conversion is the more gen- eral term, and is used to include the first exercises of faith, as well as all those expex'iences of love, of holiness, and hatred of sin, etc., which are consequent upon it. Repentance is more specific, and expresses that hatred and renunciation of sin, and that turning unto God, which accompanies faith as its conse- quent. 2d. Conversion is generally used to designate only the first actings of the new nature at the commencement of a re- ligious life, or at most the first steps of a return to God after a notable backsliding. — Luke xxii. 32. While repentance is ap- plied to that constant bearing of the cross which is one main characteristic of the believer's life on earth. — Ps. xix. 12, 13; Luke ix. 23; Gal. vi. 14; v. 24 490 REPENTANCE — ROMISH DOCTRINE OF PENANCE. 10. Wliat doctrine concerning repentarwe ivas taught by many of the Reformers ? Some of them defined repentance as consisting, 1st, of mor- tification, or dying unto sin; and, 2d, of vivification, or living unto God. This corresponds to our view of sanctification. The Lutherans make repentance to consist in, 1st, contrition, or sor- row for sin; and, 2d, in faith in the gospel, or absolution. — "Augsburg Conf," Art 12. This, although a peculiar phrase- ology, is the true view.


Question: What  is  the  Romish  doctrine  of  Penance  ?

Answer: In their scheme of salvation the true analogy to the Prot- estant doctrine of justification is not to be found in the liomish doctrine of justification (so called), but in their doctrine of penance. By justification Protestants understand a change of relation to the divine law, from condemnation to favor with our Judge and King, on the ground of the satisfaction rendered by Christ. B}^ "justification " Romanists mean " not remission of sin merely, but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man, through the voluntary reception of the grace and of the gifts whereby man of unjust becomes just, and of an enemy a friend." "For although no one can be just, but he to whom the merits of the passion of Christ, of our Lord Jesus Christ, are communicated, yet is this done in the said justifica- tion of the impious, when by the merit of that same most holy passion, the charity of God is poured forth by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of those that are justified, and is inherent therein." ^'■Gonc. Trent" Sess. 6, ch. 7. This is effected by baptism, and in all its stages presupposes the satisfaction and merit of Christ. His satisfaction atones for all sins committed before baptism, and for the eternal punishment of all sins of the baptized. His merits secure prevenient grace, baptismal regeneration, and are the basis on which the gracious obedience and the temporal sufferings of the believer merit forgiveness of sins and continu- ance, restoration, and increase of grace, and the rewards of heaven. Having been thus justified and made friends of God, they advance from virtue to virtue, and are renewed from day to day through the observance of the commandments of God and of the Church, Avhich good works truly merit and receive, as a just reward, increase of grace and more and more perfect justi- fication (sanctification). The Christian man^Jirst justification, effected in baptism, was for Christ's sake without co-operation of his own merit, though by co-operation of his own will (if adult). His continued and mo'easmr/ justification (sanctification) DOCTRINE OF PENANCE. 491 is for Christ's sake throngb and in proportion to his own merit, which merit increases in proportion (a) to his holiness, (i) to his obedience to moral and ecclesiastical rules. — "Cone. Trent," Sess. 6, ch. 10, and can. 32. In case of those who have by sin fallen from the received grace of "justification," the grace lost is, through the merits of Christ, restored by the Sacrament of Penance, provided as a second plank, after the shipwreck of grace lost. This penance includes (1) sorrow for sin, (2) confession of those sins, (3) sacer- dotal absolution, (4) satisfaction rendered (a) in this world by fasts, alms, prayers, etc., and (&) after death by the fires of purgatory. They distinguish penance — 1st. As a virtue, equivalent to the Protestant doctrine of the grace of repentance. 2d. As a sacrament. Penance, as a virtue, is internal, or a change of mind, including sorrow for sin and turning unto God. External penance, or the outward expression of the internal state, is that which constitutes the Sacrament of Penance. The matter of this sacrament is constituted by the acts of the penitent in the way of contrition, of confession, and of satisfaction. Contrition is sorrow and detestation of past sins, with a purpose of sinning no more. Confession is sell-accusation to a priest having juris- diction and the power of the keys. Satisfaction is some painful work imposed by the priest, and performed by the penitent to satisfy justice for sins committed. These effect (a) the expia- tion of the guilt of past sins, and (6) the discipline and in- crease of the spiritual life of the soul. The form of the sac- rament is the absolution pronounced judicially, and not merely declaratively, by the priest. They hold " that it is only by means of this sacrament that sins committed after baptism can be for- given."—"Cat. Rom.," Part II., Chap. V., Qu. 12 and 13; "Cone. Trent," Sess. G, chs. 14-lG; Sess. 14, chs. 1-9; Sess. 6, can. 30.


Question: Hoiv  may  it  he  proved  that  it  is  not  a  sacrament?

Answer: 1st. It was not instituted by Christ. The Scriptures teach nothing concerning it. 2d. It is an essential consequent of the false theory of baptismal regeneration. 3d. It does not either signify, seal, or convey the benefits of Christ and the new covenant. — See below, Chap. XLL, Questions 2-5.


Question: What  is  their  doctrine  concerning  confession  ?

Answer: Confession is self-accusation to a priest having jurisdiction and the power of the keys. All sins must be confessed without reserve, and in all their details and qualifying circumstances. If any mortal sin is not confessed, it is not pardoned, and if 492 REPENTANCE— ROMISH DOCTRINE OF PENANCE. the omission is wilful, it is sacrilege, and greater guilt is in- curred.—" Cat. Rom.," Pt. II., Chap. V., Qu. 33, 34 and 42. 14. What are the Protestant arguments against auricular con- fession ? 1st. It has no Avarrant in Scripture. The command is to "confess one to another." 2d. It perverts the whole plan of salvation, by making necessary the mediation of the priest between the Christian and Christ, wliich has been refuted above, Chap. XXIV., Ques- tions 8 and 21. 3d. We are commanded to confess to God immediately. ]\Iatt. xi. 28 ; 1 Tim. ii. 5 ; 1 John i. 9. 4th. The practical results of this system have always been evil, and this gross invasion of all the sacred rights of person- ality is revolting to every refined soul. 15. What is the nature of that absolution which the Romish priests claim the poiver to grant ? It absolves judicially, not merely declaratively, from all the penal consequences of the sins confessed by the authority of Jesus Christ. They appeal to Matt. xvi. 19; xviii. 18; John XX. 22, 23. "Cat. Rom.," Part II., Chap. V., Qu. 13 and 17; "Council of Trent," Sess. 14, De Poenitentia, can. 9. 16. What are the arguments against the possession, upon the part of the Christian 7ninistry, of such a poiver to absolve ? 1st. The Christian ministry is not a priesthood. — See above, Chap. XXIV., Question 21. 2d. But even if it were, the conclusion which the Papists draw from it would not follow. Absolution is a sovereign, not a priestly act. This is plain, from the definition of the priest- hood given (Heb. v. 1-6), from the Levitical practice, and from the very nature of the act itself 3d. The grant of the power of the kej^s, whatever it was, was not made to the ministry as such, for in Matt, xviii. 1-18, Christ was addressing the body of the disciples, and the prim- itive ministers never either claimed or exercised the power in question. 4th. The power of absolute forgiveness is incommunicable in itself, and was not granted as a matter of fact ; the words in (juestion will not bear that sense, and were not so understood. Tlie practice of the apostles shows that their understanding of the words was that they conveyed merely the power of declar- ing the conditions on which God would pardon sin, and in THE DOCTRLYE OF INDULGENCES. 493 accordance with that declaration, of admitting or excluding men from sealing ordinances. 5th. This one false principle makes Christ of none effect, and perverts the whole gospel. — " Bib. Rep.," Jan., 1845. 17. What is the Romish doctrine concerning satisfaction as a part of penance? By satisfaction is meant such works as are enjoined by the priest upon confession, which being set over against the sins confessed, for which contrition has been professed, are supposed to constitute a compensation for the breach of God's law, and in consideration of which the sins are forgiven. — " Cat. Rom.," Part II., Chap. V., Qu. 52 and 53. "Council of Trent," Sess. XIV., " De Poenitentia," Chs. I-IX.


Question: What  are  the  objections  to  that  doctrine?

Answer: 1st. It is not supported by any Scriptural authority. 2d. It does dishonor to the one perfect satisfaction offered by our High Priest once for all. — Heb. x. 10-14. 3d. The distinc- tion they make between the temporal and eternal punishments of sin is unauthorized. The penalty of sin is the judicial wrath of God — while that lasts there is no peace. When that is pro- pitiated there is no more condemnation (Rom. viii. 1). The temporal sufferings of believers in Christ are chastisements, not punishments, nor satisfactions. 4th. The pretended " satisfac- tions" are either commanded or not. If commanded, they are simple duties. Their performance can have no merit. The performance of one duty can never "satisfy" for the neglect or violation of another. If not commanded, they are a form of will-worship which God abhors. — Col. ii. 20-23.


Question: What  is  the  Papal  doctrine  of  Indulgences?

Answer: The Papal doctrine of Indulgences — 1st. Rests upon the same principles with their doctrine of Penance. (1.) The distinction between the eternal and the temporal penalties demanded for the satisfactions for sins. (2.) The superabundant merit ac- quired b}' and belonging to the Head of the Church and his members (Christ, the Virgin INIary, and the saints), which con- stitute a Treasury of Merit, disposable at the discretion of com- petent authority to the relief ot any repentant believer not m mortal sin. (3.) The dispensing power of the church, whereby a church officer possessing competent jurisdiction has authority to dispense in behalf of God and of the church any or all tem- poral satisfactions due from the penitent, either on earth or in purgatory, not as yet discharged by him personally. 2d. These indulgences are to be granted for "reasonable 494 REPENTANCE— ROMISH DOCTRINE OF PENANCE. causes," i. e., "the cause must be pious, that is, not a work wliich is merely temporal, or vain, or in no respect appertain- ing to the divine glory, but any work whatsoever Avhich tends to the honor of God, or the service of the church." They " do not depend for their efficacy on consideration of the work en- joined, but on the infinite treasure of the merits of Christ and the saints." These "causes" are payments of money for pious purposes, special prayers, visit to certain shrines, etc., etc. ^d. Indulgences are of various kinds. (1.) General for the whole church, granted only by the pope himself, to all the faitiiful thi'oughout the world ; or particular, granted by due authority to certain persons. (2.) They may be 'plenary., granting remis- sion from cdl temporal punishments in this world and in purga- tory; or 'partial., remitting only some part of the penalty due. (3.) They may be temporanj, for a specified number of days or months. (4.) Perpetual, without any limitation of time. ^5.) Local, attached to certain churches or other places. (6.) Real., attached to certain movable things as rosaries, medals, etc. (7.) Personal, granted to particular persons, or communities. — See M'Glintock and Strong's " Encyclopgedia," and below, the " Counc. of Trent," etc. AUTHOKITATIYE STATEMENTS. "Counc. Trent," Sess. 14, cli. 1. — "But the Lord tlien principally in- stituted tlie Sacrament of Penance, when being raised from the dead, he breathed upon his disciples saying, ' Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins ye retain, they are retained.' By which action so signal, and words so clear, the consent of aU the Fathers has ever understood, that the power of for - ghnnrj and retaining sins was communicated to the apostles and their lawful successors, for the reconciling of the faithful who have fallen after baptism." lb., eh. 3. — "The holy synod doth furthermore teach, (1) that the FOEM of the Sacrament of Penance, wherein its force principally con- sists, is placed in those words of the minister, ' I absolve thee, etc. ' . . . . But (2) the acts of the penitent himself, to wit, contrition, confession, and satisfaction , are as it were the matter of this sacrament, which acts, inasmuch as they are, by God's institution, required in the penitent for the integrity of the sacrament, and for the full and perfect remission of sins, are for this reason called the parts of penance. But (3) the thing signified indeed, and the effect of this sacrament, as far as re- gards its force and efficacy, is reconciliation \vith God." lb., eh. 'k.— "Contrition, which holds the first place amongst the afore- said acts of the penitent, is a sorrow of mind, and a detestation for sin committed, with the purpose of not sinning for the future. " lb., ch. 5. — "All mortal sins of which, after a diligent examination of themselves, they are conscious, must needs be by penitents enume- rated in confession, even though those sins be most hidden, and com- mitted only against the two last precepts of the decalogue. . . Venial sins, whereby we are not excluded from the grace of God, and into which we fall more frequently, although they be rightly and larofitably and with- A UTHORITA TIVE ST A TEMENTS. 495 out presumption declared in confession, yet they may be omitted witliout guilt, and be expiated by many other remedies Other sins (mortal) which do not occur to him (the penitent) after diligent thought, are understood to be included as a whole in that same confession ; for which sins we confidently say with the prophet. ' From my secret sins cleanse me, O Lord.'" Ih., ch. 6. — "It also teaches, that even priests, who are in mortal sin, exercise through the virtue of the Holy Ghost, which God has bestowed in ordination, the office of forgiving sins. . . . But although the absolution of the priest is the disjjensation of another's bounty, yet it is not a bare ministry only, or declarative act, but of the nature of a judicial act, whereby sentence is pronounced by the priest as by a judge. . . Neither would faith without penance bestow any remission of sins; nor would he be otherwise than most careless of his own salvation, who knowing that a priest but absolved him in jest, should not carefully seek for another who would act in earnest." lb., ch. 8. — "Finally, as regards Satisfaction, which as it is, of all the parts of Penance, that which has been at all times recommended to the Christian people by our Fathers. Ch. 9. — We are able through Jesus Christ to make satisfaction to God the Father, not only by pains volun- tarily undertaken by ourselves for the punishment of sin, or by those imposed at the discretion of the priest according to the measure of our delinquency,— but also, which is a very great proof of love, by the tem- poral scourges inflicted of God and borne patiently by us. " "Counc. Trent," Sess. 6, Can. 29. — "If any one saith, that he, who has fallen after baptism, is not able by the grace of God to rise again ; or that he is able indeed to recover the justice which he has lost, but by faith alone without the sacrament of penance Let him be accursed. Can. 30. — If any one saith that after the grace of Justifi- cation (sanctification) has been received, to every penitent sinner the guilt is remitted, and the debt of eternal punishment is blotted out in such wise, that there remains not any debt of temporal punishment to be discharged either in this world, or in the next in Purgatory, before entrance to the kingdom of heaven can be opened (to him); Let him be accursed." Inditlgences. — "Cone. 7Ve?i<," Sess. 25, "De Indulgentiis." Pope Leo X., "Brill De Indulgentiis" (1518). — "That no one in future may allege ignorance of the doctrine of the Eoman Church respecting indulgences and their efficacy . . . the Roman pontifi", vicar of Christ on earth, can, for reasonable causes, by the powers of the keys, grant to the faithful, whether in this life or in Purgatory, indulgences, out of the superabundance of the merits of Christ, and of the saints (expressly called a treasure) ; and that those who have truly obtained those indul- gences are released from so much of the temporal punishment due for their actual sins to the divine justice as is equivalent to the indulgence granted and obtained."


Question: Eoio  can  James  ii.  14-26,  he  reconciled  with  this  doctrine?

Answer: James is not speaking of the meritorious ground of justifi- cation, but of the relation which good works sustain to a gen- 500 JUSTIFICATION. nine faith as its fruit and evidence. The meritorious ground of justification is the righteousness of Christ. — Eom. x. 4; 1 Cor. i. 30. Faith is the essential prerequisite and instrument of receiving that righteousness. — Eph. ii. 8. James, in the jDassage cited, simply declares and argues the truth that the faith which is thus the instrumental cause of justification, is never a dead, but always a living and fruitful principle. Paul teaches the same truth often, " Faith works by love," Gal. V. 6, and "love is the fulfilling of the law," Eom. xiii. 10. 12. Wliai do the Scriptures declare to he the true and only ground of justification ? Justification is a declaration on the part of the infinitely wise and holy God that the law is satisfied. The law is, like its Author, absolutely unchangeable, and can be satisfied by nothing else than an absolutely perfect righteousness, at once fulfilling the precept, and suffering the penalty. This was rendered by Christ as our representative, and his perfect right- eousness, as imputed to us, is the sole and strictly legal ground of our justification. Thus he is made for us the end of the law for righteousness, and we are made the righteousness of God in him. — Rom. iii. 24; v. 9, 19; viii. 1; x. 4; 1 Cor. i. 30; vi. 11; 2 Cor. v. 21; Phil. iii. 9. 13. How can it he 'proved that Christ's active ohedience to the precepts of the law is included in that righteotisness hy ivkich ive are justified? 1st. The condition of the covenant of works was perfect obedience. This covenant having failed in the hands of the first Adam must be fulfilled in the hands of the second Adam, since in the covenant of grace Christ assumed all of the undis- charged obligations of his people under the covenant of works. His suffering discharges the penalty, but only his active obe- dience fulfills the condition. 2d. All the promises of salvation are attached to obedience, not to suffering. — Matt. xix. 16, 17; Gal. iii. 12. 3d. Christ came to fulfil the whole law. — Is. xlii. 21; Rom. iii. 31 ; 1 Cor. i. 30. 4th. The obedience of Christ is expressly contrasted with the disobedience of Adam. — Rom. v. 19.


Question: Hoiv  may  it  he  shown  that  Christ^  s  ohedience  was  free?

Answer: Although Christ was made under the law by being born of the woman, and rendered obedience to that law in the exercises of his created human nature, yet he did not owe that obedience IMPUTATION OF CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS. 501 for himself, but rendered it freely that its merits might be im- puted to his people, because the claims of law terminate not upon nature, but upon persons; and he was always a divine person. As he suffered, the just for the unjust, so he obeyed, the Lawgiver in the place of the law-subject.