Baptism, God has cleansed us from dead works, or from that stain which we contracted by generation. The imputation of the guilt of original sin, and the consequent liability to condemnation, are removed by regeneration, or being born of water and of the Spirit in the sacrament of Baptism, for "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." All therefore who have been baptized unto Christ have put on Christ; and are thus bom of the Spirit, and are no longer at enmity with God, nor aliens, but sons and heirs, and "the very members incorporate in the mystical body of Christ;" and are enabled by his grace and assistance to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit in good works. Although we are bound to be ever striving after perfection, yet we are not perfect; for "this infection of nature doth remain, yea in them that are regenerate, whereby the lust of the flesh is not subject to the law of God. And although there is no condemnation 2 for them that believe and are baptized, yet the apostle doth confess that concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature of sin." 993 The Church of England prays for grace to cast away the works of darkness or of the flesh, and acknowledges that through our sins and wickedness we are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us. And although the element of water in Baptism is sanctified to the mystical washing away of sin; yet "after we have received the Holy Ghost (in Baptism,) we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and by the grace of God we may arise again, and amend our lives." The Church of England therefore teaches that, although made alive in Christ, yet "the infection of nature," the old Adam, still remains, and we require to be daily renewed by the Holy Spirit, that we may be enabled to walk in the ways of his laws, and in the works of his commandments. But on the contrary the Church of Rome teaches that the laver of regeneration in Baptism, totally extirpates original sin on this point she decreed at Trent: "If any one denies that the guilt of original sin is remitted by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is conferred in Baptism; or asserts that the whole of that which has the nature of sin is not taken away, but that it is only scraped over or not imputed; let him be accursed."5 That original sin is entirely taken away at Baptism is not the doctrine of scripture, nor of the English Church; but it is altogether the particuliar doctrine "defined and declared in the holy council of Trent," and is therefore only the peculiar dogma of a sect. The sacred epistles were addressed to baptized Christians, yet they all exhort us in the strongest manner to avoid that concupiscence and lust which our article says Whath of itself the nature of sin." Bishop Burnet says "there is no reason to think that Baptism takes away all the branches and effects of original sin: it is enough if we are delivered from the wrath of God, and brought into a state of favour and acceptation: we are freed from the curse of death by our being entitled to a blessed resurrection; and if we are so far freed from the corruption of our nature as to have a federal right to such assistance as will enable us to resist and redress it, though it is not quite extinct in us, so long as we live in these frail and mortal bodies, here are very great effects of our admission to Christianity by Baptism, though 4 Article xvi. 3 Rom. vi. 6-8; Col. iii. 5; 1 Thess. iv. 5; Article ix. this should not go so far as to root all inclination to evil out of our nature." In the former article, the Anglican and Roman Churches differ only in the effect of the sacrament of Baptism on original sin but the difference in the article of justification is more essential. The doctrine of the Church of England is "We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, and not for our own works or deservings." "1 The chief objection to the decrees of Trent on the article of justification is the doctrine of human merit, in which the two churches are diametrically opposed. "If any shall say that the good works of a justified person are in such ways the gifts of God that they are not also the good deserts of the justified person himself; or that a justified person does not truly deserve an increase of grace and life eternal, and the attaining eternal life, provided he departs in a state of grace, and even an increase of glory by the good works, which are wrought by the grace of God, and the merits of Jesus Christ, of whom he is a living member: let him be accursed." 2 Justification is the free gift of God by grace,3 on account of the merits only of Jesus Christ, and without any deserving of our own. It includes a remission of original and actual sin, a reconciliation and acceptance with God, whereby man is restored to the enjoyment of that divine favour, which was forfeited by Adam's transgression, and he is accounted righteous or just, although in fact he be guilty, even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. It is God who justifies and accepts those, as if they were righteous, who are subject to sin and condemnation, and who can neither wash out the hereditary stain which defiles their nature, nor atone for their actual transgressions by any works or merits of their own. The grace of justification is conferred in the sacrament of Baptism, when, by the growth and power of sanctification, the Christian life begun in peace with God is continually strengthened and supported "till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. We receive justification through faith, by such a belief in the nature, power, and merits of the second Adam, as works by love, and leads us through grace from faith to faith-from faith believing to faith obeying; and which God is graciously pleased to reckon as good works, though they are very far from being perfect. Or, as Mr. Newman has well expressed it, "Justification comes through the sacraments; is received by faith, consists in God's inward presence, and lives in obedience." 8 In the Roman canon, the "good deserts of the justified person himself" is made the cause of justification without respect to the merits of Christ, which is inconsistent with our Saviour's words, which certainly imply an obligation irrespective of merit-" So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say we are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." 1 Article xi. 2 Canon. xxxii.; Sess. vi. Roman Schism, p. 211. Our 3 Rom. iii. 24. 4 1 Rom. vi. 22, 23; viii. 28-30; 2 Cor. v. 19; Col. ii. 13. 5 Gal. iii. 6; James ii. 23. 6 Titus, iii. 5-7; Acts, xxii. 16. 7 Eph. iv. 13. 9 Luke, xvii. 10. 8 Rom. i. 17. best works are full of sin and imperfection, and at best are more worthy of punishment than of reward; and it is of His infinite mercy only that they are accepted. The best of men may with truth acknowledge, with the prophet, that "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf." Although God has graciously given those who do his commandments a right to the tree of life; yet it is entirely through the merits of Christ, who redeemed us with his own blood, and we ought therefore to look only unto him, who is the author and finisher of our faith. Our own merits, whether in faith or works, are small indeed: "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.3 God extends his grace freely to us, and which of itself implies our unworthiness, not on account of our merits, but solely on account of the merits of Christ, according to his gracious purpose; for "unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Without Christ we can do no good thing, and we cannot think a good thought without his grace assisting us both to will and to do. Faith is the condition, but not the cause, of our justification; but even our faith is not meritorious, inasmuch as it is the gift of God; "for by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God."5 The Roman doctrine of merit, and also the bold assertion of that Church, "that God hates nothing in those who are born again," naturally follows the dogma of the total extirpation of original sin; and is a striking resemblance to the Calvinistic tenet, that God sees no sin in the elect. This is a delusion of Satan, which both parties may find to be fallacious, when it will be too late to remedy the evil, and to whom the words of the apostle might convey some edifying instruction—"let him who thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall! LUTHER AND HIS TIMES." In all ages of the Christian Church, from the period of the great apostacy, there were, amidst a crooked and perverse generation, a few humble and holy Christians who stood fast in the faith of Jesus Christ. There were also two witnesses, who are represented by St. John as "two olive trees" and two candlesticks," that is, two churches-for an olive tree and a candlestick are alike symbols of a Church--who were to prophesy in sackcloth during the whole time of the apostacy; that is, they were to be persecuted during all that time. This time of persecution, or darkness, has been called the "dark ages," or "the night of time," during which many corruptions arose in the church, and which had almost obliterated the doctrines of Christianity. Among others, the practice of Indulgences, or of commuting sins, whether past or to come, that is, of commission or 2 Rev. xxii. 14. 5 Eph. ii. 8. 1 Isaiah, lxiv. 6. 7 Standard American Literature. By the Living," &c. Green.-Medium 8vo, pp. 80. 3 Titus, iii. 5. * Eph. iv. 7. 6 Sess. v. Authoress of "Three Experiments of In intention, for money or money's worth, which first began about the year 1190, and was a consequence of auricular confession and penance. the good providence of God an unusually extensive and indecent sale of Indulgences was the immediate cause of the Reformation; and the jealousy of the Augustinian monks, that the Dominican order should have the privilege exclusively granted to them, produced that opposition which ended in the fall of the tenth part of the symbolical city, or the Roman Church: Rev. xi. 13. By the same providential disposition of God, the art of making paper and of printing had been discovered a short time before, by which means the Holy Scriptures were multiplied, and the doctrines of the Cross were circulated more securely and effectually than by oral preaching. We now propose to give some account of Luther and his times, and the following account of his birth and early years is extracted from an American work which has been reprinted in England: His A poor miner, who wrought in the mines of Mansfeldt, and lived at Eisenach, took a journey to Eisleben, to attend the annual fair. wife was too desirous to accompany him to be denied; and, on the night they arrived, she gave birth to a son. He was born on the 10th of November, in the year 1483, on the eve of St. Martin's day; and from this circumstance his parents named him Martin. The father strove to educate his son in virtuous habits; and, according to the spirit of the age, considered strict discipline a powerful aid to good conduct; to this the young Martin was early subjected. As he grew older, he was placed in an institution at Eisenach, where he had access to the learning there taught; but was unprovided with funds, and had not money to procure food. In company with several other students, as poor as himself, he endeavoured to procure bread by singing at the doors of wealthy houses. On these occasions he sometimes sang his own compositions, at others the favourite ditties of the day; sometimes he chanted forth the sufferings of the martyrs. All this he called bread music. It does not seem to have had the power "to soothe the savage breast;" for he was often taunted and reproached, accused of idleness and evil designs, and driven away by menials, though the only reward he asked for his musical exertion was a piece of bread. On one of those days, when his very soul was filled with shame and indignation for the hard language he received, he wandered to the humble dwelling of Conrad Cotta; and, throwing himself on a seat before it, overshadowed by ancient trees, he relieved his overburdened heart by low plaintive music. Whether moved by the melody of song, or the tenderness of a woman's soul, Luisa Cotta, the wife of Conrad, hastened to the door and invited him to enter. She then placed before him the simple fare her humble habitation afforded, bread and honey, with milk from the mountain goat. The honest ardent gratitude of the youth, with his simple story, won not only her confidence, but her affection. She invited him to come every day and get his meals. He soon equally interested the husband, and they both continued their friendship to him. Many years after, when all Europe rung with the name of the Reformer, they remembered that the poor hungry boy they fed was Martin Luther. In the year 1501 a thin pale youth stood at the gate of the University at Erfurt, and petitioned for entrance. When asked if he was qualified to make such a request, he replied' He who prays as he ought has already finished half his labours and his studies.' This too was Martin Luther; but he did not now come unprovided with credentials; he brought undoubted testimony of his morals and good conduct, and was received with cordiality. Luther passed many hours in the library at Erfurt. He had always considered books as his best companions. While hunting for an old book in one of the alcoves, he took down an antiquated volume, which he opened. It was the Bible; he had never seen one, and thought the whole of it was contained in the portions that he heard read on Sundays. Even the learned then were unacquainted with the book that has since been almost the first put into the young scholar's hands. In the year 1505 he was made master of arts. I do not consider,' he wrote, the honour as any thing extraordinary; but it is a bond upon me, by unceasing study, not to put the German masters to shame through my ignorance.' He at first intended to study law, as his father had expressed an earnest desire that he should; and he actually began the study, but a singular circumstance changed his purpose. He was in the habit of walking in the fields round Erfurt, and took delight in studying nature under its various aspects. To him the rising sun was a glorious type of that light which was to spread over the world. His mind was solemn and contemplative, and he looked through the visible to the unseen. The moon, with its refulgent beam-evening, with its waning light—the summer shower, with its arrowy rain,'-the howling tempest and wintry blast, all, to him, had high and mysterious meaning; but perhaps most of all, the deep hoarse thunder, reverberating from cliff to cliff, and speaking in no earthly voice. He was one day walking with a friend, and conversing on subjects of deep import, when their conversation was arrested by one of those peals of thunder that seem to shake the very pillars of heaven. They both stopped; dark clouds had gathered around them, and the forked lighting shot athwart the sky. To the solemn thought of Luther, it was a type of the day of judgment, when the graves shall give up their dead, and the dead come forth. He turned to speak to his friend; the thunderbolt had passed him, but fallen there; it had pierced the heart that a moment before was throbbing with affection : it had silenced the voice that responded to his with genuine sympathy. Luther knelt by his side, and, filled with awe and terror, made a solemn vow to devote his life to Heaven. It is not strange that, educated, as he had been, in the Roman Catholic faith, this heaven should seem to him to be found in a monastic life, devoted to prayer and praise, to abstinence and penance, to humility and self-denial. When he communicated his vow to his father, he strongly remonstrated against it, and said, 'Take care that you are not ensnared by a delusion of the devil.' He entered the monastery in 1505, after passing a cheerful evening with his friends. The delusion had passed; he was disgusted with the lives of the brothers, and found no communion with them; he grew gloomy and discontented; the fire of his zeal was quenched, and for a time nothing seemed to supply its place. Those who had before seen the light of his mind now beheld its darkness with wonder and grief. He became, through listless indifference, a drudge, and by degrees the door-keeper, holding a bag in his hand to receive alms for the Augustinian convent. It must not be supposed that he neglected any of the forms or habits of monastic life. If any man ever won heaven by monkery,' he wrote afterwards to a friend, I should have won it; for the truth of this I appeal to my |
