He, finding them equally contentious, ordered the infant they disputed about, to be cut in two, and one half of it to be given to each of them; which order the pretended mother agreed to, exclaiming: Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. Then spake the woman, whose the living child was, unto the King; for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said; O, my Lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. Then the King answered and said: Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it; SHE IS THE MOTHER THEREOF! 1 Kings, iii. 26, 27. I am, dear Sir, &c. J. M. LETTER XIX. To JAMES BROWN, Esq. &c. ON SANCTITY OF DOCTRINE, DEAR SIR, THE second mark by which you, as well as I, describe the Church in which you profess to believe, when you repeat the Apostles' Creed, is that of SANCTITY. We, each of us, say; I believe in the HOLY Catholic Church. Reason itself tells us, that the God of purity and sanctity could not institute a religion destitute of this character, and the inspired Apostle assures us that, Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it, with the washing of water, by the word; that he might present it to him M self a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle. Ephes. v. 25, 27.-The comparison which I am going to institute between the Catholic Church and the leading Protestant Societies on the article of Sanctity or Holiness, will be made on these four heads: 1st, The Doctrine of Holiness;-2dly, the Means of Holiness;-3dly, the Fruits of Holiness; -and lastly, the Divine Testimony of Holiness.. To consider, first, the doctrine of the chief Protestant communions: this is well known to have been originally grounded in the pernicious and impious principles, that God is the author and necessitating cause, as well as the avenging punisher of sin;that man has no free will to avoid it;-and that justification and salvation are the effects of an enthusiastic persuasion, under the name of Faith, that a person is actually justified and saved, independently of any real belief in the revealed truths, independently of hope, charity, repentance for sin, benevolence to our fellow-creatures, loyalty to our King and country, or any other virtue; all which were censured by the first Reformers, as they are by the strict Methodists still, under the name of works, and by many of them declared to be even hurtful to salvation. It is asserted in The Harmony of Confessions, a celebrated work, published in the early times of the Reformation, that all the Confessions of the Protestant Churches teach this primary article (of justification) with a holy consent;' which seems to imply, says Archdeacon Blackburn, that this was the single article in which they all did agree.' (1) Bishop Warburton expressly declares, (1) Archdeacon Blackburn's Confessional, p. 16. 37 that Protestantism was 6 built upon it:' (1) and yet, 'what impiety can be more execrable,' we may justly exclaim with Dr. Balguy, than to make God a tyrant !' (2) And what lessons can be taught more immoral, than that men are not required to repent of their sins to obtain their forgiveness, nor to love either God or man to be sure of their salvation! To begin with the Father of the Reformation: Luther teaches, that God works the evil in us as well as the good, and that the great perfection of Faith consists in believing God to be just, although, by his own will, he necessarily renders us worthy of damnation, so as to seem to take pleasure in the torments of the miserable.' (3)—Again he says, and repeats it, in his work De Servo Arbitrio, and his other works, that'free-will is an empty name:' adding, 'if God foresaw that Judas would be a traitor, Judas necessarily became a traitor: nor was it in his power to be otherwise.' (4) Man's will is like a horse: if God sit upon it, it goes as God would have it; if the devil ride it, it goes as the devil would have it: nor can the will choose its rider, but each of them strives which shall get possession of it.' (5) Conformably to this system of necessity he teaches: Let this be your rule in interpreting the Scriptures; wherever they command any good work, do you understand that they forbid it; because you cannot perform it.' (6)—Unless (1) Doctrine of Grace, cited by Overton, p. 31. (3) Luth. Opera, ed. Wittenh、 tom ii. fol. 437. (5) Ibid. tom ii. (6) Ibid. tom. iii. fol. 1° Faith be without the least good work, it does not justify it is not faith.' (1) See how rich a Christian is, since he cannot lose his soul, do what he will, unless he refuse to believe: for no sin can damn him but unbelief.' (2) Luther's favourite disciple and bottle-companion, Amsdorf, whom he made Bishop of Nauburg, wrote a book, expressly to prove, that, good works are not only unnecessary, but that they are hurtful, to salvation; for which doctrine he quotes his master's works at large. (3) Luther himself made so great account of this part of his system, which denies free will, and the utility and possibility of good works, that, writing against Erasmus upon it, he affirms it to be the hinge on which the whole turns; declaring the questions about the Pope's Supremacy, Purgatory, and Indulgences, to be trifles, rather than subjects of controversy. (4) In a former letter I quoted a remarkable passage from this Patriarch of Protestantism, in which he pretends to prophesy, that this article of his shall subsist for ever in spite of all the Emperors, Popes, Kings, and devils; concluding thus: If they attempt to weaken this article, may hell-fire be their reward: let this be taken for an inspiration of the Holy Ghost, made to me, Martin Luther.' However, in spite of these prophecies and curses of their father, the Lutherans in general, as I have before noticed, shocked at the impiety of this his (1) De Serv. Arbit. tom i. fol. 361. (2) De Captiv. Babyl. tom. ii. fol. 74. (3) See Brierly's Protest. Apol. 393. and Maclaine Eccles. Hist. vol. vi. pp. 324, 328. See also Mosheim (4) See the passage extracted from the work de Servo Arbitrio, in Letters to a Prebendary, Letter V, ; primary principle, soon abandoned it, and even went over to the opposite impiety of Semi-pelagianism, which attributes to man the first motion, or cause of conversion and sanctification. Still it will always be true to say, that Lutheranism itself originated in the impious doctrine described above. (1) As to the second branch of the Reformation, Calvinism, where it has not sunk into Latitudinarianism or Socinianism, (2) it is still distinguished by this impious system. To give a few passages from the works of this second Patriarch of Protestants: Calvin says, 'God requires nothing of us but faith he asks nothing of us, but that we believe.' (3) I do not hesitate to assert that the will of God makes all things necessary. (4) It is plainly wrong to seek for any other cause of damnation than the hidden councils of God,' (5) Men, by the freewill of God, without any demerit of their own, are predestinated to eternal death.' (6) It is useless to cite the disciples of Calvin, Beza, Zanchius, &c. as they all adhere closely to the doctrine of their master; still I will give them the following remarkable passage from the works of the renowned Beza: 'Faith is peculiar to the elect, and consists in an absolute dependence each one has on the certainty of his election, which implies an assurance of his perseverance. Hence we have it in our power to know, whether we be predestinated to salvation; not by fancy, but by conclusions as certain, as if we (1) Bossuet's Variat. I. viii. pp. 23, 54, &c. Mosheim and Maclaine, vol. v. p. 446, &c. (2) Ibid. p. 458. (3) Calv. in Joan vi. Rom. i. Galat. ii. (4) Instit. l. iii, c. 23. (5) Ibid. (6) Ibid. l. iii. c. 25 |