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maker of all things visible and invisible. And in one

Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, the only-begotten, begotten of the Father, that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, light of light, the true God of the true God, begotten not made, of one essence with the Father, by whom all things were made, both the things in heaven, and those upon the earth.

Who for us men and for our salvation came down, and was incarnate, and was made man. Who suffered and rose on the third day, and ascended into heaven; and who shall come again to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost.

It will be observed that the Nicene Creed makes no mention of " the communion of saints," to which Romanists ascribe a meaning, to which Protestants cannot assent.

The Creed of Pope Pius IV.

Bullarium Magnum. (Luxemburghi, 1727.)

Pius episcopus, servus servorum Dei, ad perpetuam rei memoriam, &c.

Et ad hoc, ut unius equidem fidei professio uniformiter ab omnibus exhibeatur, unicaque et certa illius forma cunctis innotescat, nostræ sollicitudinis partes, in hoc alicui minimè desiderari, formam ipsam, præsentibus annotatam publicari, et ubique gentium per eos, ad quos ex decretis ipsius concilii et alios prædictos spectat, recipi et observari, ac sub pœnis per concilium ipsum in contravenientes latis, juxta hanc et non aliam formam, professionem prædictam solemniter fieri, auctoritate Apostolicâ tenore præsentium distinctè præcipiendo mandamus hujusmodi sub tenore. "Ego N. firmâ fide credo et profiteor omnia et singula, quæ

continentur in symbolo fidei, quo S. Romana ecclesia utitur: videlicet: credo in unum Deum patrem omnipotentem, factorem cœli et terræ visibilium omnium et invisibilium et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, filium Dei Unigenitum, et ex Patre natum ante omnia sæcula; Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine; Deum verum de Deo vero; genitum non faétum, consubstantialem Patri, per quem omnia facta sunt, qui propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem descendit de cœlis, et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto et Marià Vergine, et homo factus est; crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato; passus et sepultus est; et resurrexit tertia die secundùm Scripturas, et ascendit in cœlum, sedet ad dexteram Patris, et iterùm venturus est cum gloriâ judicare vivos et mortuos; cujus regni non erit finis; et in Spiritum Sanctum Dominum et vivificantem, qui ex Patre filioquet procedit; qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur, qui locutus est per prophetas. Et in unam Sanctam Catholicam et Apostolicam Ecclesiam. Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum, et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum, et vitam venturi sæculi. Amen.

(Here commence the Popish articles).

Apostolicas et ecclesiasticas traditiones, reliquasque ejusdem ecclesiæ observationes et constitutiones firmissimè admitto et amplector. Item sacram Scripturam juxta eum sensum quem tenuit et tenet sancta Mater ecclesia, cujus est judicare de vero sensu et interpretatione sacrarum Scripturarum, admitto; nec eam unquam nisi juxta unanimem consensum patrum accipiam et interpretabor. Profiteor quoque septem esse vera et propriè sacramenta novæ legis a Jesu Christo, Domino nostro, instituta, atque ad salutem humani generis, licet non omnia singulis necessaria, scilicet, Baptismum, Confirmationem, Eucharistiam, Poenitentiam, extremam Unctionem, Ordinem, et Matrimonium; illaque gratiam conferre, et ex his baptismum, confirmationem et ordinem, sine sacrilegio reiterari non posse. Receptos quoque et approbatos Ecclesiæ Catholicæ ritus, in supradictorum omnium sacramentorum solemni administratione recipio et admitto; omnia et singula quæ de peccato originali et de justificatione

* Tridentini

"Filioque" is not in the creed set forth by the first General Council of Constantinople, an. 381; nor are any of the last twelve articles of Pope Pius IVth's creed.

in sacrosanctâ Tridentinâ synodo definita et declarata fuerunt, amplector et recipio. Profiteor pariter in Missâ offerri Deo verum, proprium, et propitiatorium sacrificium pro vivis et defunctis; atque in sanctissimo eucharistiæ sacramento esse verè, realitèr, et substantialiter corpus et sanguinem, unà cum animâ et divinitate Domini nostri Jesu Christi, fierique conversionem totius substantiæ panis in corpus et totius substantiæ vini in sanguinem ; quam conversionem Catholica ecclesia transubstantionem appellat. Fateor etiam sub alterâ tantùm specie, totum atque integrum Christum, verumque sacramentum sumi. Constanter teneo Purgatorium esse; animasque ibi detentas fidelium suffragiis juvari; similiter et sanctos unà cum Christo regnantes, venerandos atque invocandos esse, eosque orationes Deo pro nobis offerre, atque eorum reliquias esse venerandas. Firmiter assero, imagines Christi ac Deiparæ semper Virginis, necnon aliorum sanctorum, habendas et retinendas esse, atque eis debitum honorem ac venerationem impertiendam; indulgentiarum etiam potestatem a Christò in ecclesiâ relictam fuisse; illarumque usum Christiano populo maximè salutarem esse, affirmo. Sanctam Catholicam et Apostolicam Romanam ecclesiam omnium ecclesiarum matrem et magistram agnosco; Romanoque Pontifici, beati Petri, Apostolorum Principis successori, ac Jesu Christi vicario veram obedientiam spondeo ac juro. Cætera etiam omnia a sacris canonibus et œcumenicis conciliis ac præcipue a sacrosancta Tridentinâ Synodo tradita, definita, et declarata, indubitanter recipio atque profiteor; simulque contraria omnia, atque hæreses quascumque ab ecclesia damnatas, rejectas et anathematizatas, ego pariter damno, rejicio, et anathematizo. Hanc veram Catholicam fidem, extra quam nemo salvus esse potest, quam in præsenti sponté profiteor, et veraciter teneo, eandem integram et immaculatam, usque ad extremum vitæ Spiritum constantissimè (Deo adjuvante) retinere et confiteri atque a meis subditis, vel illis quorum cura ad me in munere meo spectabit, teneri, doceri, et prædicari, quantum in me erit, curaturum, ego idem N. Spondeo, voveo, ac juro: sic me Deus adjuvet et hæc sancti Dei evangelia." Volumus autem quod præsentes litteræ in cancellariâ nostrâ apostolicâ more legantur. Et ut omnibus facilius pateant, in ejus Quinterno describantur ac etiam imprimantur.

Nulli ergo hominum liceat hanc paginam nostram nostræ voluntatis et mandati infringere, vel ei ausu temerario con

traire. Si quis autem hoc attentare præsumpserit, indignationem Omnipotentis Dei, ac beatorum Petri et Pauli Apostolorum ejus, se noverit incursurum. Datum Romæ apud Sanctum Petrum, anno incarnationis Dominicæ millesimo quintesimo sexagesimo quarto. Idibus Novembris. Pontificatus nostri anno quinto.

FED. CARDINALIS CESIUS.
CE. GLORIERIUS.

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH.

Before we attempt to combat the Romish system of justification, it is essential that we should thoroughly understand it. Before the Council of Trent, strange as it may justly appear, the Church of Rome had made no decree upon justification. This infallible Church had suffered her infallibility to lie dormant with respect to this fundamental doctrine for 1500 years; and she thus rendered herself responsible for the errors of Luther, if they were errors, and for the errors of all who preceded him, with respect to justification. Luther took up the doctrine of justification by faith, and levelled it with success against various Romish errors; but he could not completely grapple with the subtle system of Romish justification, because it was not then clearly defined. The doctrine of justification by faith only reposes upon the basis of the writings of the Apostles. The Romish system of justification is founded upon the doctrine of Cyprian. That a sinner when truly converted to the faith in Christ and baptized, is at that time justified, without works, is admitted by the Church of Rome. If such a person dies immediately after baptism his justification, according to the admission of the Church of Rome, is complete through the atonement and merits of Christ. Again, if a baptized infant dies, it is justified only through the death and merits of Jesus, according to the views of Romish as well as Protestant divines. The difference between the Roman Catholic and Reformed Catholic Churches lies in their views of the justification of believers who survive their baptism, and sin; and all must sin. With respect to post-baptismal sins, whilst the Reformed Catholic Churches maintain that the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin; the Roman Catholic Church holds that with respect to those who die in a state of

grace and with priestly absolution, the eternal penalty of their sins is done away by the death and merits of Christ; but that a temporal penalty remains due to divine justice for post-baptismal sins; which must be paid in this life by merits, penances and masses; or after death by the torments of purgatory. Hence, as infant baptism prevails in the Roman Catholic Church, every Roman Catholic looks to Christ to save him from the eternal wrath of God; and to his works and penances, to masses and the torments of purgatory, for the payment of the temporal penalty due to the divine justice for his post-baptismal sins; and hence, as Christ in his divine essence is represented in some sort as an angry judge, the Virgin Mary's intercession with Him in order to appease his anger, and to obtain his intercession with the Father, is represented as most valuable.

This doctrine respecting the expiation of post-baptismal sins by other means than the blood of Christ, seems to have originated in the Christian Church with Cyprian; though could he have foreseen its monstrous developement in the Romish system he would doubtless have recoiled from it. Cyprian was sincere and zealous; he was respected during his life, for his eloquence, and his virtues, and venerated by Christians after his death. But when he was elected Bishop of Carthage, he was almost a novice; and however sincere in his convictions, which he evidenced by the great worldly sacrifices which he made, he could hardly have been experimentally acquainted with the writings of the Apostles.† "Cùm autem hæc scribat Pontius, ejus diaconus, ipsum nimirum, paulò post baptismum, adhuc (ut ait) novellum, ad sedis Episcopalis fastidium esse provectum, quem vidimus sui ipsius testimonio, jam senem ad Christum esse conversum." Had Cyprian been more thoroughly imbued with the Apostolic writings, he would not, it should seem, have based an opinion upon two or three passages in the Old Testament, which, as translated in the Septuagint, favoured it, but which ran counter to the positive declarations of the Apostles and to the fundamental doctrine of Christianity. In his work De Opera et Eleemosynis, Cyprian expresses himself as follows:

--

Only canonized saints, martyrs, &c. are considered to go to heaven without purgatory.

+ Baronius.

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