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But when the Lutherans described penitence as consisting only of contrition and faith, it should be observed, that they contemplated it according to its proper sig nification, ("Constat autem pœnitentia proprie,") solely as the conversion of a sinner, as the act of his returning from vice to virtue, and " from the power of Satan unto "God;" and that with contrition and faith they expressly maintained the necessary coexistence of every genuine principle of holiness. "Nec aliud volunt nostri,

66 cum dicunt, ‘sola fide justificamur,' quam quod jam " dixi, gratis fide propter Christum consequimur remis❝sionem peccatorum, non propter nostram dignitatem. "Nec excludit particula sola, contritionem aut cæteras "virtutes, ne adsint, sed negat eas esse causas reconci❝liationis, et transfert causam in solum Christum." Loci Theolog. de Vocab. Gratiæ, p. 240. ed. 1595. " Quid "autem planius et simplicius dici potest hac voce?

Etiamsi existere in nobis poenitentiam oportet, tamen "statuendum esse quod non propter nostras virtutes, "sed propter Filium Dei Mediatorem, recipiamur, et "placeamus Deo. Quid hæc vox habet absurdi? Postu "lat, ut adsint virtutes, et tamen causam reconcilia"tionis transfert in Christum, tribuit Christo debitum' "honorem, et monstrat piis firmam consolationem." Ibid. de Vocab. Gratiæ, p. 243. See alsó p. 284, 434, and 281. "De magna re disputamus, de honore Christi, "et unde petant bonæ mentes certam et firmam consola❝tionem. Utrum fiducia collocanda sit in Christum, "an in opera nostra. Quod si in opera nostra' col"locanda sit, detrahitur Christi honos Mediatoris et "Propitiatoris." Apologia Confess. de dilect. et implet. Legis, p. 14.

Their object in introducing the term faith into the definition of penitence, instead of arising, as some have conceived, from a propensity to make religion a sort of ecstatical reverie, and to gratify the imagination at the

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expence of the judgment, was simply to impress the necessity of trusting in divine forgiveness upon a Christian principle; a principle, which the Church of Rome seemed totally to have discarded. "Quod aliter Mona"chi scripserunt, eo fit, quia non discernebant Legem et Evangelium, et de justificatione loquuntur philosophico "more; prorsus ut Plato vel Aristoteles cogitat, Achil"lem esse fortem virum, quia habet hanc virtutem, et "afflatum quendam divinum, ita hi dicunt, Paulum "justum esse propter suas virtutes, et afflatum divinum, “nihil addunt de Mediatore, de promissionibus seu Evangelio, et de fide, seu fiducia Mediatoris; imo jubent "dubitare de reconciliatione, hoc est, delere Evangelium "et promissionem, et sepelire Christum. Quoties igitur ❝venit in mentem hujus controversiæ, refer oculos ad hunc "scopum. Cum reipsa et vere hoc dicatur, necessariam "esse pœnitentiam, et tamen nos propter Filium Dei "habere remissionem, placere, et exaudiri, tribuam "Filio Dei suum honorem, et hac fide seu fiducia pro"missæ misericordiæ Deum invocabo." Loci Theolog. de argum. Adversariorum, p. 282.

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But while they argued for the necessity of trusting in God's free mercy through Christ, and not in our own merits, for the remission of sin, it was very far from their intention to represent that faith or trust, as an act or quality of the mind, justifying us, by its own nature, in the sight of God. The sole point at issue was to determine the meritorious cause of justification in the eye of Heaven; and this they were anxious to attribute neither to faith, nor to any other virtue. "Concedo in fiducia inesse di"lectionem, et hanc virtutem et plerasque alias adesse 66 oportere; sed cum dicimus, 'Fiducia sumus justi,' non intelligatur nos propter virtutis istius dignitatem, sed

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per misericordiam recipi propter Mediatorem, quam "tamen oportet fide apprehendi." Loci Theolog. de argum. Advers. p. 284. "Fide sumus justi, id est, per

"misericordiam propter Christum sumus justi; non quia "fides sit virtus, quæ mereatur remissionem sua dignitate. "Quod vero additur, fides est opus,' concedendum est. "Est enim opus, ut dilectio, patientia, castitas." Ibid. p. 286. It seems therefore certain, that the justifying efficacy, which their adversaries attributed to works, they transferred not to faith, but to the object of it; an act of the mind only requisite, that the individual may himself apply his justification to his own conscience, when truly penitent, instead of having it applied for him, (particularly in the sacrifices of the Mass,) by a superstitious Priest, in a superstitious Sacrament. "Inde "factum est, quod docent ex opere operato, ut loquuntur, "mereri" (viz. Missam) "gratiam, et tollere peccata "vivorum et mortuorum. Hæc opinio, quantopere "distet a Scripturis, ac gloriam passionis Christi lædat, "Serenissima Regia Majestas vestra facillime judicabit. "Si enim hoc verum est, quod Missa pro aliis applicari "potest, quod peccata tollit, et prodest tam vivis quam

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mortuis, sequitur, justificationem ex opere Missarum ❝contingere, non ex fide; verum hoc omnino Scripturæ "repugnat, quæ tradit, nos gratis propter Christum per "fidem justificari, ac peccata nobis condonari, et in gra"tiam nos recipi, atque ita non alieno opere, sed propria "fide, propter Christum singulos justos fieri; at illi do"cent alienum opus pro remittendis peccatis alteri.” Letter of the German Ambassadors to Henry VIII. Burnet, vol. i. p. 335. Records.

Page 135, note (14).

The division of penitence into its respective parts is thus noticed in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession: "Constituimus duas partes pœnitentiæ, videlicet, con"tritionem et fidem. Si quis volet addere tertiam, vi"delicet, dignos fructus pœnitentiæ, hoc est, mutationem “totius vitæ et morum in melius, non refragabimur." De Pœnit. p. 40. Indeed, it is there sometimes contem

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plated as necessarily comprehending its fruits; "Agite "pænitentiam, certe loquitur de tota pœnitentia, de tota "novitate vitæ, et fructibus." De Pœnit. p. 48. "Verum "est enim quod in doctrina pœnitentiæ requiruntur 66 opera, quia certe nova vita requiritur." Responsio ad arg. Adversar. p. 23. In the Loci Theologici it is defined much after the same manner: "Voco pœniten"tiam, ut in Ecclesia loquimur, conversionem ad Deum, "et hujus conversionis partes seu diversos motus, dicendi "causa, discerno. Dico partes esse contritionem et "fidem. Has necessario sequi debet nova obedientia, quam si quis vult nominare tertiam partem non re"" pugno. Loci Theolog. de Poenit. p. 415. But, in the Saxon Confession, the third part is expressly included: "Docendi causa distribuimus conversionem, "vel pœnitentiam, in tria membra; in contritionem, "fidem, et novam obedientiam. Nam has res complectitur ❝vera conversio, ut vox divina et vera Ecclesiæ expe"rientia ostendunt. Nec tamen de modis loquendi, aut "numero partium, contentiones movemus, sed res ne"cessarias in conspectu omnibus esse volumus. Et "maxime necessarium est Ecclesiæ extare veram doc"trinam planam, maxime perspicuam, de tota conver"sione." Art. de Pœnitent. In conformity likewise with this idea, Melancthon observes, " Sæpe Scriptura "pœnitentiam vocat totam conversionem cum fructibus." Disput. Oper. Luther. vol. i. p. 450. It appears therefore, that when the Lutherans described penitence merely as comprising what the Sacrament of it, according to the Church of Rome, was supposed to effect, they viewed it as consisting only of contrition and faith; but that, when they considered it as an entire conversion both of the heart and life, they included in it actual obedience.

Page 135, note (15).

Upon the exercise of good works, as requisite to pre

serve the favour of God, and obtain the rewards of Heaven, the Augsburg Confession speaks without reserve: "De hac obedientia etiam docemus, eos, qui ad"mittunt peccata mortalia, non esse justos, quia Deus "requirit hanc obedientiam, ut resistamus vitiosis affec"tibus. Qui autem non repugnant, sed obtemperant eis “contra conscientiam, hi sunt injusti, et neque Spiritum "Sanctum, neque fidem, id est, fiduciam misericordiæ, "retinent. Nam in his, qui delectantur peccatis, nec 66 agunt pœnitentiam, ne potest quidem fiducia existere, "quæ quærat remissionem peccatorum. . . . . Et veræ "virtutes sine ulla dubitatione sunt dona Dei.... Debet "autem ad hæc dona accedere exercitatio nostra, quæ et "conservat ea et meretur incrementum, juxta illud, Ha• benti dabitur.' Et Augustinus præclare dixit, Di'lectio meretur incrementum dilectionis,' cum videlicet "exercetur. Habent enim bona opera præmia, cum in "hac vita, tum post hanc vitam in vita æterna." Art. 20. de bonis operibus, ed. 1540.

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But Luther, commenting on these words in St. Matthew, "Et tunc reddet unicuique secundum opera sua,” explained the point of future rewards more fully; arguing, that neither external works, nor internal piety, but a complete Christian obedience, will be the rule of retribution at the day of judgment. "Quod est ratio " in moralibus, hoc fides est in theologia, sicut in natura "arbor est prior fructu. Quæri enim et hic potest, an "fructus faciat arborem, vel arbor fructum. Hic re"spondebitur ex natura, nisi primum sit arbor habens 66 suum succum, &c. non fiunt fructus. Ita in mora"libus, nisi homo sit bonus habens succum suum, id "est, rectam rationem, non sequuntur bona opera. Ita "in theologia, nisi adsit succus et pinguedo olivæ, hoc "est, fides et cognitio Dei, non fiunt opera fidelia. Stat "ergo veritas, arborem sine fructu et ante fructum esse "bonat suo solo succo et natura. Stat veritas, mo

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