for all Christendom by the third ecumenical council of Ephesus, A. D. 431." It is not denied that many of the eastern bishops, per- haps the majority of them, were secretly opposed to that system in its essential features. All that is insisted upon is that the whole Church, through what Romanists recognize as its official organs, gave its sanction to Augustine's peculiar doctrines ; and tliat so far as the Latin Church is concerned this assent was not only for tlje time general but cordial. It is no less certain that the Council of Trent, wliile it condemned Pelagianism, and even the peculiar doctrine of semi-Pelagians, who said that man began the work of conversion, thus denying the necessity of preventing grace (^gratia preveniens)^ nevertheless repudiated the distinguishing doctrines of Augustme and anathematized all who held them.
G. The Church of Rome now teaches Error. A fifth argument against the infallibility of the Church of Rome, is that, that Church now teaches error. Of this there can be no reasonable doubt, if the Scriptures be admitted as the standard of judgment.
1. It is a monstrous error, contrary to the Bible, to its letter and spirit, and shocking to the common sense of mankind, that the sal- vation of men should be., suspended on their acknowledging the Pope to be the head of the Church in the world, or the vicar of Christ.^ This makes salvation independent of faith and character. A man may be sincere and intelHgent in his faith in God and Christ, and perfectly exemplary in his Ciu'istian life, yet if he does not acknowledge the Pope, he must perish forever.
2. It is a grievous error, contrary to the express teachings of the Bible, that the sacraments are the only channels of communi- cating tojnen the benefits of redemption. In consequence of this false assumption, Romanists teach that all who die unbaptized, even infants, are lost.
37~Tt'ls a great error to teach as the Church of Rome does teach, that the miinsters of the gospel are priests ; that the people have no access to God or Christ, and cannot obtain the remission of sins or other saving blessings, except through their intervention and by their ministrations ; that the priests have the power not only of declarative, but_of judicial^ and effective absolution, so that those and those only whom they absolve stand acquftted at the bar of God. This was the grand reason for the Reformation, which was a rebellion against this priestly domination ; a demand on the part of the people for the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free, —
148 INTRODUCTION. [Ch. V. — R. C. R. of Faith.
the liberty to go immediately to him with their sins and sorrows, and find relief without the intervention or permission of any man wlio has no better right of access than themselves.
4. The doctrine of the merit of good w'orks as taught J)y_Ro- manisTs is another mpst prolific error. They hold that works done after regeneration have real merit (pneritum condigni)^ and that , they are the ground of the sinner's justification before God. They hold that a man may do more than the law requires of him, and perform works of supei-erogation, and thus obtain more merit than
is necessary for his own salvation and beatification. That this su- perfluous merit goes into the treasury of the Church^and may be dispensed for the benefit of others. On this ground in^Uilgences_ ( are granted or sold, to take effect not only in this life "but in tKe ' life to come.
5. With this is connected the further error concerning Purga- tory. The Church of Rome teaches that those dying in the com- munion of the Church, who have not in this life made full satisfac- tion for their sins, or acquired sufficient merit to entitle them to
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admission into heaven, do at death pass into a state of suflS there to remain until due satisfaction is made and proper purifica- tion is effected. There is no necessary termination to this state of purgatory but the day of judgment or the end of the world. It may last for a thousand or many thousands of years. But Purgatory is under the power of the keys. The sufferings of souls in that state may be alleviated or shortened by the authorized ministers of the Church. There is no limit to the power of men who are believed to hold the keys of heaven in their hand, to shut and no man opens, and open and no man shuts. Of all incredibilities the most incredible is that God would commit such power as this, to weak, ignorant, and often wicked men.
6. The Romish Church teaches grievous error concerning the Lord's Supper. It teaches, (1.) That when consecrated by the priest the whole substance of the bread and the whole substance of the wine are transmuted into the substance of the body and blood of Christ. (2.) That as his body is inseparable from his soul and divinity, where the one is there the other must be. The whole Christ, therefore, body, soul, and divinity, is present in the conse- crated wafer, which is to be worshipped as Christ himself is wor- shipped. This is the reason why the Church of England in her Homilies pronounces the service of the Mass in the Romisli Church idolatrous. (3.) That Church further teaches that the body and blood of Christ thus locally and substantially present in the Eu-