magis charitas ipsa justificat Fides quae agitur, ac move-
tur, formatur, et quasi animatur per dilectionem Apostolus
Paulus .... explicat dilectionem formam esse extrinsecam fidei non intrinsecam, quae det illi, non ut sit, sed ut moveatur." All this is intelligible and reasonable, provided we admit subjective justification, and the merit of good works. If justification is sanctification, then it may be admitted that love has more to do with making men holy, than faith considered as mere intellectual assent. And if it be conceded that we are accepted by God on the ground of our own virtue, then it may be granted that love is more valuable than any mere exercise of the intellect. Roman- ists argue, " Maxima virtus maxime justificat. Dilectio est max- ima virtus. Ergo maxime justificat." It was because this distinc- tion between a " formed and unformed faith " was made in the interest of justification on the ground of our own character and merit, that Luther, with his usual vehement power, says : " Ipsi duplicem faciunt fidem, informem et formatam, hanc pestilentissi- mam et satanicam glossam non possum non vehementer detestari." It is only as connected with false views of justification that this question has any real importance. For it is admitted by all Prot- estants that saving faith and love are inseparably connected ; that faith without love, i. e., that a faith which does not produce love and good works, is dead. But Protestants are strenuous in denying that we are justified on account of love, which is the real meaning of the Romanists when they say " fides non justifi- cat formaliter, nisi ab ipsa caritate formata."
§ 7. The Object of Saving Faith.
Fides Greneralis.
It is conceded that all Christians are bound to believe, and that all do believe everything taught in the Word of God, so far as the contents of the Scriptures are known to them. It is correct, there- fore, to say that the object of faith is the whole revelation of God as contained in his Word. As the Bible is with Protestants the only infallible rule of faith and practice, nothing not expressly taught in Scripture, or deduced therefrom by necessary inference, can be imposed on the people of God as an article of faith. This is " the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free," and in which we are bound to stand fast. This is our protection on the one hand, against the usurpations of the Church. Romanists claim for the Church the prerogative of infallible and authoritative
96 PART ni. Ch. xvl— faith.
teaching. The people are bound to believe whatever the Church, i. e., its organs the bishops, declare to be a part of the revelation of God. They do not, indeed, assume the right " to make " new articles of faith. But they claim the authority to decide, in such a way as to bind the conscience of the people, what the Bible teaches ; and what by tradition the Church knows to be included in the teaching of Christ and his Apostles. This gives them lat- itude enough to teach for doctrines the commandments of men. Bellarmin1 says: "Omnium dogmatum firmitas pendet ab aucto- ritate praesentis ecclesiaB." On the other hand, however, it is not only against the usurpations of the Church, that the principle above mentioned is our security, but also against the tyranny of public opinion. Men are as impatient of contradiction now as they ever were. They manifest the same desire to have their own opinions enacted into laws, and enforced by divine authority. And they are as fierce in their denunciations of all who venture to oppose them. Hence they meet in conventions or other assem- blies, ecclesiastical or voluntary, and decide what is true and what is false in doctrine, and what is right and what is wrong in mor- als. Against all undue assumptions of authority, true Protestants hold fast to the two great principles, — the right of private judg- ment, and that the Scriptures are the only infallible rule of faith and practice. The object of faith, therefore, is all the truths re- vealed in the Word of God. All that God in the Bible declares to be true, we are bound to believe. This is what theologians call fides generalis.
Fides Specialis.
But, besides this, there is & fides specialis necessary to salvation. In the general contents of the Scriptures there are certain doc- trines concerning Christ and his work, and certain promises of salvation made through Him to sinful men, which we are bound to receive and on which we are required to trust. The special object of faith, therefore, is Christ, and the promise of salvation through Him. And the special definite act of faith which secures our sal- vation is the act of receiving and resting on Him as He is offered to us in the Gospel. This is so clearly and so variously taught in the Scriptures as hardly to admit of being questioned.
Christ's Testimony. In the first place, our Lord repeatedly declares that what men are required to do, and what they are condemned because they
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1 De Sacram. lib. ii. c. 2. (^