calumniantur nos adversarii, quod nostri non doceant bona opera, cum ea non solum requirant, sed etiam ostendant, quomodo fieri possint." 1
Antinomianism.
Antinomianism has never had any hold in the churches of the Reformation. There is no logical connection between the neglect of moral duties, and the system which teaches that Christ is a Saviour as well from the power as from the penalty of sin ; that faith is the act by which the soul receives and rests on Him for sanctification as well as for justification ; and that such is the na- ture of the union with Christ by faith and indwelling of the Spirit, that no one is, or can be partaker of the benefit of his death, who is not also partaker of the power of his life ; which holds to the divine authority of the Scripture which declares that without holiness no man shall see the Lord (Heb. xii. 14) ; and which, in the language of the great advocate of salvation by grace, warns all who call themselves Christians : " Be not deceived : neither for- nicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunk- ards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Cor. vi. 9, 10.) It is not the system which regards sin as so great an evil that it requires the blood of the Son of God for its expiation, and the law as so immutable that it re- quires the perfect righteousness of Christ for the sinner's justifica- tion, which leads to loose views of moral obligation ; these are reached by the system which teaches that the demands of the law have been lowered, that they can be more than met by the im- perfect obedience of fallen men, and that sin can be pardoned by priestly intervention. This is what logic and history alike teach.
§ 6. Relation of Good Works to Reward. Romish Doctrine. On this subject the Romanists make a distinction between works done before, and those done after regeneration. Works as to the matter of them good, when performed from mere natural conscience, have no other merit than that of congruity. They are necessarily imperfect, and constitute no claim on the justice of God. But works performed under the control of gracious prin- ciples infused in baptism, are perfect ; they have therefore real merit, i. e., the merit of condignity. They give a claim for re-
1 m. ivM v., xv. ; Hase, pp. 83, 85. voi* in. 16
242 PART in. Ch. XVIII. — SANCTIFICATION.
ward, not merely on the ground of the divine promise, but also of the divine justice. To him that worketh is the reward not reck- oned of grace, but of debt. (Rom. iv. 4.) On this subject the Council of Trent,1 says : " Si quis dixerit, hominis justificati bona opera ita esse dona. Dei, ut non sint etiam bona ipsius jus- tificati merita ; aut ipsum justificatum bonis operibus, quae ab eo per Dei gratiam, et Jesu Christi meritum cujus vivum membrum est, fiunt, non vere mereri augmentum gratiae, vitam aeternam, et ipsius vitae aeternae, si tamen in gratia decesserit, consecutio- nem, atque etiam gloriae augmentum ; anathema sit." Bellar- min 2 says : " Habet communis catholicorum omnium sententia, opera bona justorum vere, ac proprie esse merita, et merita non cujuscunque premii, sed ipsius vitae aeternae."
The conditions of such meritorious works, according to Bel- larmin, are : (1.) That they be good in their nature. (2.) Done in obedience to God. (3.) By a man in this life. (4.) That they be voluntary. (5.) That the agent be in a state of justification and favour with God. (6.) That they be prompted by love. (7.) That some divine promise be attached to them.
Refutation of this Romish Doctrine.
1. This whole doctrine of merit is founded on the assumption that justification, their term for regeneration, removes everything of the nature of sin from the soul ; that works performed by the renewed being free from sin are perfect; that a renewed man can not only fulfil all the demands of the law, but also do more than the law requires. As these assumptions are contrary to Scripture, and to the experience of all Christians, the doctrine founded on them must be false.
2. The doctrine is inconsistent, not only with the express decla- rations of the word of God, but also with the whole nature and design of the Gospel. The immediate or proximate design of the plan of salvation, as the Scriptures abundantly teach, is the man- ifestation of the grace of God, and therefore it must be gratuitous in all its parts and provisions, to the entire exclusion of all merit. Unless salvation be of grace it is not a revelation of grace, and if of grace it is not of works.
3. The doctrine is so repugnant to the inward teachings of the Spirit, as well as to the teachings of his word, that it cannot be practically believed even by those who profess it. The children
1 Sess. vi. canon 32; Streitwolf, Libri Symbolici, Gbttingen, 1846, vol. i. p. 37.
2 De Justifications, v. i. ; Disputationes, edit. Paris, 1608, vol. iv. p. 949, a.