Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-12-24

sense. SIT the wicked do penance for all
MS SINS" writes the prophet, ''ana keep
all my commandments and judg-
ments and justice, living he shall live and
shall not die" And the effects in the soul
OF divine forgiveness, Saint Paul describes:
You are washed, you are senctifed. you
are justified in the name Of our Lord
Jesos Christ" To be told that God
will no longer remember our sins
but that nevertheless they remain encrust-
ed In our soul. which is as devoid OF lowell
ness and purity in mis- eyes as it ever was,
does not inspire rs with much esteem for
human nature, aor Infuse much Joy into
our hearts.
Luther reformed the teachings of the
church. Justification by faith alone. and
NO sanctifsatIon! Such was his teaching.
This jugtifying faith, in the Lutheran sys-
tenn, is not as Catholics understand faith.
the aEsens of the intellect to revealed truths.
bat an instrumental act, by means of which
the sinner grasps the merits of Christ and
oouers himself Herewith. The theory is
that mans nature canno. be freed
IRON sin, which is an integral
part Of it and that all that can be done for
hlm Is to wrap him up IS with cloak
WIN the merits of Christ, whom the eter-
nal Father, overlooking the man him
ser, Will hencaforward see and for whose
SAKE Inc sinner will be treated IS if he
were JUST. The doctrine of Justification
by faith follows from the doctrine of total
depreVity. How little there is Of il in
scripture Is manifest from the foroery TO
which Luther resorted in order to give il
some scrlptural support. He added to
the WORD faith in the third chapter of
the epistle to the Romans the word "onIyv
and when rebuked fer thu sacrileee he re-
piled, ut is tho will of Or. Martin Luther
that it should be So"
Faith alone justifes; SO long as you have
faith sin will not harm you, however griev-
GUS or frequent it may be. Farewell to
morals while such doctrine prevaily,
Listen to the horrid drivelling OF the Re
former. 'Thus yea find how richly gifted
Is Christian and a baptized man, who
even II he wills it, can not forfeit
bis salvation by how many sins sever, I'M
lesa ne is unwilling to believe. For no
sins have power to damn him, only the sin
of incredulity, (de Captiv. Babylon.)" To
Melenchton he wrote: "Be a sinner and
sin boldly, but more boldly still believe
and rejoice in Christ, who is eonquerer of
sin, death and the world. Sin is orr lot
here below. 1t is sufficient that by the
riches OF Gods glory we acknowledge the
Lamb who takes away the sins of the
world. Sin cannot deprive as OF hira even
even if il the one day
we we're to commit
thousand adulteries, or q thousand muir
ders." am not aware for my part that
anything SO shamelessly immoral was ever
written as what has been penned down for
gospel truth b. the Reformer of morals.
or cooo
Attempts have been made to palliate his
horrible teachings by recalling that in his
view faith WIS to be fruitfa', and result in
good works and yirtuous acts. The at
tempts are vain, as we see by examining
IN what sense Luther's Instrumental faith
was to become fruitful. The immortality
OF his teachings becomes more giariar and
horrifylng as we study then. He always
insisted that works on our part have no
place in our justification, which faith alone
by itself accomplishes. Speaking OF "tha
phauiasticai opinions of the pspists con-
corning the Justification OF works" he
says, they do imagine a certain faith
formed and adorned with charity. BIZ
this tney say sins are taken
Away and thus they are justi-
fed before God But what
else is this, pray you, but TO unwrap
Christ and 10 51rlp him quite out Of our
SIZES, ard TO look upon them not 10 Christ
but in ourselves" (Com. on Galatiaasl.
After We are justified by faith, according
TO Luther, our nature remains as corrupt
az heretofore, 5lackened With our sins, and
Sins conllnue TO flow from il, as of neces-
sity. Inere are IN as two men---Christ,
who covers US with his merits, and for
whose sake We are saved, and Adam who
persists IN SHINING. Gradually Christ's
presence will work upon our conoupis-
cense, diminish it aad produce some
good. Meanwhile sins which we
commit, and which more or
less We shall ever continue to commit do
not lnJuFe US, hidden Us they are under
the garment of Christ. We are not to
suffer uneasiness or trouble from our sins;
as fast as they are committed faith covers
them. Even if with faith, he says, an
adultery could be committed, it were no
slu." "Whatever thou mayest do,' writes
Melenchton for the solaoe of sinful men,
should thou even sin, look not to thy
works, but weigh the promise of God"
The spirit Of Christ is not able, like pu-
rifying fire, to cleanse the nature of man.
Hence Lather expressly teaches that the
regenerated, who have been and are iusti-
fed cannot fulfill the law. In reply to tho
observation of Catholics that God com
mands NOT impossibilities. he says "Com-
manding aud doing are two things Com
mandment is soon given, bu. it is not SO
easily executed 1t il, therefore, wrong
conclusion to say, God has commanded
me to love him, therefore 1 can do SO (In
| CALI" Luther is an Antinomian, an enc
| my to all moral law, at least 80 far as the
observance Of it has any connection with
our salvation. Tho true doing of the
law is faithful and spiritual doing" he
| saysGn Gal. (which he hath not that seek
eth righteousness by works. Therefore
every doer of the law and every moral
worker is aeoursed, for he walketh in the
presumption of his own righteousness be
fore God" "Why do then men keep the
law!' he asks. They who are just OBJ
serve ii not because they are thereby JUS
tilted before God, but for the sake of the
civil order, and because they kno9 that
such obedience is pleasing TO GOD and
pattern Of improvement to oshers'' In
other words, the observance of 1.-The moral
law by the just is good in the civil order
and there will be moro or less of it in
them. Bat, whether the law is observed
or not. they shall he saved and the oh