original pure and holy state, became totally depraved, and incapable, and not only incapable, but positively disinclined to fulfil the object of their creation; so that, instead of doing God's pleasure, all men, except an elected and predestined few, who, by the influence of irresistible grace, undergo a miraculous change of heart, are constantly employed, and find a pleasure, in inflicting pain upon God. They hate God; and so, in their turn, are proper objects of his hatred; and, except the elect, who are saved not by any merit of their own, but out of mère grace, will be justly damned to all eternity. So great, indeed, has the demerit of man thus become, that it was only by assuming a human shape, and, as Jesus, dying himself upon the cross, that God has so far satisfied his own infinite justice, as to be able, out of pure grace, to save some few.

Thus was derived corroboration from Scripture to the scholastic doctrine of salvation by grace alone; and also to the doctrine of the mere uselessness and inefficacy, theologically considered, of good works. Indeed these theologians held, that what might seem to be good works, in the unregenerate non-elect, were a mere delusion; that really good works could be performed only by the elect. But even in them they were a sign, not a means; since resulting from irresistible grace, they implied no merit; the only merit being the merit of God, voluntarily dying, as Jesus, on the cross.

22. All who had not made a total sacrifice of reason on the altar of faith; even those who, though sacrificing reason, felt benevolence active in their

hearts, started back, the rational with incredulity, the benevolent with horror, from a doctrine highly gratifying, no doubt, to the sentiment of self-comparison, in the self-complacent few, who believe themselves the precious elect, alone capable of goodness here or happiness hereafter, and calculated to produce in such an enraptured exhilaration; but a horrible doctrine indeed for the doubting and the timid, to whom it presents the Deity as an object not of hope and love, but of terror and aversion, and whom, under this image of him, as if to give corroboration to the doctrine, they find themselves compelled to hate.

These and those who spoke for them protested against this representation of the divine character as false and impious; and the idea of the Deity has been variously remodelled by a variety of sects, who, framing their image of God according to their several views of the nature of virtue, have given to the attribute of benevolence a greater or less extension.

In admitting the salvation of any, however few the number, those who made the doctrine of pure selfishness the basis of their theology, yielded to their opponents an irrecoverable advantage. The very idea of grace, which is only another word for benevolence, is inconsistent with the doctrine of pure selfishness; and the notion of grace once admitted, why limit it to a few, why not extend it to all? For to say that God's sacrifice of himself is not sufficient to atone for the sins of all, is to exalt the attribute of infinite justice above that of infinite power.

But is it necessary to rest the salvation of men

upon grace alone? Supposing God to possess the attribute of benevolence, will not that attribute oblige him to acknowledge and to recompense the services of men? Is he not under the same moral obligation to reward obedience, that men are under to obey? Is there any justice in making men incapable, and then punishing them for being so? The answer to these questions gave a strong support to the doctrine of free-will, human ability, and the efficacy and necessity of good works.

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But the advocates of these doctrines rested their cause not upon metaphysical arguments only, or appeals to the moral sentiment. They cited authority as well as their opponents. They found support to their opinions in ancient and current ideas of the Deity, ideas which, equally with those of their opponents, were embodied in acknowledged Scriptures; ideas which assumed the existence of the sen-timent of benevolence both in God and man, and framed the whole system of religious worship upon that foundation; a system of praises, songs, processions, festivals, and offerings, having for their object to stimulate the divine benevolence through the sentiment of self-comparison; and of prayers, supplications, fasts, penances, and self-tortures, intended to excite the divine pity.

the

Upon this joint basis of argument and authority rests the Romish doctrine of indulgences, church, through its ministers, being supposed to be the trustee and authorized vender of the supererogatory merits of Christ and the saints; and upon this same basis rest the doctrines of absolution,

pardon upon repentance, universal grace, the saving efficacy of good works, the possibility and the certainty of the salvation of all who desire it and strive for it, and ultimately, the doctrine of the salvation and eternal happiness of all.

We ought to recollect, however, that the term, good works, has commonly been used by theologians, not so much in a forensic, as in a mystic sense. They have chiefly intended by it, acts of worship, and acts beneficial to the priesthood; while acts of duty to our fellow-men have been with difficulty admitted as entitled to that character, and placed, as it were contemptuously, at the very bottom of the scale.*

23. There has always, however, existed an opinion, more or less diffused among all nations which have made any considerable advance in civilization, an opinion maintained by many pure mystics, which has given rise to a third theological school, the opinion, namely, that the only effectual way to please God is, doing good to man. This opinion, like those of the other two theological schools already described, rests partly upon metaphysical considerations, and partly upon authority; for there

"Merit is of three kinds, 1. Thala, or the observance of all moral duties. 2. Dana, or giving of alms, including feeding priests, building pagodas, and works of public beneficence. 3. Bawana, or repeating prayers and reading religious books. The last infinitely the most meritorious." Summary and analysis of the Bhoodist doctrines in Malcolm's Travels in South Eastern Asia," Vol. I. Part 2, ch. 6. We may trace here, as upon so many other points, a most remarkable, and as yet unexplored analogy between Bhoodist and Christian ideas.

are a few passages in the Jewish scriptures, and a great number in the New Testament, which seem directly to teach it. Notwithstanding this authority in its favor, it isdecidedly heterodox; and has been condemned over and over again, by the highest ecclesiastical authorities, as atheistical and damnable, leading inevitably to the conclusion that churches, priests, worship, scripture, and revelation are unnecessary; * and that mere human virtue is sufficient for salvation. Still it has contrived to insinuate itself, to a greater or less extent, into many creeds and many treatises nominally orthodox; and notwithstanding all the opposing efforts of all the other mystic and semi-mystic sects, it is at the present moment rapidly diffusing itself. This is the theological creed of those who hold the disinterested theory of morals; it results from moulding the idea of God, and of man's relation to God, into consistency

* As respects the necessity of churches, priests, and worship, the opposite doctrine of salvation by grace and faith alone, logically carried out, leads precisely to the same results. It was in fact this doctrine of Luther which gave the first impulse to the Reformation. That reformation consisted principally in an attack upon forms. And here we may perceive another cause of the sudden check given to Protestantism, and of the counter-revolution in so many countries in favor of Catholicism. Not only was this fundamental doctrine of Protestantism abhorrent to the common sense and common humanity of the laity, but the Reformed clergy presently found that their doctrine in the hands of the Anabaptists would lead to the total abolition of the priesthood. They, therefore, themselves turned round, and undertook to refute, or at least to evade and set aside the very doctrine, and to repress the very spirit, in which the Reformation had originated. Assailed by Catholics on one side and by Protestants on the other, no wonder that the Reformation came to a stop, and almost to an end.