Grace, which is préëminently the Dispensation of the Spirit.

3. WE MAY ILLUSTRATE, BY OUR OWN PRACTICE, THE GREAT PRINCIPLE, THAT THE WORD OF GOD IS THE SOLE AUTHORIZED STANDARD IN ALL MATTERS OF RELIGION.

The falsities of the Roman Antichrist may be generalized under three heads.

1. That a knowledge of religious truth and duty is to be derived, not exclusively from the Sacred Scriptures, but also and largely from other sources, as tradition, the writings of the Fathers, the opinions of the prelates, and especially of the Pope, and the adjudications of Councils. Vox Ecclesiæ vox Dei, is the idea, to repudiate which is fatal heresy. The Church, that is, the hierarchy, is not only the interpreter of God's communications, but is also the authorized teacher of much that God has left otherwise unrevealed. The Bible, thus interpreted, is only one source of religious knowledge, and is not of itself sufficient to direct a sinner in the way of salvation.

2. That the righteousness of Christ received by faith is not the sole ground of a sinner's acceptance with God; but that other things are to be recognized as meritorious causes of eternal life;

among which are, a particular relation to the Church of Rome; various ceremonial observances, such as fasts, penances, pilgrimages, invocations of the saints and the Virgin, confessions, masses, pecuniary contributions; and especially the superabundant holiness of the saints deposited in the Church, as a treasure, to supply the deficiency of Christ's merits, and subject to the disposal of the Pope and his authorized subordinates.

3. That the regeneration of a sinner is not effected entirely by the agency of the Holy Spirit, or even by the Spirit and the Word combined, but in part, if not mainly, by the influence of certain prescribed ceremonies which are represented as indispensable, not only as the mediums of the Divine Influence, but also as possessing in themselves a saving efficiency.

It was against these three falsehoods, in particular, so fatally subversive of the whole Christian system, that the partially enlightened and bold Reformers of the sixteenth century vehemently protested, and from whose baneful influence they vigorously endeavored to disenthral not only themselves, but their deluded contemporaries. Hence, they brought out prominently the three great principles of immortal Truth:

THE BIBLE, the only authoritative source of religious knowledge.

THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST, received by faith, the only ground of a sinner's justification before God.

THE HOLY SPIRIT, the all-sufficient Agent in the production of spiritual life in the soul of

man.

This trinity of propositions they held up to the wondering nations, and faithful history informs us of the power which God gave them in the emancipation of enslaved millions.

The effort to restore the Bible to its proper place in human estimation, was the result of a clear conviction that this Volume, the Gift of God, teaches all we need to know and to do in the department of Religion. The writings of the Reformers, though marred by some errors, abound with propositions and explanations which show conclusively how correct was their general theory; and in their zealous, self-denying, and often perilous endeavors to supply the people, in their own tongues, with the whole Book of God, we find their practice happily consistent with their theory. And from their day to ours, the tongues and the pens of Protestant Christians have repeated and multiplied the declarations of those giants of Reform; and, during the last half century, numerous Bible associations have practically demonstrated that the principles avowed are not the

rhapsodies of sentiment, but the deliberate convictions of the understanding and the warm attestations of the heart. Who, of Protestant proclivities, has not admired, and quoted with his own endorsement, that terse, expressive proposition of the learned Chillingworth: "The Bible, the Bible, I say, the Bible only is the religion of Protestants?" And well did he add in the next sentence: "Whatsoever else they may believe as a matter of faith and religion, they cannot do it with coherence to their own grounds, nor require the belief of it in others, without most high and most schismatical presumption."

Yet, strong as have been the declarations of all Protestants upon this subject, and much as they have contributed towards the translation and distribution of the Bible, it may be a question if Protestants, of all denominations, have not more or less violated the great Principle which they have so often and so eloquently advocated. Luther said that " every man is born with a Pope in his heart." The errors of the papacy seem to be indigenous to human nature; and it would not be remarkable, if the best of men, partially sanctified, should betray the presence of some remnants of the old leaven. But how stands the fact? Do Protestants confine themselves to the Word of God as their sole instructor in religious truth and

duty? One of the most able and fascinating writers of modern times has drawn a beautiful word-picture in the following form: "All the doctors, Greek, Latin, French, Swiss, German, English, American, placed in the presence of the Word of God, are, altogether, only disciples who are receiving instruction. Men of the first times, men of the last, we are all alike upon the benches of the Divine School; and in the chair of instruction, around which we are humbly assembled, nothing appears, nothing elevates itself but the infallible Word of God. I perceive in that vast

1 The Reformation in Germany turned entirely upon this principle: "The Fathers must be tried by the Scriptures, and not the Scriptures by the Fathers." Then, when Luther, aided by Melancthon, had made the Bible common by his translation, and announced the clearness and certainty of its truths, without the aid of commentators; then it was that the errors of Popery, one by one, lost their hold upon the minds of the people, and a oneness of sentiment and faith was given to the whole body of reformers and their disciples everywhere, that vibrated at all points of Christendom, and put a newness of face on the kingdom of Christ. We, even in these days, have in some measure degenerated from the sacred oracles. We have had recourse to waters, collected from the living fountain, only in the receptacles in which human authors have deposited them, and where they are impregnated with the qualities of the fallible and fallen minds that have distributed them. We must drink these waters in greater purity, by retracing our steps to their source. Dr. Liefchild.