The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 413

:

CERTAINTY OF OUR JUSTIFICATION

373

by His grace, through the redemption that is " Whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified." For this reason the Reformation made justification by faith the starting-point for the conscience, and by this confession bravely and energetically opposed Rome's justification by good works; for in this justification by good works that priority of sanctification found "

Being

justified freely

And,

in Christ Jesus."

its root.

The Church

of Christ can not deviate

from

this straight line of

the Reformation without estranging itself and separating itself from its

Head and Fountain

like the Ethicals

the faith from

Sects which,

of Life, vitally injuring itself.

and the Methodists,* detract from

its root.

this truth sever

our churches desire once more to be

If

strong in the doctrine and bold in witness-bearing, they must not

repose in lethargy on the mere form of the doctrine, but must

embrace the doctrine

heartily

;

for

a superior and excellent manner.

it

presents this cardinal point in

He

who

only

heroically dares

accept justification of the ungodly becomes actual partaker of salvation. He only can confess heartily and unreservedly redemption

which

is

The

sovereign, unmerited, and free in all

its

parts and workings.

remains to be discussed is How can the ungodly be reconciled with the divine Omni-

last question that

justification of the

:

science and Holiness? It

must be acknowledged

sentation seems to "

fail.

Your argument

It

that, in

one respect,

this

whole repre-

must be objected

is wittily

thought out, but

it

does not stand the

When

an earthly sovereign decides that a man's state shall be otherwise than it actually is, he acts from ignorance, mistake, or arbitrariness. And since these things can not be ascribed to God, these illustrations can not be applied to Him." And again " That an earthly judge sometimes condemns the innocent and acquits the guilty, and makes the former to occupy the status of the latter, and vice versa, is possible only because the judge is a fallible creature. If he had been infallible, if he could test.

:

have weighed guilt and innocence with perfect accuracy, the wrong could not have been committed. Hence if sin had not come in, that judge could not have acted arbitrarily, but he would have acted according to the right, and decided for the right because it is *See section

5

of the author's Preface.

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