fore, of joining issue with Luther on the practice itself which had called forth his opposition, the emissaries of Rome cut short all discussion with the remark, that indulgences, having been instituted by the Pope in accordance with the teaching of the Scholastic doctors, were now a matter of faith, and, as such, must be received with unquestioning submission. It was then that, for the first time, Luther began to entertain doubts respecting the validity of the Papal claim of infallibility. Refusing to submit to so summary a settlement of the question, he appealed from the authority of the Pope to that of a general council. He soon, however, discovered that little was hereby gained; for the question immediately presented itself, According to what standard of doctrine, and in dependence upon what authorities, was such a council to frame its decisions? The advocates of the Papacy might perhaps have consented to submit the question in dispute to a council in which, as heretofore, the Papal constitutions, and the Scholastic theology, should be the guiding lights; but Luther, who was well acquainted with the spirit of that theology, felt, with increasing clearness of conviction as his views of scriptural truth became more extended, that in such an assembly his cause would be lost. His next demand, therefore, was for a council in which Holy Scripture should be recognised as the touchstone of doctrinal statements; a demand which, as manifestly striking at the root of the received doctrine concerning the authority of the Church, was at once rejected by Rome.*

It was thus that the formal principle of Protestantism, viz. the supreme authority of Scripture in matters of faith, was gradually arrived at; not, as may be supposed, without many a severe struggle on Luther's part against early prepossessions. It has been often alleged that, in entering the lists with Rome, he was actuated by an impatience of legitimate authority, or other unworthy motives; but the authentic records in which he so graphically describes the mental effort which it cost him to appear as an opponent of the Papal chair sufficiently refute the assertion. Had but permission been given him to teach unmolested the doctrines which he found in Scripture, he would gladly have continued in communion with the bishop of Rome : it was by the force of circumstances that he was driven first to examine, and then to reject, the whole

Ceux qui avoient embrassé les opinions de Luther demandoient le concile, à condition que tout y fût décidé par le saint Ecriture, à l'exclusion de toutes les constitutions des Papes et de la théologie Scolastique; étant bien assurés que c'étoit le moyen de défendre leur doctrine.-Sarpi, Hist. du Conc. de Trente, translated by Courayer, p. 38.

system of which the Papacy is but the efflorescence. At the same time, when once the principle had been enunciated, that Scripture is the supreme authority in controversies of faith, the breach between the Papal and the Protesting party became irreparable; for it was no longer a contest about this or that doctrine, but about the authoritative source of all doctrines: and from this time forward, Protestantism began to assume the appearance of an independent system of doctrine, in opposition to that of Rome. The interior links which connect one truth with another became the subject of investigation; theological statements were so shaped as to square with the leading doctrine of the system; and, one by one, the chief topics in controversy assumed, under the guidance of Scripture, that scientific form in which they appear in the Reformed confessions. There were not wanting minds fitted for this peculiar task. The Lutheran party had early attracted to itself men of high literary attainments, and genuine philosophical spirit; foremost amongst whom stood Melancthon, the first to mould the theology of the Reformation, as Luther was the instrument of exhibiting its inner spirit. Those living truths which Luther felt more vividly than he could expound clearly, it was Melancthon's province to state formally, to harmonise, and to defend. As early as the year 1521, he had given to the world a short exposition, according to Protestant views, of the chief heads of Christian doctrine, under the title of Loci theologici: it was subsequently expanded into the fuller, and more complete, system of theology which appears under that name in the collected edition of his works. From his pen proceeded, a few years afterwards, the Confession of Augsburg, and the classical Apology for the Confession; compositions which were adopted as the symbols of the Lutheran Church, and in which Protestantism, for the first time, appears, not merely as a protest against the corruptions of Rome, which is its negative side, but, as a positive system, possessing an organising principle of its own, and not less coherent in its structure than the opposite theology of the Council of Trent. The Confession of Augsburg may be considered as the basis of all the other Protestant symbols. Our Thirty-nine Articles were, as is well known, framed after the model which it furnishes, though in some points they exhibit a Reformed, rather than a Lutheran, type. For the service which Melancthon thus rendered to the Lutheran Protestants, the Reformed Churches of France and Switzerland were indebted to Calvin: in whose celebrated work, Institutes of Religion, we possess a masterly treatise on dogmatical theology,

tinged, however, with the peculiar views of the great Swiss Reformer. This work exercised a wide-spread, and lasting, influence wherever the Reformed faith was professed; and can never be read without exciting admiration, on account of the comprehensiveness of plan, the clearness of statement, and the generally judicious treatment of the topics discussed, which it exhibits.

It will be easily conceived that the gradual consolidation of Protestantism, both as a theological system and as a dissident Church, could not take place without producing important effects on the opposite side. In truth, the Lutheran Reformation gave rise, not only to a counter-reformation of a most extensive character in the practical system of the Romish Church, but to a fixing of those dogmatical foundations of the edifice which had hitherto existed as disjecta membra, and had been tacitly assumed rather than distinctly propounded.* Tridentine Romanism no more resembles the popular working of the system in the 16th century, than the Romanism of England is a fair specimen of that which prevails in less favoured countries. In one point of view, the Council conferred a real and lasting benefit upon the Church, while in another it must be regarded as the grand impediment to her return to apostolic Christianity: it reformed innumerable abuses, and aimed, not without success, at introducing, among clergy and laity, a much higher tone of Christian practice than had previously prevailed; but, at the same time, by transforming, in avowed opposition to the Protestant statements, doctrinal opinions, which had not hitherto received a formal sanction, into authoritative decisions of the Church, it placed an insuperable barrier between the two great divisions of Christendom, and stereotyped, so to speak, the errors of the Church system.

But while the Romanism of Trent is as much the product of the Reformation as Protestantism itself, the questions concerning the Church hold a different place in the two systems, as regards the historical formation of each respectively. While in Protestantism it is the inward aspect of Christianity, as consisting of certain relations between the individual Christian and God, expressed in the formula "justification by faith," that pervades the system, and is the key to the understanding of it, in Romanism this governing, formative, influence belongs to its idea of the Church. Protestantism first seized hold of the doctrine which expresses the

The lengthened discussions, the differences of opinion, and the difficulty in framing its decrees, which prevailed in the Council of Trent, prove how far the dogmatical elements of Romanism were at that time from being positively fixed.-See Sarpi's History, passim.

method in which the sinner, viewed as an individual, becomes reconciled to God; and therefrom, as a fixed point, proceeded to modify, or reject, the current notions respecting the nature and authority of the Christian community. Romanism, on the contrary, assuming the received doctrines on the subject of the Church as a first principle, aimed at giving those connected with the spiritual life of the individual such a form as should make them harmonise with the former. Hence, possibly, it is that the Council of Trent has no distinct section upon the Church; but however this may be, it is certain that the views peculiar to Romanism, on orig. inal sin, regeneration, and justification, are, not the antecedents, but the consequents of the doctrine which it maintains upon the constitution of the Church; the latter being the organizing principle of the whole system. Not only does this appear from a critical examination of the Romish formularies in their present shape, but from the historical facts connected with the rise and progress of the Papal system.

The remains of ancient ecclesiastical literature, especially those of the Latin Church, teach us that the great corruption of Christianity, of which Romanism is the full development, manifested itself, in the first instance, not in the doctrines which relate to the spiritual life of the individual, but in those connected with the constitution and authority of the Christian society. As it had been predicted by St. Paul, the decline from apostolic Christianity began with the introduction of two foreign elements-the ascetic discipline, and the doctrine of a human priesthood; the one of heathen, and the other of Jewish, origin; and these had taken deep root, and thoroughly impregnated the mind of the Church, long before any unscriptural views on the subject of justification were visible; at least before any such had been authoritatively propounded. The enemy sowed his tares stealthily, and with admirable wisdom. The great doctrine of the gospel, so far as the latter is a scheme for bringing God and man together, was, for the present, left untouched; but, side by side with it, there were silently introduced notions on the nature and offices of the Church, in conjunction with which it never has existed, or can exist, in its original simplicity, and which it must either expel or be expelled by. The latter result took place by a slow, but necessary, process. Already in the pages of Cyprian, and even Augustin, the effect of the Church system upon their apprehension of the truths which St. Paul so earnestly preached is very visible; and yet it is more negative than positive, more in the way of omission than of actual

misstatement. The doctrine of human merit, in the gross form which it assumed in later Romanism, does not appear in their writings; but the opposite truth is seldom, if ever, heartily announced, still less does it occupy that place in their theology which the Apostolic writings assign to it. In the lapse of time, as the Church theory approached its maturity, this mere omission of Scriptural truth gave place to positively erroneous notions: and, under the fostering influence of the Scholastic theology, the Tridentine teaching on the subjects of original sin, on justification, and on the merit of good works, assumed its present form. We may say, then, that in Romanism the doctrine of the Church holds the same place which the doctrine of justification by faith does in Protestantism: each constitutes the heart of its own system, each is the fundamental principle, with a continual reference to which the work of theological reflection and analysis has, on either side, proceeded.

From the foregoing observations it will be seen that the Protestant, were it his object to expound his own dogmatical systein in accordance with the actual course of its historical formation, would naturally begin by establishing the doctrine of justification by faith; and from this, as from a fixed position, advance to the consideration of the other topics in dispute between himself and his opponents, pointing out, as he proceeds, the relation which they bear to each other, and to the central truth of the system. Such, indeed, is the method commonly pursued by Protestant writers on dogmatic theology. Following in the track of the Apostles' Creed, they treat, first, of the great objective truths of Christianity, such as the nature of the Divine Being and the Person and work of Christ; then, of the actual application of redemption to individuals, or the doctrines of regeneration and justification; and, in the last place, of the Church, or the community of those who are justified, and made children of God by adoption and grace. The Romanist, on the contrary, if he would do justice to his cause, must, first of all, make good his positions respecting the Church, its constitution and its powers; and, from the vantage ground thus furnished, proceed to expound the other distinctive doctrines. of the Tridentine system. This was clearly perceived at the Council of Trent,* and has in general been acted upon by writers

"Vincent Lunel, Franciscain, fut d'avis qu'avant que d'établir pour fondemens de la foi l'Ecriture, et la Tradition, il falloit traiter de l'Eglise, qui est le fondement principal de tout, puisque c'est d'elle que l'Ecriture reçoit son autorité, selon cette parole si célèbre de S. Augustin, 'Qu'il ne croiroit point à l'Evangile, s'il n'y étoit obligé par l'autorité de l'Eglise.'"- Sarpi, i. 260.