adds, therefore, to mere forgiveness, the imputation of righteousness, namely, that of Christ, who "finished" the course.

But while some include in forgiveness what seems to us something more; Rome excludes from it what every rational man and candid student of the Scriptures, must consider its most essential element, entire exemption from punishment. She decrees, If any shall say that, after Justification is received, to every penitent sinner the fault is so remitted, and the liability to eternal punishment abolished, that there remains no obligation to suffer temporal penalty, either in this world or the next, before the kingdom of heaven can be open to us; let him be Anathema. Si quis post acceptam justificationem cuilibet peccatori pœnitenti ita culpam remitti et reatum æternæ pænæ deleri dixerit, ut nullus remaneat reatus pœnæ temporalis exolvendæ, vel in hoc seculo, vel in futuro, antequam ad regnum cœlorum aditus patere possit ; Anathema sit.*

The design of this is obvious. It is to leave an opening for the penances enjoined by the priest, and for getting money by masses to pray the souls out of Purgatory. But God declares that "he remembers our iniquities no more," and that there is, since Christ's death, no more offering for sin. If the sufferings of life are to be endured, they work for our good; and, if death must be passed through, "death is ours." 1 Cor. iii. 21—23.

*Concil. Trid. Sess. 5. c. 30.

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CHAPTER III.

Of the Mode and Time of our Justification.

A THOUGHTFUL, deeply reasoning mind will not be surprised to hear, but will at once say it is natural and reasonable, that we are made righteous through Christ, by means of union to him. In whatever mode, then, we are united to the Saviour, we are justified by him. Union to Christ thus becomes a vital doctrine, to which it is not easy to attach sufficient importance, however it may be slighted by some, through ignorance, or despised by others through prejudice as a fanatical phantom, or metaphysical subtlety, which can be of no practical use.

Here it is consoling to be able to praise a theological adversary. Dr. Newman has not suffered this doctrine of Scripture to escape his notice, nor has he failed to perceive its importance, as the following quotation will certify.

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"A mysterious union with Him, and a fellowship in all the grace and blessedness which is hidden in Him. Thus it separates us from other children of Adam, is our badge and distinction in the presence

of the unseen world, and is the earnest of greater good in store. It is an angelic glory which good spirits honour, which devils tremble at, and which we are bound reverently to cherish, with a careful abstinence from sin, and with the sacrifice of good works. Well, then, may Prophets and Apostles exult in it as the great gift of Divine Mercy, as the rich garment of salvation, and the enjewelled robe of righteousness; as linen clean and white, or as it is elsewhere expressed, as Christ in us,' and 'upon us,' and around us; as if it were a light streaming from our hearts, pervading the whole man, enwrapping and hiding the lineaments and members of our fallen nature, circling round us, and returning inward to the centre from which it issues. The Almighty Father,

looking on us, sees not us, but this Sacred Presence, even His dearly beloved Son spiritually manifested in us; with His blood upon our door-posts, in earnest of that final abolition of sin which is at length to be accomplished in us."

This is a speck of blue sky, a ray of sunshine in the midst of a dark and wintry scene. Not that

it is the only passage entitled to some praise, for there are other sentences which induce us to exclaim, O si sic omnia!

That there is such a doctrine revealed from heaven, in the sacred Scriptures, as that of the union of believers to Christ; nct nominal, but real; not external, but vital; not accidental, but essential and saving, might be taken for confessed; were it not too important to the present argument to be passed over without

that measure of explanation that may furnish evidence, and fix the truth indelibly in the mind.

This deeply interesting fact was taught by our Redeemer in circumstances and at a moment which invest it with immense additional interest. When saying to his disciples, "I came forth from the Father and am come into the world;" again, "I leave the world, and go to the Father;" in that last night, in which he was betrayed, when he had instituted the Supper that was to exhibit his body and his blood, as the food and drink of his church, he said, "I am the vine, ye are the branches. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you except you abide in me." The apostle Paul, the special instrument of the Spirit of inspiration to teach the doctrine of Justification, was therefore employed to unfold that of union to Christ. In the Epistle to the Corinthians, he employs this affecting truth as an antidote to the divisions which prevailed in that church. The figure he adopts is that of a body composed of various members under one head. "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one one member, but many. I am not the hand, I am fore not of the body?

Spirit. For the body is not If the foot shall say, Because not of the body; is it thereAnd if the ear shall say, Be

cause I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble, are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honourable, upon those we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular."-1 Cor. xii. 12-27. The same figure is again employed in the epistle to the Romans, where we are told that "we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another."

Another figure had been consecrated in the Old Testament, to express the union between the promised Messiah and his church, and this is not omitted in