Luke xxiii. 35. "The Christ, the chosen of "God."—" Whom God hath before all others ap"pointed to be the Messias. Otherwise, the Scrip"ture calleth them the elect of God, whom he "hath chosen, before all beginning, to life ever"lasting."

"THE ARGUMENT," prefixed to the Epistle to the Romans, remarks; "The great mercy of God is declared towards man, in Christ Jesus, whose "righteousness is made ours by faith. For when "man, by reason of his own corruption, could not "fulfil the law, yea, committed most abominably "both against the law of God and nature; the in"finite bounty of God ordained, that man's salva❝tion should only stand in the perfect obedience of "his Son Jesus Christ."

On 2 Cor. iii. 3. "The hardness of man's heart, "before he be regenerate, is as a stone table. "Ezek. ii. 19, and xxxvi. 26. But being regene"rate by the Spirit of God, it is as soft as flesh; "that the grace of the gospel may be written in it, "as in new tables."

On Gal. i. 7.-"What is more contrary to our "free justification by faith, than the justification by "the law or our works? Therefore, to join these "together, is to join light with darkness, death with "life, and doth utterly overthrow the gospel."

On James ii. 14. St. Paul, to the Romans "and Galatians, disputeth against them which at"tributed Justification to works; and here St. "James reasoneth against them which utterly condemn works. Therefore Paul showeth the Causes of our Justification, and James the effects. "There it is declared how we are justified; here "how we are known to be justified. There works

"are excluded, as not the cause of our Justifica"tion; here they are approved, as effects proceed"ing thereof. There they are denied to go before "them that shall be justified; and here they are "said to follow them that are justified."

Similar sentiments were espoused and maintained by all the advocates for the Reformation in the Church of England in the reign of Elizabeth. No inconsiderable testimony to its genuine doctrines is furnished by Dr. WILLIAM FULKE, Master of Pembroke Hall, and Margaret Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge. About the middle of the reign of that princess, this learned divine published THE TEXT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, AS TRANSLATED FROM THE Vulgate LATIN BY THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS AT RHEMES, AND THE VERSION FROM THE ORIGINAL Greek, COMMONLY USED IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, IN PARALLEL COLUMNS, WITH AN EXPOSITION OF NUMEROUS ERRORS IN THE CATHOLIC TRANSLATION, AND A CONFUTATION OF MANY OF THEIR ARGUMENTS, GLOSSES, AND ANNOTATIONS. This elaborate work was dedicated to the Queen, and went through several editions in the course of a few years.

In commenting on the expressions of our Lord respecting the man who fell among thieves which "stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, "and departed, leaving him half dead:"* the Catholics say " Here is signified, man wounded very sore in his understanding and free will, "and all other powers of soul and body, by the "sin of Adam: but yet, that neither understand

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*Luke x. 30.

ing, nor free will, nor the rest were extinguish❝ed in man or taken away.". In support of this, they refer to the decisions of a Council held in the year 529.

Dr. FULKE replies; 66 Against this vain col"lection by allegory, the Scripture is plain, that "we are all dead in sin by the sin of Adam."Rom. v. 12. Eph. ii. 1, 5. Col. ii. 13. The "Council Arausicanum, which you quote, (belike "to prove that the freedom of will is not lost in "Adam,) saith; it is so inclined by the sin of the "first man, and attenuated, that no man after "could love God as he ought, or work that which is good for God's sake, except the grace and mercy of God prevented him.' And if by those "words you think there is any life left unto it, in 66 cap. 22. the Council saith, No MAN HATH ANY

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"THING OF HIS OWN BUT LIES AND SIN.'

And

"in cap. 21. Nature by Adam lost, by Christ "is repaired." And whereas you seem to leave some life, justice. and freedom of will in man, "which by Christ is recovered, increased, healed, "and enabled;-thus we read in the seventh

chapter, the title of which is, That we are not "apt to think any thing of ourselves, as from ❝ ourselves;'-if any man do hold, that a man

by the force of nature can think any good "thing, which pertaineth and is expedient to "eternal life, or that he can choose either to be "saved, that is, to consent to the preaching of "the gospel, without illumination and inspiration ❝ of the Holy Ghost, which giveth to all men the "sweetness, in consenting and believing the "truth, he is deceived with an heretical spirit, "not understanding the voice of God, saying in

"the gospel, Without me ye can do nothing;

and that of the Apostle, Not that we are apt "of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves, "but our sufficiency is of God." And touching "understanding, the Apostle saith, The natural "man understandeth not those things that be of "the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto "him, neither can he know them because they are "spiritually discerned. So that neither the will "nor the understanding have any heavenly life in "them."

From the Apostle's conclusion, that it is not "of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but "of God that showeth mercy ;"*-the Catholic Expositors argue," that God's grace is the prin"cipal cause, and men's free will the secondary "cause, of their willing or working any good to "their salvation."

Dr. FULKE replies; our election, calling, and "first coming to God, lieth wholly in God's mer "cy, and not either wholly, or principally, or any

thing at all, in our own will or works. But "whom God elected before time, he calleth in "time by him appointed, and of unwilling, by "his grace maketh them willing to come to him,

and to walk in good works unto which he hath "elected them. So that man hath no free will, "until it be freed; man's will worketh nothing in "our conversion, until it be converted; man hath "no power to change his will unto better, except "it be given of God. August. Retract. lib. i. cap. It is free yet not good, it is free yet not sound, it is free yet not righteous. And by

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*Rom. ix. 16.

how much the more it is free from goodness, ❝rectitude, soundness, and righteousness, by so "much the more is it bound by the deadly sla"very of wickedness, perverseness, infirmity,

and iniquity. For he who committeth sin is "the slave of sin, and by whatever a man is held "in bondage, to that he is a devoted slave."While sin reigns, therefore, he has free will, "but free without God, not free under God, that is free from righteousness, not free under grace, and therefore most corruptly and slavishly free, because not freed by the gratuitous gift of God who showeth mercy.'-Fulgent. de incarnat. et grat. cap. 19."

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On this passage, "Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law "shall be justified;"* the Rhemish Annotators observe, "This same sentence-is the very "ground of St. James's disputation, that not faith alone but good works also do justify. Therefore St. Paul, howsoever some perversely construe his words in other places, meaneth the same as "St. James. And here he speaketh not properly "of the first justification, when an infidel or ill "man is mude just, who had no acceptable works "before to be justified by, of which kind he spe"cially meaneth in other places of this epistle, "but he speaketh of the second justification or in"crease of former justice, which he that is in

God's grace daily proceedeth in, by doing all "kind of good works, which be justices, and for "doing of which he is just indeed before God."

Rom, ii. 13.