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THE ARK.

GENESIS vi. 14-18; vii. 1--16.

THE whole difference between the character of Noah, and that of the residue of the men of his generation, arose from his acceptance of the Gospel which they rejected. They were by nature, equally the children of wrath. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and was saved by divine power, from a destruction, by which they were overwhelmed. Had they received his warning, and accepted the offers of divine mercy, they also would have been saved. But they loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil; and this was their condemnation. The method in which God the Saviour was pleased to deliver Noah, is most instructive and important. Enoch was rescued from the consequences of transgression, by an immediate translation to the final glory of redeemed souls. But the temporal salvation provided for Noah, from destruction with the ungodly, was designed to exhibit the method in which God rescues his people from the dominion of sin, in preparation for this final glory. The deliverance of Noah was in itself, an event of vast importance. In him was the line of that redeemed family, upon whose preservation depended the accomplishment of all the promises of the Gospel. The whole interests of a redeemed world were therefore involved in his deliverance, and in the preservation of his family. But God might have devised a multitude of plans, by which he could be preserved. The plan which he did adopt, was a figure" of the method of a greater salvation to come, of which Noah was also a partaker.

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This method of deliverance was originated by the Lord himself. He gave Noah, not only the gene

ral direction, but also, a particular and minute description of every part of the ark which he was to build. As in the redemption offered in the Gospel, "all things are of God," and nothing has been invented or proposed by man; so was it here. He that gloried, must glory in the Lord. The wisdom and power of God were displayed, as well as his love and mercy. And this family were made partakers of a deliverance which illustrated and magnified the attributes of God. Thus does the salvation provided in the Gospel for the souls of men glorify the wisdom and power of God, and display his ways as unsearchable, and his judgments as past finding out. The ark, the instrument of Noah's deliverance, is often spoken of, as if it were a type or figure of Christ. In some respects it is so. He is a place to hide us in, and our whole security consists in being in him, kept under his defence, by his power, through faith unto salvation. But it seems more accurate to consider the ark, as a figure of the Church of Christ, than a type of Christ himself. He saves us under the Gospel, by bringing us into that holy society which he hath formed and sanctified, the family named after himself, to which he gives the promises and the privileges of his love, and which he hath purchased by the shedding of his own blood, and arranged according to his own wisdom. I see the Saviour leading Noah into the ark, and shutting him in, just as under the Gospel, he is adding unto his church daily, such as shall be saved. Noah was safe, because he was in a place of safety. He was safe so long as he was in this place of safety, where he was kept by divine power. When he entered

into the ark, the flood had not commenced. Believing the testimony of God, that such a destruction would come upon the earth, by faith he entered into the appointed place of security. And here he was preserved by the protection of that Saviour in whom he had believed, and in obedience to whose command, he sought this appointed place of repose and rest. Thus, though he was saved by the Lord alone, he was saved by him in the place which he had appointed for him.

"The like figure hereunto, baptism, doth also now save us; not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God." Thus in the Lord's ordinance, spiritually applied, are we led to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven. We are united to "the blessed company of all faithful people," and are "true members, incorporate in the mystical body of God's dear Son." When we are born of water and of the Spirit, we are brought into this ark of safety, and the Lord by his own grace, shuts us in, and preserves us there. The baptism of water by itself is not sufficient. The baptism of the Spirit in the renovation of the heart by itself, is so far not sufficient, that they on whom the Holy Ghost fell, were subsequently baptized with water. Acts x. 47, 48. Both united, establish us in that place, that condition of safety, in which we find the salvation which God has promised. The church of God is secure, and we partake

of the security thus bestowed. Faith in the divine word led Noah to an obedience of the divine command, and in this obedience he was safe. No professed faith would have availed him, separated from the resulting obedience: but here his security was entire. So it is with us. The invitation is, "Come, thou and all thy house into the ark." If with the heart we believe unto righteousness, and with the mouth, we make confession unto salvation, we accept the Saviour's invitation, and in his appointed ark, are kept by the power in which we trust, and by which he has thus provided safety for us.

Here are we one with him, and in his bond of covenant with God, we are secure. Here we rejoice in hope. Here we abide with patience. Here we abound in love. Here we experience peace. For a season we glorify God in his earthly church, passing through the waters according to his will, and then we are admitted to honour him with eternal rest, in his heavenly abode. Oh, that all might find grace thus to seek the Lord, in the city of his holiness; and have with his people their citizenship from heaven!

Behold the Ark of God,
Behold the open door,
Hasten to gain that dear abode,
And roam, my soul, no more.
Here safe shalt thou abide,
Here'sweet shall be thy rest,
And every longing satisfied,
With full salvation blest.

S. H. T.

ESSAYS ON POPERY.

No. XX.

THE PARDON OF SIN; PURGATORY; AND INDULGENCES.

DEAR SIR,-Although we approach the end of our enquiries, there yet remain a few subjects which demand a careful and patient investigation. One of these is, the pardon of sin, as preached by the Church of Rome; with its two branches, purgatory and indulgences. Let us devote the present occasion to a serious consideration of these doctrines.

In bringing the mind to these topics, it will be impossible to forget that remarkable circumstance which stands recorded as giving rise to the German Reformation. There is no reason to suppose that in other respects it differed from the usual practice of the Romish See; but as having caused so great a revolution in the state of the visible church, it will ever remain peculiarly distinguished in the page of history.

In the year A.D. 1514, and even under the direction of one of the most acute and intelligent of all the Popes, began that particular issue of indulgences, for money, which raised the indignation of Martin Luther, and brought on, ultimately, the Reformation in Germany. Leo. X. professed to need funds for the erection of St. Peter's, and for carrying on a war with the Turks. For these ends he issued the papal briefs, proclaiming a general indulgence to all who would purchase it,-and immediately the agents and salesmen of these paper-pardons began to publish and offer them for sale throughout Europe. "The money" says Bower, "went to neither purpose, but was lavished in gratifying the luxury of the court of Rome and its dependents." The

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sale of these indulgences in Saxony, and the produce of such sale, was given to the Pope's sister Magdalen, who employed as her agent, Tetzel, a Dominican monk, of notoriously immoral habits. The form of pardon, thus published by Tetzel, ran thus,-" May our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon thee, and absolve thee by his most holy passion; and I, by bis authority, and that of his blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and of the most holy pope, granted and committed to me in these parts, do absolve thee; first, from all ecclesiastical censures, in whatever manner they have been incurred; and, then, from all thy sins, transgressions, and excesses, how enormous soever they may be; even from such as are reserved for the cognizance of the holy see; and as far as the keys of the holy church extend, I remit to you all punishment which you deserve in purgatory on their account, and I restore you to the holy sacraments of the church, to the unity of the faithful, and to that innocence and purity which you possessed at baptism; so that, when you die, the gates of punishment shall be shut, and the gates of the paradise of delight shall be opened; and if you shall not die at present, this grace shall remain in full force when you are at the point of death. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." And his harangues, in pushing the sale of these things, are thus described by Lonicerus: "He impudently preaches up the pope's dignity and power, and the virtue and efficacy of indulgences, bawling out, that there could be no

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Such was the doctrine, such the practice of the Church of Rome, as to the pardon of sin, up to the very moment of the Reformation. Now, however, in the broad face of day, and in countries like this, rejoicing in the free circulation of the word of God, and an open proclamation of pardon by the blood of Christ alone, these monstrous follies and frauds no longer venture to shew themselves. greatest care and ingenuity is used to cloak and cover the doctrine preached; but still that doctrine is essentially the same as in the days when Leo and Tetzel carried it to its full and legitimate results. Let us now see in what cautious and insidious phrases it is cloaked and covered by Dr. Wiseman. You shall have his very words :"The Catholic church teaches, that Christ did establish on earth a means whereby forgiveness should be imparted to wretched sinners; -whereby, on the performance of certain acts, all who have offended God may obtain authoritative forgiveness." "The Catholic Church believes that the institution thus left by our Saviour was the sacrament of Penance." +

"Sin is forgiven by a Sacrament instituted by Christ for that purpose, for which the power of pronouncing judicial sentence of

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"The doctrine of purgatory follows as a consequence or corollary from that of which I have just treated; so much so, that the Catholic doctrine of satisfaction would be incomplete without it. The idea that God requires satisfaction, and will punish sin, would not go to its fullest and necessary consequence, if we did not believe that the sinner may be so punished in another world, as not to be wholly and eternally cast away from God." +

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Prayer for the dead is essentially based on the belief in purgatory, and the principles of both are consequently intimately connected together. Why does the Catholic pray for his departed friend, but that he fears, lest not having died in so pure a state as to have been immediately admitted to the sight of God, he may be enduring that punishment which God has awarded after the forgiveness of his sins; and believes that through the intercession of his brethren, he may be released from that distressing situation.”

"What then is an indulgence? It is no more than a remission by the Church, in virtue of the keys, or the judicial authority committed to her, of a portion, or the entire, of the temporal punishment due to The infinite merits of Christ form the fund whence this remission is derived; but besides, the Church holds, that, by the communion of saints, penitential works performed by the just, beyond what their own sins might exact,

sin. communicated to the pastors of the Church." + "We believe that this upon forgiveness of sins, that is, after the remission of that eternal debt, which God in his justice awards

*Theatr. Histor. fo. 241.

+ Wiseman's Xth Lect. p. 8, 9. Wiseman's XIth Lect. p. 41.

*Wiseman's XIth Lecture, p. 41. + Ibid. p. 52. Ibid. p. 54.

are available to other members of Christ's body."

"It is evident that if the temporal punishment reserved to sin, was anciently believed to be remitted through the penitential acts which the sinner assumed, any other substitute for them, that the authority imposing or recommending them, received as an equivalent, must have been considered by it truly of equal value, and as acceptable before God. And so it must be now. If the duty of exacting such satisfaction devolves upon the Church, and it must be the same now as it formerly was,-she necessarily possesses at present the same power of substitution, with the same efficacy, and, consequently, with the same effects. And such a substitution is what constitutes all that Catholics understand by the name of an Indulgence.'

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Such then, is the present version of this doctrine, as polished and trimmed and set off to the best advantage, so as to win, if it were possible, even the affections of British Protestants. Two remarks may be made, in the first place, and we will then pass on to the closer consideration of the opposing views of Protestantism and Popery in this matter.

The first remark is, that an important variation is apparent between the doctrine preached by Tetzel, in A.D. 1516, and that avowed by Dr. Wiseman in 1836. Tetzel says," By the authority of Christ, and of the blessed apostle Peter and Paul, and of the most holy Pope, I absolve thee from all thy sins, transgressions, and excesses, how enormous soever they may be." Dr. W. says, "An indulgence is nothing more than a remission by the Church of a portion, or the whole, of the temporal punishment due to sin." This is another proof, if any were needed, of the pliability with which this infallible and unchange

* Wiseman's XIIth Lect. p. 71, 72.

able Church adapts her demands to the degree of credulity upon which she can venture to calculate.

The second point which seems to call for observation, is, 'the utter want of Scripture authority for the whole of this system. Here is a "Sacrament of Penance." Where, in the whole Bible, do we find a single word of, or even an allusion to, any such "Sacrament." The text, John xx. 23, is adduced, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." But the true and the false application of this passage is sufficiently apparent. St. Peter

retained the sins of Ananias and Sapphira; and remitted those of Cornelius. When any other minister can shew the like signs of divine authority, we will believe as readily in the certainty of a remission granted by him. But when those who call themselves "the successors of St. Peter," declare that the sins of our youthful Edward, of Cranmer, Ridley, and all the martyrs, are retained, we know of a truth that they speak falsely, and that what they retain, are not retained.

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Several texts are adduced, indeed, to prove that God chastises his children for their sins, even when he intends not to take away his love from them;-but no Protestant questions this. The Popish inference, however, that the Church has power to take off this " temporal punishment on payment of a certain sum of money, is not attempted to be proved, save by one passage, 2 Cor. ii. 5-10. But in this passage, again, as in the case of Peter, we have an inspired apostle, speaking "" with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ" and yet even there we see nothing more than a mere matter of discipline, a temporary seclusion from the Church, such as takes place among all Christian

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