'the beloved,' even the heavens are not clean in his sight,' and every action that we perform, looking to it as a ground of merit, the wrath of God will consume. The doctrine of merits, as I have before humbly endeavoured to show you, militates against the truth of the gospel of Christ. The Bible, my dear sir, I never can too often repeat it, is the high standard by which we must be guided. I quote the words of St. Cyril:

Attend not to my inventions, for you may possibly be deceived; but trust no word unless thou dost learn it from the divine scriptures:' and we must refuse everything contrary thereto, cost what it may. The doctrine of satisfactions stands nearly allied to the above doctrine of merits, as imposed by the Church of Rome, which states, that penitents may satisfy, either by the afflictive dispensations they endure in this life, or by penance which they perform for temporal penalties for sins in this life, to which they are subject, even after the remission of eternal death.

"O how vain a declaration! Hear the

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word of the Lord. Never would I for a moment step down from the vantage ground of his truth; rather I would say, come up hither, come and share the exquisite treasure: it is yours: Jesus died to give it to you: a salvation untrammelled by human bonds, unfettered by sin, unconditionally offered, undeservedly bestowed, by the Lord of all; and God forbid that a recipient of such bounty should in any measure seek to bind it: no, the word of God saith, Whosoever will, let him take of the waters of life freely, without money, without price.' * Verily such is the word of the Lord. Cast from you all your works by which you hope to gain heaven, abandon every refuge of lies, and, as the shipwrecked mariner, who sees the last planks of his once-stately vessel about to rend asunder, is obliged to commit himself to the deep, and trust his life to his God;so do you cast yourself wholly from the sinking vessel of your unrighteousness into the fathomless depths of his wondrous love; and, while your sins shall sink in the mighty * Rev. xxii. 17; Isa. lv. 1.

waters, and be no more found, your soul, now trusting to Jesus, will find itself borne up amidst all trial, till it at length reach the haven of endless peace. Faith is,' as

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Tyndall expresses it, the believing of God's promises, and a sure trust in the goodness and truth of God; which faith justified Abraham, Gen. xv., and was the mother of all his good works.'

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My belief is in full accordance with our church, as follows:

66 6 ARTICLE XI.-OF THE JUSTIFICATION OF

MAN.

"We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, and not for our own works or deservings: Wherefore, that we are justified by faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely expressed in the homily of justifica

tion.

"ARTICLE XII.- -OF GOOD WORKS.

"Albeit that good works, which are the

fruits of faith, and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God's judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively faith, insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known, as a tree discerned by the fruit.'

"I am not surprised that you are struck by the unholy living of many professing themselves Christians of your church. What called down the just indignation of Petrarch and many others, (of whom our Reformers stood prominent,) which may be still charged against the Romish Church; while I believe, with an old writer, that He is the best Christian, that is more ready to reform himself than censure others,' I should not be sufficiently zealous for the truth did I withhold from you my entire conviction that the character given, Rev. xviii. 5, &c. &c., entirely refers to the Romish Church. It is my duty to warn you, strong is the Lord who judgeth her.'

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"A few words, as to the pope being the

holy successor of St. Peter. And who are these? Need I recal to your mind the great iniquity of these popes, of whom Liberius was an Arian, John XXII. held an impious opinion concerning the soul? Liranus affirms that many popes became infidels; therefore we must not be too confident of places, and successions, and vain titles and dignities. Nor can you have forgotten the extreme wickedness of Alexander VI., who, wishing to put to death a man of great wealth, Cardinal Adrian, by a mistake at a banquet, drank the poisoned wine intended. for his victim, in consequence of which he died; and his son, who also partook of it, only survived by the strength of his constitution; and need I recal to your memory the names of John XVIII., Urban VI., of like character, and Julius II., who obtained the tiara in 1503 by simony, and then published a bull to prevent such practice in times to come: John XIII., Alexander III., Benedict IX., equally notorious: and here I quote to you the words of one of the brightest ornaments of the Church of England.

"But what, I pray you, is this great power