Edward Hoare

“ Yet there is one class of subjects in which our conflict with Rome is more especially prominent, viz., that which concerns the application of the great salvation to the individual. That salvation may be compared to a chain reaching down from heaven. Respecting the higher links, such as the nature of God, the doctrine of the Trinity, the divinity of the Son, the humanity and the purpose of his death, there is no direct collision between us; but when we come down to the last link of all, the application of the whole work to the sinner, it is then that the real battle rages. ”

“ The great struggle of the Reformation was a p. 4struggle between the divine application and the human; between the simple principle of gift as revealed by God himself, and the man-made system of merit as constructed by the Church of Rome.
To illustrate this point let us study four particulars, which may be likened to the four corner stones of our citadel, and consider them in the order in which they stand in our Articles; the sufficiency of the Scriptures; justification by faith; the spirituality of the sacraments; and the final completeness of the one propitiation. ”

“ The conflict turns upon a single word. How can it be of such overwhelming importance, some will say, if all turns upon a word? But one word may make all the difference between truth and error, between peace and anxiety. ”

“ It would be a very easy thing to shew how all the other fictions of Rome must melt away if these four great truths are established in the heart. Let them be known in their power, and all the rest, mariolatry, saint worship, purgatory, priestly absolution as a means of forgiveness of sin, and all the complicated network of superstition will disappear of themselves ”

“ But without strength, without godliness, sinners, and even enemies, we are permitted in His boundless mercy to receive the reconciliation, to throw ourselves, with nothing between, into the arms of Him who has redeemed us, and as we are, and just as we are, trust Him at once for a full, complete, and all-sufficient justification before God. ”

“ Are we anxious on the subject of our acceptance with God? and asking the question, How can a man be justified with God? We are again brought face to face with Himself. We are not called to look outside for any sacerdotal act to introduce us to God, or even inside for any work of the Holy Spirit in our own hearts to recommend us to His mercy. ”

“ We do not rely on any intermediate authority who may discolour the truth as a painted window discolours the sunbeam, but we look straight at the truth itself in all its brilliant purity, and, though sometimes we may be dazzled by its brilliancy, we rejoice in the fact that there is nothing between. ”

“ Everything intermediate between the Soul and the Saviour is swept away for ever, and with nothing between—nothing to hide the truth while claiming to make it plain, or to hinder the approach while pretending to help it—we are brought face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ himself; and being pardoned through his perfect propitiation, and accepted in his perfect righteousness, we can say as St. ”