S. S. Schmucker

“ What does God expect of us, in view of these facts, as men to whom the interests and management of a portion of his church are confided? As men to whom he has given his inspired oracles, as the sure word of prophecy, to which we are to give heed? ”

“ From all this it is manifest, that our doctrine, instead of being charged with prohibiting good works, ought much rather to be applauded, for teaching the manner in which truly good works can be performed. For, without faith, human nature is incapable of performing the duties either of the first or second table. Without it, man does not call upon God, nor expect any thing from him, nor bear the cross: but seeks refuge amongst men, and reposes on human aid. Hence, when faith and confidence in God are wanting, all evil desires and human schemes reign in the heart ”

“ The symbols do, indeed, often insist on the necessity of faith, yet they speak as though in those who do believe, it was the sacrament, and not their faith in the Redeemer, which secured the blessing. Nor do they in many passages sufficiently discriminate, that it is not a mere historical or intellectual, but a living faith, a faith of the heart also, a faith that works by love and purifies the heart and overcomes the world, a faith that involves an entire surrender to the soul of God, which is required to the full efficacy of the sacraments. ”

“ Since truth, therefore, is of God, it need fear no investigation. The divinity that is in it, will secure its ultimate triumph. Though it may for a season be obscured, or crushed to earth by passion, prejudice, or irresponsible authority, it will sooner or later assert its rights, and secure the homage of all upright minds. No friend of truth should dread impartial investigation. If he has unconsciously imbibed erroneous opinions, he will thus be conducted to the truth; and if his views are correct, they will be confirmed by investigation. ”

“ Augustine, in speaking of the word faith, admonishes the reader that in Scripture this word does not signify mere knowledge, such as wicked men possess, but that confidence or trust, by which alarmed sinners are comforted and lifted up. We, moreover, teach, that the performance of works is necessary, because it is commanded of God, and not because we expect to merit grace by them. Pardon of sins and grace are obtained only by faith. And because the Holy Spirit is received by faith the heart of man is renovated, and new affections produced, that he may be able to perform good works. ”

“ Formerly, the consciences of men were harassed by the doctrine of works, nor did they hear any consolation from the gospel. Some conscience drove into deserts, and into monasteries, hoping there to merit the divine favor by a monastic life. Others invented different kinds of works, to merit grace, and make satisfaction for their sins. There was therefore the utmost necessity, that this doctrine concerning faith in Christ should be inculcated anew; in order that timid minds might find consolation, and know that justification and the remission of sins are obtained by faith in the Saviour. ”

“ And whilst we respect the soul-stirring productions of the illustrious reformers, let that respect never induce us to sanction any errors contained in them, or bias our minds against the free and full reception of the revelations of God's holy Word! ”

“ In short, if the word regeneration, in connexion with baptism, be employed to signify anything resembling its proper meaning, its influence on the preached gospel must be baneful; and just in proportion as we use it in a sense approximating to its legitimate import, does it obscure, confuse and derange the ideas of men as to the great and glorious plan of salvation in the gospel, which represent all men as either for or against Christ, and appeals to their works as decisive of their actual, spiritual character, as friends or as enemies of the Redeemer. ”

“ Nor are we more chargeable with even the remotest tendency to rationalism, than the great mass of American and English theologians, including such men as Drs. Dwight, Mason, Woods and Alexander, who all distinguish things above reason from those contrary to it, and whilst they deny that revelation teaches any doctrine of the latter class, admit and believe a number of its doctrines, such as the Trinity, Incarnation, &c., to be above the comprehension of human reason. ”

“ We defend and retain every peculiarity of the church of our fathers, which we find taught in the word of God, or consistent with its spirit; whilst we deem it a privilege and duty to labor at the improvement of our church and her ecclesiastical framework or platform, by removing from it every thing which, after a life of prayerful study, we are persuaded is offensive to God, because opposed to His word. Even the Form of Concord affirms the principle for which we here contend, by representing creeds as exhibitions of the sense in which Christians of a particular age understood the Bible ”

“ II. The grand means by which the Holy Spirit effects this moral reformation, is divine truth, either oral, written or symbolic. "Go ye into all the world, says the Saviour, and preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptised, shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." Here preaching the "gospel," the truths of God's word, is placed foremost in the list of instrumentalities, and baptism is only appended as a rite to be performed after the Holy Spirit, through the preached word, has wrought faith in the hearer's soul. ”

“ Every thing in the life of any church inconsistent with this, must be wrong. It is true, since the formation of the different Protestant denominations, each one of them has a different creed, and is characterized by some peculiarities of government or worship, and if these peculiarities are intended by the "peculiar life" of a denomination, we judge it would be equally wrong for the members of any church, to lay it down as a rule in every case to defend them. ”

“ For Augustine devotes many volumes to the defence of grace, and the righteousness of faith, in opposition to the merit of good works. And Ambrosius, on the calling of he Gentiles, &c., inculcates the same doctrine. For thus he says, concerning the calling of the Gentiles: "Redemption by the blood of Christ is of little value, nor is the honor of human works subordinated to the mercy of God, if justification, which is of grace, is supposed to be merited by previous works, so as to be not the gift of him that bestows it, but the reward of him that earned it." ”

“ If the sincere reception of the sacraments actually secures pardon or justification per se, immediately, without the intervening instrumentality of a living faith, then faith is not the only condition of justification as the scriptures teach, but we are justified either by faith, or by the sacraments, and then there will be three conditions of justification, faith, baptism, and the Lord's Supper! For thousands receive the eucharist sincerely, who are unregenerate, and have not a living faith. ”

“ For the faculties of man, unaided by the Holy Spirit, are replete with sinful propensities, and too feeble to perform works that are good in the sight of God. They are moreover under the influence of Satan, who urges men to various sins, and impious opinions, and open crimes; as may be seen in the examples of the philosophers who, though they endeavored to lead moral lives, failed to accomplish their designs, and were guilty of many notorious crimes. Such is the imbecility of man, when he undertakes to govern himself by his own strength, without faith and the Holy Spirit. ”

“ In view of these authorities, we may take for granted, what we suppose no one will deny, that in the Romish Church, not only of the present day, but since several centuries before the Reformation, and, therefore, in 1530, the most common and primary meaning of the word mass, was not Lord's Supper; but that long ceremonial, including the consecration of the elements, elevation of the host, and self-communion of the priest, as an offering of the body of Christ a sacrifice for the sins of the living and dead, which preceded the distribution of the sacrament to the people. ”

“ Hence, it is equally the duty of the church, in every generation, to test her existing creed by the word of God, and to correct and improve it, if found unscriptural in any of its teachings, or if experience has taught that it is too brief or too extended, successfully to accomplish the legitimate purposes of such documents. The idea of the infallibility of any human creed, or even its semi-inspiration, is philosophically unreasonable, and either a remnant of Romish superstition, or an amiable weakness of judgment. ”

“ The believer in baptismal regeneration cannot consistently preach, that "not every one who saith, "Lord, Lord," shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but only those who also do the will of our heavenly Father; for here are regenerate men who have the germ of eternal life in them (by baptism) who do not the will of God. Now as these on his theory are regenerate men, the bible promises them salvation. But according to the Saviour they shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. ”

“ Let us first inquire what does the Augsburg Confession mean by the phrase Private Confession. Among the Romanists, Auricular Confession is that rite, in which every individual of both sexes must, at least once a year, appear before the priest at the confession box in the church or chapel, and confess in detail all the sins that he can recollect; after which, the priest assigns the penitent some acts of penance, and on his promising to perform them, he then, as in the stead of God, professes to forgive him his sins. ”

“ The mass is not a work which, when applied to others, merits grace for them ex opere operato; but according to the confession of the whole church, the Lord's Supper is the sacrament, through which grace is offered to him that receives it, which grace he also really receives, but not by the more external act, but through faith, when he is certain that, in it., grace and pardon of sins are offered. ”

“ From all this, it is very clear, that whilst the sacraments are divinely appointed as means and seals of grace, they operate like divine truth, either oral or written, by promoting that great change of heart, without which no man can see God: that where they are received with a living faith, there is indeed pardon of sin or justification; but this pardon is the result of that living faith, the appointed condition of justification, and not of the sacraments, which can only tend to secure pardon by promoting faith. ”

“ The most important visible organization of the human family, is undoubtedly the church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The political institutions of the world, such as republics, kingdoms and empires, are instituted to administer the temporal affairs of men; but the church of the divine Redeemer involves the never-dying interest of immortal souls. The former are established and conducted by the ordinary powers of men; the latter is heaven descended, and was founded by the incarnate Son of God, and his inspired Apostles. ”

“ What the Romanists considered as the essential doctrine of the mass, viz., its being a sacrifice of Christ, offered by the priest, and its being offered by him for others than himself, either living or dead, and its being performed at any other time, or for any other purpose than as a preparative for Sacramental Communion, the Confession rejects, but the outward rite itself, on public sacramental occasions, it professes to retain: and this being the only charge made in the Platform on this subject, we appeal to every candid reader to decide, whether it has not been fully established. ”

“ In the case of all adults, the Scriptures represent faith in Christ as the necessary prerequisite to baptism, and baptism as a rite by which those who had already consecrated themselves to Christ, or been converted, made a public profession of the fact, received a pledge of the divine favor, or of forgiveness of sins, and were admitted to membership in the visible church. The same inspired records also teach, that if men are destitute of this faith, if they believe not, they shall be damned, notwithstanding their baptism. ”

“ Now those who attend confession are either regenerate, or they are not. If they were regenerated or converted before they went to confession, they had faith, and were pardoned before; if they were unregenerate or unconverted, then neither their confession, nor the priest's absolution, can confer pardon on them, because they have not a living faith, although they may be sincere and exercise some sorrow for their sins. On the other hand, if any amount of seriousness and penitence, short of true conversion or regeneration, could, through the confessional, or any other rite, confer pardon of sin ”

“ And we might easily fill pages with the declarations of Luther, avowing his sense of the imperfections of his publications, and of the work of Reformation in his day.
"We believe," says the Plea, "that they (Luther and Melancthon) are no more than guides to the fountain of truth, to the gospel; and whenever we find that they lead us off from the Word of God, we are bound not to hesitate in our decided deviation from their views." p. 8. This is precisely the noble, enlightened, and christian stand point of the American Lutheran Church. ”