METHODISM AND CATHOLICISM.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVI, Issue 22, 6 October 1898, Page 28

METHODISM AND CATHOLICISM.

(By the Very Rf.v. T. Le Menant des Chesnais, S.M., V.G.)

V. REFUTATION OF METHODISM.

(b) ERRORS AGAINST GRACK. It is heretical to pretend that grace is necessary for every good work, and that all the works of those whn are not justified are sinful (Cone. Trid., Sess. vi., can. 7, Contra Hussitas, Luterum et Calvinum). Sinners, in the Holy Scriptures, are exhorted to give alms, to repent, to make acts ot faith, etc., even before they are justified ; How could God exhort them to perform such actions if they were sinful ? Faith is not necessary to perform an action morally good (opus ethice bonum), and, consequently, all the works ot infidels are not sinful (Def-abs Alexandro viii. contra Ouenellum). This is also an error of Luther, Calvin, Baius ancT Jansemus. The Scriptures throughout suppose that heathens can keep some of the commandments, and, therefore, do actions havinga natural goodness (Rom. i. 20). We must also admit that fallen men can do some good moral actions and keep some precepts of the natural law without the help of Divine grace (Potest homo lapsus etiani sine gratia adjutorio opus aliquod

ethice bonum perficere, et aliqua le^is naturalis praecepta servare.) 1 his proposition has been defined against Luthe v rans, Calvinists and Baius (Prop. 27 Baii., and 28, 30, 37) M Even savages can practice mercy, benevolence, gratitude, etc.,«l which certainly are virtuous acts, having a natural goodness and rectitude. (c) Grace is a pure gift of God which cannot be merited by any natural action or petition. These may move God to grant it to us but can never merit it. This was defined against the Pelagians who maintained that grace was given us according to our merits. {d) God gives to all the just, especially to those who endeavour to do their best, sufficient grace to keep all the commandments and persevere. It is impious to say with Jansemus and other heretics that God commands impossibilities. Whenever He gives a command He always gives us sufficient help to do what He prescribes, if we co-operate with His grace. (<?) Even infidels receive from God graces proximately or remotely sufficient to work out their salvation if they only profit by them. If this were not the case, how could God be said to wish for the salvation of all men ? (Omnes homines vult salvos fieri, i. Tim., ii., 4.) I (/) God does not refuse this sufficient grace even to hardened sinners. The cause of hardness of heart and obstinacy is m man, not in God. Man is said to be hardened when he persists in resisting God Who invites him to return to Him, to refrain from evil and do good. (g) Man must give his assent to preventive grace so that the virtuous act should proceed from freewill anefdivine grace. (h) When assisted by Divine grace, man remains always free to assent to it or to reject it. HABITUAL GRACE AND JUSTIFICATION.— DISPOSITIONS FOR JUSTIFICATION. (a) The first disposition for justification is a firm faith in Revelation and the promises of Jesus Christ ; not a firm persuasion that on account of his atonement our sins will not be imputed to us, but that they are entirely remitted (Cone. Trid. Sess. vi. cap. vi. can. 12). If anyone says that justifying faith is nothing else than a persuasion that by the mercy of Christ our sins are forgiven, and that it is by that persuasion alone that we are justified, let him be anathema. 'Si guis dixerit, fidem justificantem nihil aliud esse, guam fiduciam divinae misericordiae peccata remittentis propter Christum, vel earn fiduciam solam esse, qua justificamur' (A.S). This was defined against Lutherans. Therefore, the fundamental principle of Methodism, * that justification is the persuasion of present pardon and acceptance by God,' is a fallacy. Nowhere in the Scripture can there be found a ground for such a doctrine. (b) Our faith mu^t include all the truths revealed by Christ. We are to bjlieve explicitly those which are necessary as a means of salvation, ' necessitate mcdii,' such as the existence of God, and that He will reward the good and punish the wicked (Dei existentis et remuneratoris). 'He that cometh to God must bdicve that He is, and is a rewarder to .hem that seek Him' (Hebrews, xi. 6). The other truths of salvation must be at 1-ast implicitly believed, that is, we must be in the disposition to believe all God has said and Jesus has taught when it will be made known to us. (r) Faith alone is not sufficient for justification. Millions will be lost not through want of faith, but because they did not live according to their faith and practise good works. ' Not every one that saith to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doth the will of My Father Who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven' (Matth. vii. 21). Therefore, besides faith, God requires compliance with His will and the observance of His commandments. (d) St. James also positively declares that faith and good works must go hand in hand together (James ii. 24). 'By works a man is justified and not by faith only.' JUSTIFICATION. Sinners may be justified two ways, namely (1) by the Sacrament of Baptism, (2) by the Sacrament of Penance actually received or pet feet contrition, with a desire of it, when a priest cannot be had. When St. Paul said that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith, 'we account a man to be justified by faith without the works of the law ' (Rom. iii. 28), he referred to the Mosaic observances, which, apart from the merits of Christ, could not justify anyone. When the Scripture says that we are gratuitously justified] it means that our justification and the merit of our good work* rest primarily on a gratuitous grace from God, throug\ Jesus Christ His beloved Son. ' Quidquidinestpretii inejusmo^V actibus illis insit ex gratia praevenienti gratis prorsus collata ' (Hurter. Theol. Dog. iii n, 182). When the holy Fathers and spiritual writers speak of salvation by faith alone, they mean faith with its concomitant circumstances, practical faith, including the fear of God, sorrow for sin, a resolution to repair the past as far as we are able, and lead an exemplary life. That our sins are taken away by justification is evident from the words of Scripture used to express it, such as ' to take

away, to remit, to blot out, to wash away ' sins (' Auferri,' Joan i., 29; 'remitti deleri,' Act 11., 19; ' mundari,' Ephes. v., 26. 'ablui peccata,' 1, Cor. vi., II). (a) Sins being forgiven by justification, the eternal punishment due to them is also remitted. There is now, therefore, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus; who walk not according to the flesh (Rom. viii.). By justification man is interiorly renovated — - that is, not only are not his sins not imputed to him, but the Holy Ghost indwells within his soul, and renders it most beautiful and pleasing in the sight of God. It is a spiritual regeneration, a renovation, a resurrection (Cone, Trid., Sess. vi., cap. XI.). (b) By justification we become just, friends of God, partakers, in a certain manner of the divine nature (Amici, filii, consortes divinae naturae). (c) This justification is not a mere imputation of the merits of Christ to us ; it is a quality inlused into our soul and inherent to it. The Scripture positively says that Christ came into this world in order to make us saints, spotless and just (' Ut nos redderet sanctos, immaculatos, justos,' Ephes. i., 4, v., 25 : Tit. ii., 5). (d) The grace of justification is a permanent quality remaining in the soul (' Permanens et habitualis qualitas animae inherens,' Hurt, iii., n. 192). It diffuses throughout our souls a heavenly splendour, makes us living members of Christ, adopted children of God, future companions of the angels and saints, and partakers, as it were, of the Divine nature. (c) Venial sins are remitted either by the reception of the Sacrament of Penance, or an act of charity, or of the other Christian virtues. (/") By justification we receive the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Ghost and become his living tabernacle.

We may admit that John Wesley and his brother Charles were animated with the best and purest motives, but that they were mistaken in their zeal is also beyond doubt. Had the two gentlemen been less prejudiced against the Catholic Church, they would have found there all that they wanted to attain, the greatest perfection, and lead others to sanctity. The Moravians, whom the Rev. J. Wesley met in Georgia and Germany, were erratic stars which led him in the wrong direction. Because he found those peopie without any remorse of conscience or fear of death, and with a firm conviction that they were justified through Christ, he concluded that the way to appease remorse of conscience and obtain interior peace was justification by faith and the firm conviction that the merits of Christ are applied to us. As he was piously inclined he enforced respect for the name of God, the santification of the Sunday, prayer and other good works. It is those salutary practices which he recommended and his love Jttr the poor which explain how his sjstem, although with Wit any solid Biblical foundation, found an echo among the middle and poor classes. But as salvation by faith and the persuasion that we are actually justified through the merits of Christ is a fallacy, Methodism, which rests on this fundamental principle, is a most dangerous and pernicious error ; instead ot leading souls to heavenly bli^s it exposes them to endless misery. Again, as no one but God has a right to tell us on what conditions he is willing to justify and save us, the Rev. J. Wesley, in starting a new religious system, without any commission from God, was an innovator, and, whether he meant it or not, he deceived those who implicitly took for granted that everything he said was periectly true. The doctrine of justification by taith is contradicted by the practice and belief of all Christendom until the Reformation ; it is opposed even to-day by all Roman Catholics and all Eastern churches, who with them believe that we are justified by baptism and by penance., as we have explaired it. Methodists are not, therefore, as they do pretend, followers of the doctrine of the Primitive Church ; they are followers of Wesley, and have no other security for their justificaton by faith than his own gratuitous affirmation. Is it wise to believe him in preference to all the early Christian churches, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and the positive declarations of the Scriptures ? Although the Rev. J. Wesley recommended the practice of many good woiks, yet he left out many others equally important and commanded by Christ. He ajso substituted private judgment for the authority of the Church^established by Jesus Christ to teach us and to guide us. By the book, which he composed against the Catholic Church, and which is full of prejudice and unfounded assertions, he inspired his disciples I and their followers with a natural dislike and aversion against t- Roman Catholics, and it is hard to reconcile this intolerance w with his beautiful words about brotherly love and mutual charity for all men. His exaggerated notions about piety, as understood by him, made him condemn all profane songs and denounce as dangerous some perfectly innocent diversions. In one word, he attached too much importance to things of little consequence and lost sight of others far more important. The result is that Methodists consider as worldly or sintul men those who do not approve of all their views, and this promotes a spirit of pride and self-complacency. Although it is right to

help our friends, the strong recommendation to employ them always in preference to others and to deal with them whenever we can, is calculated to create a party spirit contrary to Christian charity, which embraces all men, unless by their conduct they should have shown themselves unworthy of confidence. Methodists also wrongly believe, on the authority of their founder, that all good works done before justification are sinful; they are not meritorious for heaven, but they may and often have a natural goodness and rectitude, and may even move God to bestow on those who perform them the grace of conversion. Praying in public for sinners is not either much in harmony with simplicity and charity. We may pray privately and in our churches for the conversion of sinners, but to think that all those who differ from us are sinners and declare them such, is not charitable ; it savours very much of the Pharisaical spirit, •I am not like the rest of men. lam a J u: jt man, you are a sinner.' God alone knows those who belong to Him. We are to judge no one, to condemn no one. We may denounce errors, hate evil, but let us in all cases be kindly disposed and well-wishing to all and never positively condemn them. ' Judge not, that you may not be judged. 1