LAST week we considered the free salvation of God by the faith that is the free gift of God, the faith that works by love.SITI October 15, 1896, page 4.1

The Catholic Denial of Faith.

Now of this faith it is the boast of the Catholic Church that she knows nothing. This is the very doctrine of faith, and of justification by faith, which produced the Reformation and made original, genuine Protestantism. And of this faith, and of the Reformation which was produced by it, the Catholic Church speaks thus:—SITI October 15, 1896, page 4.2

As in revolutions the leaders try to gain the people over by the bait of promised independence, so at the time of the so-called Reformation—which was a revolution against church authority and order in religion—it seems that it was the aim of the Reformers to decoy the people under the pretext of making them independent of the priests, in whose hands our Saviour has placed the administering the seven sacraments of pardon and of grace.SITI October 15, 1896, page 4.3

They began, therefore, by discarding five of these sacraments.... They then reduced, as it appears, to a matter of form, the two sacraments they professed to retain, namely, Holy Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. To make up for this rejection, and enable each individual to prescribe for himself, and procure by himself the pardon of sins and Divine grace, independently of the priests and of the sacraments, they invented an exclusive means, never known in the church of God, and still rejected by all the eastern churches and by the Roman Catholics throughout the world.... They have framed a new dogma of Justification by Faith Alone, or by Faith only.SITI October 15, 1896, page 4.4

Luther invented, as we have said, the doctrine, and was the first to affix such a meaning to the word faith.... And from that period only there existed man who saw in the word “faith,” occurring so frequently in Holy Scripture, that which has never been seen by the fathers, doctors, saints, and by the whole Church of God.—Catholic Belief, pp. 365, 366, 374.SITI October 15, 1896, page 4.5

The Faith of the Creed

THESE extracts are enough to show, and they declare plainly enough, that the Catholic Church does indeed know nothing of the faith which is of God, and which, because it is of God, bears in itself sufficient power and merit to justify and save the sinner who will allow it to work in him the righteousness of God. What meaning then does she affix to the word “faith”? Here it is:—SITI October 15, 1896, page 4.6

These texts, all of which refer to saving faith, prove beyond a doubt that not trust in Christ for personal salvation, but the faith of the Creed, ... is the faith availing for justification.—Ib., p. 370.SITI October 15, 1896, page 4.7

But who made the creed?—Men, and men only. Constantine was the chief agent in the making of the original Catholic creed, the Nicene Creed. Men being the sole authors of the creed, and “faith” being “the faith of the creed,” it follows at once that that faith is solely of themselves, of their own manufacture, and not the gift of God at all, and is therefore not true faith at all. For the true faith, the faith that really saves, is “not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” And as men only made the Catholic creed, and as Catholic faith is only “the faith of the creed,” it is as certain as anything can be that the Catholic faith is a base counterfeit that she would pass off upon all the world, and by force too, to supplant the true faith.SITI October 15, 1896, page 4.8

It is not enough, however, to say that it is a mere human invention; it comes from lower down than that. And she herself has given us the means of tracing it to its original. Here it is:—SITI October 15, 1896, page 4.9

By faith is not meant a trust in Christ for personal salvation, but evidently a firm belief that Jesus is the Messias, the Christ, the Son of God, that what is related of him in the Gospel is true, and that what he taught it true.—Ib., p. 369.SITI October 15, 1896, page 4.10

Examples of This Faith

Now there are recorded in the Scriptures several examples of this same identical “faith” here defined. And now, as we read these examples, and have the plain word of God as to what they were who held this “faith,” we can have no difficulty in knowing the real nature and origin of the Catholic faith, “the faith of the creed.”SITI October 15, 1896, page 4.11

Here is one: “And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him.” Luke 4:33-35.SITI October 15, 1896, page 4.12

Here is another: “And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known.” Mark 3:11, 12.SITI October 15, 1896, page 4.13

And here is another: “And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” Matthew 8:28, 29.SITI October 15, 1896, page 4.14

And yet another: “Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?” Acts 19:13-15.SITI October 15, 1896, page 4.15

In these examples there is every element of the “faith” above defined and set forth as the “saving faith” of the Catholic Church. Every one of these devils showed “evidently a firm belief,” and actually proclaimed it, “that Jesus is the Messias, the Christ, the Son of God”! And that legion of them that found a home with the swine and set the whole two thousand of them crazy, showed also “evidently a firm belief that what is related of him in the Gospel is true.” For from the beginning of the Gospel in this world it had been related of him that he should bruise the devil’s head; and it was indeed related of him that he should destroy the devil. And that this legion of devils had “evidently a firm belief” that this is true is clearly shown by their terrified inquiry, “Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” They thoroughly believed that this time of torment was coming, as it had been related; and what they feared now was that it was to befall them “before the time.”SITI October 15, 1896, page 4.16

Not only do these examples supply every element of that which is authoritatively defined and set forth as Catholic “saving faith,” showing it to be but the faith of the devils, but the Scripture plainly states that that is just the kind of faith that it is. Here are the words: “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well; the devils also believe, and tremble.” James 2:19. There is the plain word of the Lord, that this “faith” that is proudly set forth as the Catholic faith is simply the faith that the devils have. And it does not save them. It has no power to change their lives. They are devils still. And, moreover, Jesus forbade them to preach this “faith.”SITI October 15, 1896, page 4.17

Trusting a Dead Faith.

THIS is precisely “the faith of the creed.” It is of themselves and not of God. And being only of themselves, it is impotent to bring to them any virtue to change the life; it is powerless to work in them any good. Being incapable of working, it is a faith that is dead. And those who hold it, realizing that it is lifeless and so unable to do anything for them, are obliged to give it the appearance of life by doing great things for it in the multiplication of dead works. For, works that are not of faith, that are not wrought by the faith itself, are dead works. They are worse than valueless, for “whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Any faith that is not able to itself to produce, to work, but works of God in him who professes it, is a dead faith. It is “the faith of the creed.” It is the “faith” of the devils. It is the “faith” of the Papacy. And when such “faith” is passed off for Christianity, it is the mystery of iniquity, wherever it is found. And therefore it is that the Scripture, immediately after describing this “faith” of the devils, exclaims: “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” “Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?” James 2:20, 22. Thus the works by which faith was made perfect, were wrought by the faith itself. When the faith is living, the works of faith appear just as certainly as when the tree is living the fruit appears in its season.SITI October 15, 1896, page 4.18

The only thing that will be accepted in the judgment is works. The only works that will be accept in the judgment are works of righteousness. And the only righteousness that will be accepted or countenanced in any way whatever in the judgment is the righteousness of God. And this righteousness is a free gift to men, and is wrought in man by faith alone—“even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference.”SITI October 15, 1896, page 645.1

It is true that “the Church” says that “this faith,” “the faith of the creed,” this faith of the devils, “leads to trusting in Christ, and to all other virtues.” But it is a notable fact that it has not done this for the devils. And it is just as notable and just as apparent that “this faith” has not, in all these hundreds of years, led the Catholic Church to trusting in Christ nor to any other virtues.SITI October 15, 1896, page 645.2

October 8, 1896

October 22, 1896