54 8CR?PTt?RE. [Booer 1. bility by p/'ivate interpretation, why may he not understand any other doctrine of Scripture in the same way ? If he can, an infalhble guide is unnecessary. It is true, Dr. Wiseman, ih many of his lectures, op- poses the very rule which he here establishes, and Dr. Milner violently denounces it. But when both argue with Protestants, or when they address the common sense of mankind, they are compelled to use the very thing which they elsewhere condemn. 5. Here we may notice the boasted certainty of the Church of Rome as opposed to the doubt and uncertaint?t of Protestants. Dr. Milner boasts that Protestants, in consequence of their doubts, cannot make an act o/faiti. Indeed, most Protostants do not know what the thing is. We shall, thereforo, from the Douay Catechism, quote it, which is as tb!lows :--"As ACT OF FAITH.--0 great God! I firmly believe all those sacred truths which thy holy Catholic Church believes and teaches; because thou, who art truth itself, hast revealed them. Amen." Or take the act o/faith in the American Catholic Catechism: "0 my God ! I fn'mly believe all the 8acted truths the Catholic Church believes and teaches, because thou hast revealed them, who canst neither deceive nor be deceived." This is the sum total of a Roman Catholic's faith: and it is, in fact, no Christian or evangelical faith at all, but what almost every heathen believes, namely, that there is one God, and that he is t?th itself. But the Romanists have found a substitute for real belief. This substitute they have denominated implicit faith, by which they be- ll�re every thing, and know nothing, not even the terms of the pro- po?itions which they believe. 'When the lessons of the gospel, ?- being veiled in an unknown tongue, were no longer addressed to the understandings of the people, it was necessary that something should be substituted for faith, which always presupposes know- ledge. This something is what is called implicit faith. It is con- stituted thus: if you believe that all the religious principles, whatever they be, which axe believed by such particular persons are true, those persons who hold the principles are e?,plicit believers; you are an imp//- c/t believer of all their principles. Nor is your belief the less cities- claus, because you are iguor?nt of the principles themselves; for it does not hold here as in the faith whereof the apostle speaks: "How shall they belleve in Him of whom they have not heard ?" The trans- condent excellence of implicit faith consists in this,' that you have it in the highest perfection when, in regard to its object, you know nothing a?d have heard nothing at all. In brief, it is neither more nor less than being a believer by prox?j. Scripture saith, "You are saved through faith ;" and, "without faith it is impossible to please God." Now im- plicit faith is a curious device for pleazing God, and being saved by the tkith of others. It is, in fact, imputativefaith. - Or it is what is called in Italy.fidez carbehar/a, i.e., the cailler's faith, from the noted story which gives an account of a collier's answering questions to one who had made inquiries of him respecting his faith- the word carbonar/u.? signifying co/lief. "Qvas?. What do you believe .4.?q8. I believe what the church believes. Q. What does the churcl believe ? A. The church believes what I believe. Q. Well, then, whe is it that both you and the church believe ?. A. We both believe th? very same thing." This is implicit faith in perfeotion, and, in the esti. I �
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