http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08573a.htm 12). According to the now universally rejected opinion of the Nominalists (Occam, Gabriel Biel) and the Scotists (Mastrius, Henno) the contrast between grace and sin is based on a free decree and acceptation of God, or in other words, the contrast is merely moral. The justification of Luther's faith, he thought, was the doctrine of justification by faith. We assert this of Protestantism in general; for the doctrine of justification as defended by the reformed Churches differs only in non-essentials from Lutheranism. 23: "Indeed, neither contrition nor love nor any other virtue, but faith alone is the means by which we can reach forth and obtain the grace of God, the merit of Christ and the remission of sin.") Cf. Cf. let him be anathema"). With the "arm of faith" the sinner eagerly reaches out for this righteousness and puts it on as a cloak of grace, covering and concealing therewith his misery and his sins. (Cf. The doctrine of justification by faith alone was considered by Luther and his followers as an incontrovertible dogma, as the foundation rock of the Reformation, as an “article by which the Church must stand or fall” (articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesioe), and which of itself would have been a sufficient cause for beginning the Reformation, as the Smalkaldic Articles emphatically declare. It is well known that Luther in his German translation of the Bible falsified Romans 3:28, by interpolating the word "alone" (by faith alone), and to his critics gave the famous answer: "Dr. Martin Luther wants it that way, and says, 'Papist and ass are the same thing: sic volo, sic jubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas'." Thus we find in one of Luther’s letters, written to Melanchthon in 1521, the following sentence: “Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ more strongly, who triumphed over sin, death, and the world; as long as we live here, we must sin.” Could anyone do more to degrade St. Paul’s concept of justification than Luther did in the following blasphemy: “If adultery could be committed in faith, it would not be a sin “? The solution of the lively controversy on this point between Fr. Solid. We have an authentic explanation of the Catholic doctrine in the famous “Decretum de justification” of the Sixth Session (January 13, 1547) of the Council of Trent, which in sixteen chapters (cf. dikaiosis), a biblio-ecclesiastieal term, which denotes the transforming of the sinner from the state of unrighteousness to the state of holiness and sonship of God. III, § 15: “Through the obedience of Christ by faith the just are so declared and reputed, although by reason of their corrupt nature they still are and remain sinners as long as they bear this mortal body.” This so-called “fiduciary faith” is not a religious-moral preparation of the soul for sanctifying grace, nor a free act of cooperation on the part of the sinner; it is merely a means or spiritual instrument (instrumentum, Greek: organonleptikon) granted by God to assist the sinner in laying hold of the righteousness of God, thereby to cover his sins in a purely external manner as with a mantle. Prof. Paulsen of Berlin was therefore justified in eulogizing Kant, who followed Luther in this matter, as the Philosopher of Protestantism". The Counter Reformation, or Catholic Reformation, began at the Council of Trent in . VI, cap. Since neither charity nor good works contribute anything towards justification — inasmuch as faith alone justifies — their absence subsequently cannot deprive the just man of anything whatever. For they declared contrition and penance as also necessary for justification, thus "coming dangerously near the Catholic system", as Derner expresses it ("Geschichte der protest. This opinion was censured by the Holy Office (December 14, 1887), not only because without any reason it defended a twofold remission of sin, but also because it stamped indeliberate acts as sins (cf. With the “arm of faith” the sinner eagerly reaches out for this righteousness and puts it on as a cloak of grace, covering and concealing therewith his misery and his sins. By this doctrine Luther opened a fundamental breach between religion and morality, between faith and law, and assigned to each its own distinct sphere of action in which each can attain its end independent of the other. 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