to develop his dislike for good works in general, and led him by degrees to strike at the very roots of the Catholic system of sacraments and grace, of penance and satisfaction, in fact, all the instruments or means instituted by God both for conferring and increasing His saving relationship with man.”  Luther’s teaching on justification is said to be the inevitable reverse of his former self-exaltation.  Abandoning the indispensable virtue of humility, he had become a prey to spiritual pride, and had entered the monastery to achieve perfect righteousness by his own works.  He had disregarded the wise counsels of his brethren, who had warned him not to depend too much on his own powers, but seek the aid of God.  Then failing to make himself perfect, he had run to the other extreme and declared that there was nothing good in man at all, and that man could not of himself perform any worthy action.  Finally he had hit upon the idea that justification means, “not an infusion of justice into the heart of the person justified, but a mere external imputation of it.”  Faith, in Luther’s view, thus becomes an assurance that this imputation has taken place, and man accordingly need not give himself any more trouble about his salvation.

This teaching, Catholic writers contend, subverts the prominent teaching of the Scriptures that man must obey God and keep His commandments, that he must be perfect, even as his Father in heaven is perfect, that he must follow in the footsteps of Jesus who said:  “I am not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfil it.”  Furthermore, this teaching is said to dehumanize man and make out of him a stock and a stone, utterly unfit for any spiritual effort.  God, they say, constituted man a rational being and imposed certain precepts on him which he was free to keep or violate as he might choose unto eternal happiness or eternal misery.  The sin which all inherit from Adam has weakened the powers of man to do good, but it has not entirely abolished them.  There is still something good in man by nature, and if he wants to please God and obtain His aid in his good endeavors, he must at least do as much as is still in his power to do, and believe that God for Jesus’ sake will assist him to become perfect, if not in this life, then, at any rate, in the life to come.  He cannot avoid sin altogether, but he can avoid sin to a certain extent; he can at least lead an outwardly decent life.  That is worth something, that is “meritorious.”  He may not feel a very deep contrition over his wrong-doings, but he can feel at least an attrition, that is, a little sorrow, or he can wish that he might feel sorry.  That is worth something; that is “meritorious.”  He cannot love God with all his heart and all his soul, and all his strength, but he can love Him some.  That is worth something; that is “meritorious.”  Accordingly, when the rich young man asked the Lord what he must do to gain heaven, the Lord did not say, “Believe in Me, Accept Me for your personal