* * * When the Apostle asserts that man is justified by faith and gratuitously, his language is to be understood in that sense which the constant agreement of the Catholic church has affixed to it; in such a manner, namely, as that we are said to be justified by faith, because faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation and root of all justification, without which it is impossible to please God (Heb. xi:6). And we are said to be justified gratuitously, because none of those things which precede justification, whether faith or works, merits the grace itself of justification."[A] [Footnote A: Canones Concilii, Tridentini: De Justificatione vii, viii.] The contrast between Protestant and Catholic views on justification are even more distinctly seen when the anathematizing clauses of the Trent Council utterances are considered, and which are added to guard the Catholic faith. They follow: "If any one shall say that the sinner is justified by faith alone, in the sense that nothing else is required which may co-operate towards the attainment of the grace of justification, and that the sinner does not need to be prepared and disposed by the motion of his own will: _let him be accursed_. "If any one shall say, that men are justified either by the sole imputation of the righteousness of Christ, or by the sole remission of sin, to the exclusion of that grace and charity which is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, and which inheres in them, or shall say that the grace whereby we are justified is merely and only the favor of God: _let him be accursed_. "If any one shall say that justiying faith is nothing but confidence in the divine mercy remitting sin on account of Christ, or that this faith is the sole thing by which we are justified; _let him be accursed_." _Protestant Rejoinder:_ Upon this statement Shedd makes the following comment, with which, we think, not even Catholics would be displeased, as it but emphasizes their position on justification: "It will be perceived from these extracts that the Tridentine theologian regarded 'justification' as prospective and not retrospective, in its essential nature. It is not the forgiveness of 'sins that are past,' but the cure and prevention of sins that are present and future. The element of guilt is lost sight of, and the piacular [expiatory] work of Christ is lost sight of with it; and the whole work of redemption is interpreted to be merely a method of purification. Thus the Tridentine theory implies, logically, that sin is not guilt, but only disease and pollution. Furthermore, according to the papal theory, justification is not instantaneous, but successive. It is not a single and complete act upon the part of God, but a gradual process in the soul of man. For it is founded upon that inward holiness or love which has been infused by divine grace."[A] [Footnote A: History Christian Doctrine--Shedd--Vol. II, p. 326.] V.