No question is of more eternal significance than this one: How is a sinner able to stand before a holy God? These questions have divided the Protestant church and the Roman church for centuries. In this rare book, William Pemble, a 17th century Puritan, looks at the issues and shows how faith alone in the finished work of Christ is what justifies. He specifically challenges the teaching of the Council of Trent as taught by Robert Bellarmine, the Roman church's champion of that era. Soli Deo Gloria has published two other titles on the doctrine of justification—one a compilation of essays by modern preachers and writers (John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, John Armstrong, etc.), the other by Jonathan Edwards. But this one is unique in that it was written in the 17th century by a Puritan preacher, and therefore it deals most specifically and directly with the traditional Roman Catholic arguments on justification. Since it was written within 100 years of the Council on Trent, and since the Tridentine statement on justification has never been altered or retracted by the Roman church, this rebuttal of Roman dogma is the best of its kind. You haven't really gotten the best arguments against Romanism until you have devoured Pemble's work. This is the first reprinting of it in over three hundred years. John Calvin said that justification by faith alone is the article on which the church stands or falls. It is also the article on which the individual stands or fall. Here is solid footing on which to stand!