Xr 
 
 CONFIRMATION TRACT: 
 
 TOUCHING A FEW 
 
 PRACTICAL AND VITAL QUESTIONS, 
 
 IN THAT CONNECTION, NOT USUALLY TREATED, 
 
 BY 
 
 J. S. COLE, B.A., 
 
 PRESBYTER IN THE DIOCESE OF ALGOMA, ONTARIO. 
 
 TORONTO : 
 JIOWSELL & HUTCHISON. 
 
 1879. 
 
CONFIRMATION TRACT 
 
 Touching a few Practical and Vital Questions 
 IN that connection, not usually treated, 
 
 By J. S. COLE, B.A. 
 
 PRESBYTER IN THE DIOCESE OF ALGOMA, ONTARIO. 
 
 QUESTIONS. 
 
 I. What is God's Message to Man through Christ ? 
 II. What is the Sacramental System of Christ's 
 Church ? 
 
 III. Is Confirmation Scriptural } 
 
 IV. Was " Laying on of Hands" used only in the 
 
 case of those to be ordained to the Ministry ? 
 V. Was it intended to convey miraculous gifts only? 
 VI. Can we infer from Scripture that Confirmation 
 was ordained by Christ Himself.'' 
 
VII. Is it of Vital Importance to continue it in the 
 
 present day ? 
 VIII. What is Confirmation ? 
 IX. What is the knowledge required by the Church 
 
 from those presented for Confirmation ? 
 X. What is the doctrine of Prayer ? If you do not 
 receive an answer to your Prayers, from what 
 five causes, one or all, does this arise .'* 
 XL Should you for some time before Confirmation 
 pray daily for God's blessing on the step you 
 are about to take, on your Fellow-candidates, 
 your Bishop, and your Clergyman ? And have 
 you a right to expect the blessing you pray 
 for? 
 XII. What are the prwcz/'al duties for Christians not 
 mentioned in the Ten Commandments given 
 by Moses to the Israelites ? 
 
 XIII. In professing Religion must you give up what 
 
 are called " Worldly Amusements" ? 
 
 XIV. In what sense must the Christian be " not of 
 
 this World" ? 
 XV. What is the nature of the Pledges taken in the 
 Sacraments touching the question of Tem- 
 perance ? Are those Pledges sufficient, or is 
 the Christian bound to take some further 
 Pledge > 
 XVI. What is the teaching of Scripture with regard to 
 the SigJis of Salvation ? and how does the 
 teaching of thousands of Denominational 
 Pulpits obscure this teaching } 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 
 
 I. What is God's Message to Man through 
 
 Christ ? 
 
 Ans. He that believeth and is baptised shall be 
 saved. 
 
 Q. How comes it that Paul, in announcing the 
 message to the Philippian gaoler, seems to suppress 
 one half ? how is it that our Lord founded his promise 
 on two conditions and his apostle, seems to give forth 
 only one ? How shall we reconcile the two messages? 
 
 Ans. In the first place, neither message was com- 
 plete ; our Lord's was only a summary ; Paul's only 
 an introduction. We find that within one hour of the 
 apostle's havingdeliveredhis message he had instructed 
 the gaoler as to baptism, and had actually baptised his 
 whole family or household. Neither message \w3iS finals 
 that is, as it was given ; belief requires explanation as 
 including obedience, (in baptism as in other matters), 
 and baptism requires explanation as pointing to much 
 which a single word cannot hint at. The two messages 
 are practically the same ; and other passages of Scrip- 
 ture will enable us to pharaphrase thus : — He that 
 believing, joins my Church for the purposes for which 
 I founded it, and remains therein a living member,, 
 working obediently in it and for it, becoming my 
 disciple, and entering on and continuing in a sacra- 
 mental course, the same shall be saved. It would be 
 useless outwardly to join the Church for false pur- 
 poses, as faith would be absent ; useless to join and 
 then to leave it ; useless to join it without some 
 
obedience and some work ; while it is a contradiction 
 and seems therefore to be a denial of one's faith, to 
 receive Christ's first sacrament, and yet, having the 
 opportunity, to neglect His second sacrament. It is, 
 at least, an act of wilful disobedience. 
 
 However short the message, much is contained in it, 
 because much is to be understood by it, as Scripture 
 itself shews, and that I have not, in the above para- 
 phrase, gone beyond Scripture, a glance at the follow- 
 ing passages will suffice to prove. The message is 
 large not only in the spirit of its promises but of its 
 conditions. 
 
 " He that endureth to the end shall be saved." Matt. 
 
 X. 22. 
 
 " I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat." 
 Matt. XXV. 31-46. 
 
 " For we being many are one bread and one body ; 
 for we are all partakers of that one bread." i Cor. 
 X. 17 ; also Matt. vii. 12. 
 
 II. What is the Sacramental System of the 
 
 Church } 
 
 Ans. The Church invites, nay commands, all 
 Christian parents to come and dedicate their offspring 
 to God at an early age. The child is to be taught as 
 soon as it can understand, to look back at the vows 
 and pledges under which it is living and to remember 
 its high and holy privileges ; taught also to look for- 
 ward to the day when it shall itself solemnly renew 
 the pledge of Christianity in sight of the congregation, 
 and dedicate itself afresh to Christ. Alas what evils 
 
have arisen through not keeping these things present in 
 the child's mind ! But the young person is not left 
 here, but is commanded further to come frequently to 
 the Lord's table and there to dedicate himself afresh 
 to God, " and here we offer and present unto thee, O 
 Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reason- 
 able, holy, and lively sacrifice unto thee." And does 
 not such a system, even setting aside for the moment 
 all mystery connected with it, specially commend itself 
 to the judgment and to common sense; nor less so 
 in these days when we hear so much of the value of 
 taking pledges; and should it not inspire us with heart- 
 felt gratitude to Him who has had, in this, such tender 
 solicitude for his young followers ? 
 
 IIL Ls Confirmation Scriptural ? 
 
 Ans. It is true that some modern bodies of profess- 
 ing Christians have discarded this practice, handed 
 down from apostolic times ; and it is true that Con- 
 firmation, under that name, is not taught in Scripture ; 
 perhaps even it is to be regretted that the rite is now 
 spoken of under two names ; but when we turn to our 
 prayer books to learn what the ceremony is as admin- 
 istered in the Anglican branch of Christ's Church we 
 find the title " The Order for Confirmation, or laying 
 on of hands upon those that are baptised, and come to 
 years of discretion." 
 
 See Hebrews vi. i, 2. "Therefore leaving the /n;/- 
 ciples of the doctrine of Christ let us go on unto per- 
 fection ; not laying again the foundation of (i) 
 repentance from dead works, and (2) of faith toward 
 
God, of (3) the doctrine of baptisms, and (4) laying on 
 of hands, and (5) of resurrection of the dead, and (6) 
 of eternal judgment." 
 
 Acts viii. 14-20. "Now when the apostles which 
 were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received 
 the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John ; 
 who, when they were come down, prayed for them that 
 they might receive the Holy Ghost; Cfor as yet he was 
 fallen upon none of them : only they were baptised in 
 the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then lair' they their 
 hands on theiriy and they received the Holy Ghost." 
 
 Acts xix. 1-6. "And it came to pass that while 
 Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through 
 the upper coasts came to Ephesus : and finding certain 
 disciples, he said unto them, have ye received the Holy 
 Ghost since ye believed .'* And they said unto him» 
 we have not so much as heard whether there be any 
 Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, unto what then 
 were ye baptised .-* And they said, unto John's baptism. 
 Then said Paul, John verily baptised with the baptism 
 of repentance, saying unto the people that they should 
 believe on him which sliould come after him, that is 
 on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were 
 baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when 
 Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost 
 came on them, and they spake with tongues and 
 prophesied." 
 
 Q. What do these passages prove } 
 
 Ans. We first see that the " laying on of hands" 
 was a rite practised by the apostles. Secondly, that 
 they enable us to answer the following question : 
 
IV. Was Laying on of Hands only used in 
 the case of those to ije ordained to the 
 Ministry ? 
 
 The bulk of the population in Samaria having been 
 baptised, the apostles sent there, laid hands on them 
 without distinction, not on some few specially set apart 
 for the ministry. There is not the slightest ground for 
 supposing that Samaria was ordained. Nor could the 
 apostle have mentioned laying on of hands as a princi- 
 ple or foundation of the Christian religion, if it had 
 been intended for the few. In Hebrews vi. i, 2, the 
 apostle gives, as it were, the alphabet of Christian 
 teaching and practice, meant for all ; and the laying 
 on of hands is, as it were, one of the letters of the very 
 alphabet of Christ's religion. 
 
 V. Was THE Laying on of Hands intended to 
 
 Confer Miraculous Gifts only ? 
 
 Ans. No ; because those who received the rite, 
 received the Holy Ghost ; and we learn that miracu- 
 lous gifts are not the highest gifts of the Holy 
 Ghost. " To 07ie is given by the Spirit the word of 
 wisdom ; to another, the word of knowledge by the 
 saine Spirit ; to another faith by the same Spirit ; to 
 another, the gifts of healing by the same Spirit ; to 
 another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; 
 to another, discerning of spirits ; to another, divers 
 kinds of tongues ; to another, the interpretation of 
 tongues. But all these worketh that one and the 
 self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he 
 will." I Cor. xii. 8-1 1. But further, none of these 
 
8 
 
 gifts was the highest gift conferred ; for " though I 
 speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and 
 have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, 
 or a tinkling cymbal ; and though I have the gift 
 of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all 
 knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I 
 could remove mountains, and have not charity, it 
 profiteth me nothing'' i Cor. xiii. 1-3. And in verse 
 13: And noiv abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, 
 but the greatest of these is charity. And the apostle 
 teaches that all other gifts are transitory ; the spirit 
 of love which is the spirit of God, the mind of Christ 
 never faileth. The Spirit's gift of Himself is the all- 
 important one. 
 
 VI. Can We infer from Scripture that Con- 
 firmation WAS ordained by Christ Himself } 
 
 Ans. We would answer this question by an illustra- 
 tion. Suppose the owner of an estate to be leaving 
 the neighbourhood where he had been living, and to 
 leave his estate in the charge of a friend or bailiff, 
 and suppose that we heard his parting instructions to 
 this effect : " Mind and do all those things I spoke of, 
 and remember to put me up a new house." Now, if 
 shortly after the owner's departure, we find the bailiff 
 spending large sums of money on bridging over a 
 gully, for instance, what do we at once conclude ? I 
 say that, if ive knew hint to be an honest man, we 
 should at once conclude that he was, in so doing, 
 carrying out those wishes of the proprietor to which 
 we heard allusion made, but which we did not actually 
 
hear. This is just our position with regard to our 
 Lord, and the laying on of hands. See the last two- 
 verses of Matthew : 
 
 " Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising 
 them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
 of the Holy Ghost ; teaching tlieni to observe all 
 things whatsoever I have commanded yoit : and, lo, 
 I am with you alway, even to the end of the world." 
 
 There were many things taught by the Lord Jesus 
 not recorded in the gospels ; and, when he had left 
 the earth we find the apostle making this laying on of 
 hands a matter of extreme importance, since they did 
 not remit its administration to the deacon who could 
 baptise, but sent two of their own number. The first 
 step in Christian life could be taken under a deacon ; 
 the second step, the higher steps, could only be taken 
 under the highest officers of the Church. The apostles 
 sent two of their number to confirm Samaria, without 
 any apparent deliberation, as if their instructions were 
 minute on this head. Can we for one moment sup- 
 pose that they did this without their Lord's authority ?' 
 
 VIL Is IT OF Vital Importance to Continue 
 Confirmation in the Present Day ? 
 
 Ans. If confirmation were ordained by the lips of 
 the Lord Jesus, and if the apostles made so important 
 a matter of it as to confer the rite themselves only, 
 then must it indeed be a vital matter ; and if the 
 apostles were to teach their converts to observe all 
 things Christ had commanded to them, then we see 
 that this was to continue. For we see that our Lord. 
 2 
 
10 
 
 was addressing . the apostles, not in their individual 
 capacity, but as representatives of a continual ministry; 
 otherwise he could not have said, " And, lo, I am with 
 you alway, even to the end of the world " ; the words 
 of the promise would have had no meaning as 
 addressed to men about to leave the zuorld in a few 
 years. 
 
 O. But since we cannot offer a mathematical 
 demonstration sufficient to convince all minds that the 
 administration of the rite was commanded by the lips 
 of the Lord Jesus himself, how can we be certain that 
 ive should practise it now ? 
 
 Ans. If Christ did not give command as to Con- 
 firmation by his own lips, we are stili in the same 
 position ; because the apostles were under the guid- 
 ance of that Comforter he sent them, both to call to 
 remembrance former instructions, and to guide them 
 into all truth. Hence, on the authority of apostolic 
 practice, handed down from their times, the Church 
 administers the rite of Confirmation, knowing it to be 
 a " foundation principle " of Christ's religion. 
 
 VIII. What is Confirmation } 
 
 Ans. Confirmation is the act of professing before 
 the Church, and before the world, that you are a 
 Christian, holding the faith, and endeavouring to follow 
 the practice ; that you hope and intend, God helping 
 you, to put Christian duty before all other things ; 
 that you think it a privilege to be a member of Christ's 
 Church, and of that branch called the Church of 
 England. It is signing, as it were, the pledge of 
 
II 
 
 Christianity on your coming of age in the Church, as 
 ordained by Christ, and promising to remain in and 
 support the Church in which yon are confirmed according 
 to conscience. It is seeking God's Holy Spirit in His 
 own appointed way, and dedicating ourselves to Him. 
 Though a foundation stone of Christianity, it is a 
 much neglected rite. 
 
 But an objection may here be urged. Our Church 
 says nothing about remaining in her ; and many 
 people seem to think they may be Presbyterians 
 to-day, and Roman Catholics to-morrow ; perhaps 
 Methodists next week, and so on, without sin. Our 
 Church did not contemplate any such state of things ; 
 hence no remark thereon. But common sense teaches, 
 common honesty teaches, that when in any institution 
 you have taken solemn entrance-pledges, it is not 
 competent to you to leave without dishonour. How 
 much more so in the case of Christ's Church. The 
 Church which has conferred on you the rite of baptism, 
 and promises participation in the higher sacrament, to 
 her a life-long gratitude should be always tendered. 
 You cannot change your ** Church" or your "denomi- 
 nation " for the sake of a few municipal votes, for 
 political or other influence, without committing a great 
 sin. If you are baptised, you are a member of the 
 baptising body ; and there is only one case in which 
 you can rightly leave that body ; namely, when, by a 
 study of God's Word, you (i) believe her to be in 
 error ; and (2) are convinced the one you are about to 
 join is a purer representative of Christ's Church on 
 earth. We therefore said remaining, in her "according 
 
12 
 
 to conscience." If yon have not been listejiing to her 
 teaching ; if you have not been trying to follow her 
 practice and system ; if you have been neglecting the 
 aids to faith your Lord has sent you, no wonder if you 
 drift hither and thither ; or even end in the darkness 
 of the blackest atheism. There are vast differences 
 between the teaching of some bodies of professing 
 Christians and that of others. We want the gospel 
 whole and imadulterated ; beware of countenancing 
 any falsification of it. " If there come any unto you, 
 and bring not this doctrine, i ^eive him not into your 
 house, neither bid him God sp ed : for he that biddeth 
 him God speed, is partaker of his evil deeds!* 2 John, 
 lo-ii. At all events, as churchmen you must give a 
 life-long and loyal support to your Church. 
 
 IX. What is the Knowledge required by 
 THE Church from those Presented for 
 Confirmation > 
 
 Ans. In the words of the Prayer Book, " Ye are to 
 take care that this child be brought to the Bishop to 
 be confirmed by him, so soon as he can say the 
 Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments 
 in the vulgar tongue, and be further instructed in the 
 Church Catechism set forth for that purpose." 
 
 Q. Does, then, the Church suppose any benefit to 
 come of saying a prayer or creed ? 
 
 Ans. No ; it is not to be supposed that she teaches 
 that benefitwould be derived from a creed lyingly stated 
 or not believed ; (and to be believed it must be in some 
 degree understood ;) nor that it is saying a prayer by 
 
13 
 
 heart, but from the heart, that will benefit. But you 
 cannot use that special prayer which our Lord has 
 so graciously taught us to use, without knowing it by 
 heart ; while the repetition of a creed may be an aid 
 to faith. Otherwise an apostle could not have taught 
 us to hold fast a creed or " form of sound words." 
 But saying a creed won't save you, cries one ; just as 
 another urges that belonging to a certain church won't 
 save ; just as they might urge, though they never do, 
 that hearing grand sermons won't save. But hearing 
 sermons may rouse the unbelievers or the sluggish to 
 take a practically Christian stand ; and may help us 
 onward in our Chistian course. So, too, the saying of a 
 creed may be one means of holding us to our beliefs, 
 of strengthening our faith, of preserving us from many 
 errors. Paul did not actually say to Timothy that 
 holding fast the form of sound words would save him, 
 but he did, nevertheless, tell him to hold fast the creed 
 that he had received ; and so we know it must be an 
 advantage to have and to use a creed. Our Lord did 
 not teach that being baptised into his Church would 
 save a man without belief, and its natural logical 
 consequences ; yet baptism is said to save. Charity, not 
 faith, is the end and object of religious teaching ; 
 but though some sort of faith may exist without 
 charity, yet, humble-minded Christian charity cannot 
 exist except on the foundation of faith. And so, Paul, 
 knowing this, and understanding the value of having a 
 creed and using it, writes to Timothy to hold fast the 
 form of sound words. But lest we should fall into the 
 error of supposing that the mere holding fast a form 
 
H 
 
 of words, however sound, would be of any value 
 in itself, he adds, " in faith and love which are in Christ 
 Jesus." Hold by your creed in faith and love. In that 
 creed you have the answer to Pilate's question : "What 
 is truth r' The great central truth of the universe is, 
 that God has come to earth in the person of the only 
 begotten Son, Jesus Christ. There is the all-needful 
 truth which alone can solve the many riddles round 
 us ; there lies the great truth to which all others are 
 related, whose contradiction therefore is the greatest 
 lie. Without this truth we really know nothing of 
 God, nothing of ourselves, nothing of morality, nor 
 have we any foundation for many of the things we hold 
 most dear. 
 
 Q. But is it true, as we so often hear, that God calls 
 on us to believe, and not to reason } 
 
 Ans. No; though this is a very common error among 
 theologians, and one working extreme mischief Can 
 anything be more misleading .-* Was Thomas called 
 to believe, and not to reason ? Was he blamed for 
 reasoning ? No. He was blamed for most unreasoning 
 incredulity. He had the evidence of several honest 
 witnesses whom he knew well, and he rejected in the 
 matter of the resurrection, evidence he would have 
 received on any other point. And why ; because he 
 reasoned ? No ; but because he /lad not reasoned. 
 Having known the Lord Jesus, he should, to have 
 been reasonable, have expected remarkable occur- 
 rences, and, in his case, have received news of a 
 miraculous nature on any really good evidence, such 
 as he would have been ready to receive on other 
 
IS 
 
 matters. What did our Lord's woj'd mean, " Believe 
 me for the very work's sake," but, reason out my 
 Messiahship from what takes place before your eyes ? 
 We walk by faith, and not by sight ; yet not by an 
 illogical faith. Suppose a man comes to you, and says 
 he is the bearer of a message to you from Queen 
 Victoria, what would be reasonable conduct on your 
 part ? You might require very strong evidence to 
 convince you of the fact, but the fact once established^ 
 you would then receive communications from this 
 person with regard to things on which you could not 
 reason or get other evidence. So with the Bible and 
 the Church. The intrinsic beauty of the teaching, and 
 the historical testimony regarding the Church and her 
 foundation having once convinced you that the one is 
 God's word, and the other God's institution for man's 
 salvation, you can accept revelations about God which 
 are beyond reason and examination, so long as they 
 are not contrary thereto. So Jar from faith being 
 contrary to reason^ it is actually founded on it. 
 
 X. What is the Doctrine of Prayer } 
 
 (1) Matt. vi. 15. "But if ye forgive not men their 
 trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your tres- 
 passes." 
 
 (2) Matt. vii. 7. "Ask, and it shall be given j(?//." 
 
 (3) John XV. 7. " If ye abide in me, and my zvords 
 abide in yon, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be 
 done unto you." 
 
 (4) Matt, xviii. 19, 20. "Again I say unto you, that 
 if two of yott shall agree on earth as touching any 
 
i6 
 
 thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them 
 of my Father which is in Heaven. For where two or 
 three are gathered together in my navic, there am I in 
 the midst of them." 
 
 (5) Matt. xxi. 22. "And all things whatsoever ye 
 shall ask in prayer believing^ ye shall receive." 
 
 (6) James iv. 3. Ye ask and receive not, because 
 ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your 
 lusts." 
 
 Q. What do we learn from the above passages } 
 Ans. We have in the first place a general assurance 
 that God hears prayer ; and then we have the limita- 
 tions to this, teaching that if we expect no anszvcr to 
 our prayers we shall receive none ; nor if we ask that 
 which we have no right to ask. But when we are 
 taught by the Spirit to ask according to God's will, 
 and to expect, we shall receive. These things are 
 generally taught and borne in mind. We pray for 
 strength to act ; and we receive it ; our prayers influ- 
 ence our actions. But what seems so generally for- 
 gotten is, that our actions influence our prayers. If 
 we forgive not, for instance, our prayers for forgiv^e- 
 ness fall idle ; and it is to the most faithful servant 
 that prayer is most fully answered, for "the eyes of 
 the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open 
 to their cry. But the face of the Lord is against them 
 that do evil." It is the Christian in the character of 
 Christian, abiding in Christ, with Christ's words abid- 
 ing in him, to whom all the promises about prayer 
 are addressed. In him Christ dwells, and works, and 
 prays. The expression, "in my name," in Matt, xxiii., 
 
is a very large one ; for can we be said to be asking 
 in Christ's natne, if we have not even joined His 
 Church (or intend to join) ; or if we are not lively 
 members of it, workers in it ? Can we be said to be 
 asking in His name, if we are breaking our entrance 
 vows, or living in gross sin ? To hope for Christ's 
 presence in our midst, when two unite in a petition, it 
 must be in the character of true disciples, if not of 
 advanced Christians ; and our petitions must be at 
 least of such a class as our Lord, in His human 
 capacity, might have offered up himself. 
 
 Prayers should precede action ; but action should 
 follow on prayer. What shall we say of prayers that 
 are meant to end in prayers ? Shall we say that they 
 will not be answered .-* We dare not say that ; but we 
 cannot hope that they will be largely blessed. If^ 
 therefore, your prayers are unanswered, yon (i) ask for 
 the wrong things^ or (2) yon ask not expecting, or (3) 
 yo2i are living in gross sin, are (4) unforgivi^tg, or else 
 are (5) not a member of Christ's Church at all. 
 
 Xn. Should you Pray Daily for God's Bless- 
 ing ON THE Step you are about to take 
 (Confirmation) on your Fellow-Candi- 
 dates, YOUR Bishop, and your Clergyman. 
 
 Ans. We may answer in the words of Luke xi. 13: 
 "If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts 
 unto your children, how much more shall your 
 heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that 
 ask him .-'" We cannot be " asking amiss," when we 
 ask for God's Holy Spirit ; and the whole doctrine 
 3 
 
i8 
 
 of prayer would point to Confirmation as a special 
 season when your prayer would be heard and largely 
 answered. But to cultivate love to the brethren ; and 
 particularly to those v/ho prophesy or teach among 
 you, you should add prayers for them and others ; our 
 prayers should not be narrow or self-loving only, and 
 we can hardly conceive anything more calculated to 
 enable you to go to Confirmation in a proper frame 
 of mind, or more rightly to receive it, and large 
 blessings with it, than the daily prayer for those 
 about to be associated with you in the iioly and 
 apostolic rite. 
 
 XII. What are the Principal Duties for 
 Christians, not mentioned in the Ten 
 Commandments, given through Moses to 
 the Israelites > 
 
 (i) To believe in the name of the only begotten 
 Son of God ; to be careful not to deny Him, careful 
 to confess. 
 
 (2) To be baptised into Christ's Church and then to 
 abide in (a) the doctrine, (d) the Church, (c) the break- 
 ing of bread, (d) prayer. 
 
 (3) To do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
 and to the glory of God. 
 
 (4) To follow after charity, including humility. 
 
 (5) To visit the Christian in prison, to clothe him 
 -and feed him when he requires. 
 
 (6) To do good unto all men, but especially unto 
 them that are of the household of faith. 
 
19 
 
 (7) Love your enemies : he that hateth his brother 
 is a murderer. 
 
 (8) Visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, 
 and keep tinspotted from the world. 
 
 (9) To be sober. 
 
 (10) To be truthful. 
 
 (11) To be industrious. 
 
 (12) To bridle the tongue. 
 
 (13) To watch and pray, and not indulge in thought 
 or imaginings of sins. 
 
 Q. But with regard to the commandments, do not 
 people break the 4th, by not keeping the seventh day 
 holy ? 
 
 Ans. Yes, the keeping a seventh day is not the 
 meaning of the 4th commandment, but the seventh 
 day ; always so understood by the Hebrews, or those 
 who understood the Jewish language. The Christian 
 breaks the Jewish Sabbath with impunity ; but he sets 
 aside the Lord's day for the breaking of bread and 
 public worship in the assembly, according to early 
 practice in the Church. The Sabbath was instituted to 
 commemorate the deliverance from Egypt. See 
 Deuteronomy v. 15. The Lord's day is kept in com- 
 memoration of our Lord's victory over death and the 
 grave, and is a far grander and more important day. 
 The phraseology used on this matter by divines is 
 often unscriptural, often illogical. For a full discussion 
 of the subject, see Paley's Moral Philosophy, chapters 
 vi. and vii. 
 
20 
 
 XIII. In Professing Religion must you give up 
 
 WHAT ARE CALLED WORLDLY AMUSEMENTS. 
 
 See I Cor. x. 27. " If any of them that beh'eve not 
 bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go ; whatso- 
 ever is set before you eat, asking no question for 
 conscience sake." 
 
 If we have only this one passage as our guide with 
 regard to so-called worldly amusements, one single 
 such passage is all-sufficient to answer the various 
 questions on this head. Suppose that you have just 
 been confirmed, and you are about to accept an invita- 
 tion to join in some so-called worldly amusements ; 
 some narrow-minded but well-intentioned friend comes 
 in and says, (i) but will you not be wasting your time 
 by going, of which as a Christian you must not be 
 guilty .-* (2) will you not be running into the way of 
 temptation ; (3) going into bad company; (4) setting 
 a bad example ? (5) you cannot ask God's blessing 
 before you go ; nor (6) his blessing while there ; (7) 
 you will not hear any religious conversation ; (8) no 
 grace will be pronounced before meat ? Can you then 
 as a Christian go ? You have//// on Christ ; and you 
 have come forward in confirmation, and professed 
 Christ, professed tv be Jiis folloiver, how can you go 
 into the ordinary assemblies of society ? Well it would 
 seem that just such questions had arisen in the early 
 Church, and just such discussions. But, however that 
 may be, we have in the foregoing apostolic instructions 
 an answer, and a sufficient answer to all such questions. 
 And would to God that a simple passage of Scripture 
 
21 
 
 could be taken in its simpHtity, and that pharisaical 
 people would not imagine one a heathen, because he 
 believes his Bible to be wiser than man's fanciful 
 teachings. Beware how you parody Christ's religion 
 by preaching false views of the nature of sin and the 
 nature of holiness, and mixing up with the teachings 
 of Scripture mere fancies and superstitions of men. 
 
 Paul was anxious that his converts not only should 
 know well the extent of Christian duty, but also the 
 extent of Christian liberty, and the limitations of Chris- 
 tian responsibility. And we find, I think, a marked 
 vein of teetotalism running throughout all Christian 
 doctrine, a tremendous vein of wholesale earnestness of 
 purpose. " He that loveth father or mother more than 
 me, is not worthy of m \ He that loveth his life shall 
 lose it. He that taketh not his cross, and followeth 
 after me, is not worthy of me. He having put his hand 
 to the plough, and looking back, is not fit for the king- 
 dom of Heaven. If thine hand or thy foot offend 
 thee, cut them off!' Am I not right in calling this a 
 tremendous vein of teetotalism running throughout 
 Christ" s teaching? Not if by teetotalism we mean 
 total abstinence in one direction. Here we have the 
 doctrine of total abstinence as to any and every thing 
 that causes us to stumble. The Christian pays no 
 tythes to God ; he gives no special days only ; all his 
 money ; all his time ; all his talents, are his Master's ; 
 and he offers and dedicates himself in soul and body 
 to his Lord. Paul knew this. And yet he could say 
 to his beloved converts, that they might attend a 
 heathen feast ; setting no bad example ; without any 
 
22 
 
 waste of time ; asking God's blessing before they went 
 and His protection while they stayed ; though they 
 should hear no religious conversation, and no blessing 
 should be asked at meat ; they would not be running 
 into temptation ; not be thus frequenters of bad com- 
 pany. Had it been otherwise the earnest, the enthu- 
 siastic Paul could never have advised their going. 
 
 Q. But can a Christian ever wish to frequent such 
 an assembly ? 
 
 Ans. We are told by many he will not ; but mark, 
 they are those who venture to go where the apostles 
 dared not tread. Because a man is converted, his na- 
 tural tastes have undergone no change ; only there is 
 now a principle within to direct and to curb them. A 
 Christian, Paul well knew, might be disposed to attend 
 a heathen feast. He did not address his converts like 
 the great religious teacher, who, in speaking to a lady 
 disposed to attend a dance, told her she must give up 
 dancing, or else must give up Christ. You have just 
 been confirmed, and you are asked to play a game at 
 whist, or billiards, or drink a glass of wine, or beer. 
 or to go to a dance, or to attend a theatre. These 
 are practical every day questions. What are you to 
 do? Do "as you are disposed." But.why.? Because 
 Christianity does not consist in these things at all, fior 
 in abstaining fro,n than except in certain circumsta?tces 
 to be considered by and by. You cannot help doing 
 things which some will over-do ; you cannot avoid all 
 institutions which are abused. You are not to avoid 
 study because a Fitzroy or a Hugh Miller over-did the 
 thing, became insane, and died by their own hands ; 
 
23 
 
 you are not to avoid books, because some people read 
 bad books, or some spend too much time or money- 
 over good ones. Never read an immoral book ; never 
 look at an immoral play, nor witness an immodest 
 ballet ; never give more time or money to these things 
 than you can afford ; but, also, let no man lord it over 
 your conscience in these things, or deprive you of your 
 Christian liberties. It is of the very first importance 
 that ycu should understand the nature of sin, and of 
 holiness, and either abstain from the so-called pleasures 
 of the world, or enter on them with a conscience free 
 from all offence ; not go with a sort of half feeling 
 that you are doing wrong, losing your Christian stand- 
 ing before God, or weakening your spiritual life. That 
 thing which is your snare, that thing avoid, and cast it 
 from you ; in all things you must be the Christiati 
 looking to your soiiVs health; be thorough, hearty 
 Christians, remembering that " every creature of God 
 is good ; " good, mark you, all of them, and to be 
 received with thanksgiving. And is not the power to 
 act and to appreciate the acting the power thus to give 
 pleasure and to receive it ; are they not the creation 
 of Almighty wisdom } Is this histrionic talent, the 
 only one the Creator has bestowed, to be left idle, 
 wrapped in the napkin, and dug under "i I trow not. 
 And if you can eat to God's glory, and drink to His 
 glory ; if such mean acts can be used in worship of 
 the Deity, is any man going to tell us, that the exhibi- 
 tion of those higher gifts, sometimes so largely shown 
 in acting, cannot be to God's glory ; is any man going 
 to tell us, I say, that we are incapable of exercising 
 
24 
 
 such gifts to God's praise, when by our very eating and 
 our drinking it is possible to praise Him ? 
 
 Q. Shall we read novels ? 
 
 Ans. Novels are like plays, most dangerous and 
 full of poison for the soul, some of them ; while others 
 contain most glorious teaching ; often in its most 
 glorious garb. But there are romances, refined in 
 style, low and vicious in their tone, which are read 
 unblushingly by many a girl whose mother would 
 have burnt them after the first page. The lives of 
 godless men and women, unless written as a purposed 
 warning and example, cannot do much good. The 
 secret perusal of unsound literature does, perhaps, as 
 much harm as the open acting of the licentious drama. 
 What are the fashionable, immoral novels read for } 
 Is it to learn the doings of fashionable people .-* If 
 your progress in such knowledge is more to you than 
 your profit as a Christian, where is the reality of your 
 religion ? Or, are they read for yet more debasing 
 pleasures .'' To the pure all things are pure, you say. 
 All things are pure, as all things are lawful, but all 
 things are not expedient ; and it is a shame even to 
 mention those things that are done of some in secret. 
 All things may be pure to you as it arises unsought 
 for ; it is not that which entereth in that defileth. But 
 there is a well of impurity within each human breast 
 which is better without stirring. If men and women 
 read novels of the class we are speaking of, it is not 
 for us to say they are no Christians ; all we can say is, 
 that we ourselves cannot understand how they can read 
 such things, and be careful of their soul's health, and 
 growth in grace. 
 
25 
 
 All Christians are not equally advanced either on 
 the whole, or on special points ; and so Paul tells us 
 the same regimen will not do for all ; but, if total 
 abstinence as regards amusements be the highest stand, 
 the nearest approach to it possible on earth is the 
 monastery or the nunnery ; there, according to such 
 principles, we best avoid temptation; and there we 
 incur the least responsibility. We do not believe in 
 monasteries and nunneries ; nor in any general prin- 
 ciples of total abstinence in ordinary circumstances. 
 
 XIV. In What Sense must the Christian be 
 " NOT OF this World .?" 
 
 Ans. The Christian makes Christian duty his first 
 coitsideratioUy the Master's cause and glory. Now 
 doing this ho certainly will not be of the world ; he 
 leads a life of faith ; of hope ; a life of charity. If 
 in any true measure he does this, he is not of this 
 world, not following its maxims, not judging by its 
 standards, not swayed principally by its ambitions. 
 Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. There is a sense, 
 of course, in which a man may have many masters. 
 The private soldier may have a master in a non-com- 
 missioned officer, a lieutenant, captain, major, colonel, 
 and others ; he caji have but one who is supreme for 
 the time or real master. So the Christian may be 
 fond of literature, or art, or commerce, or amusement, 
 or may have worldly ambitions, but none of them, will 
 be the master principle of his mind. Few make such 
 a bold and energetic avowal of their standing that 
 they can be easily recognized as followers of Christ ; 
 4 
 
26 
 
 yet it was by their boldness the early followers were 
 recognized ; there are very few who attack sin, within 
 or without, with that boldness, that self-sacrificing 
 boldness, that should make us easily recognized as 
 followers of our professed Lord. Well, if we have not 
 much of the reality, we like to put on imitation. If 
 you have not diamonds, you must at least wear paste, 
 or you will not have an imposing appearance to the 
 generality, not an appearance that will satisfy your- 
 self We have plenty of boldness when it will pay to 
 be bold, and plenty of good deeds when they will be 
 known all round and bring us praise. Why, if a new 
 church is to be built, what are the arguments we often 
 hear from Christian lips ? We are sometimes told 
 that if we put up a good church it will improve the 
 neighbourhood, and help to draw respectable people 
 to it. And that is to be our motive is it, or among 
 our motives ? If you are going to put up a sub- 
 stantial church in order to improve the place, and get 
 respectable people to come, what then will happen ? 
 Why you will probably succeed. And then what ? 
 Then, of course, you have your reward ; you have it 
 now, in this world. But those are not the rewards 
 the Christian is to seek ; do not listen to such teach- 
 ing, whether it comes from some Christian minister, 
 or from our own false heart. All that, is different 
 from the religion of Christ ; the Christian does not 
 seek in his religious acts for the applause of men, nor 
 in his charity and hospitalities that they should be 
 returned. We are not told that the Christian is the man 
 who by patient continuing in well-doing seeks for 
 
reward hare; but he looks for immortaHty, glory, happi- 
 ness in a future life. Let not thy left hand know what 
 thy right hand doeth. Good deeds, like prayer, are to 
 be done much in secret, not talked of to our nearest 
 neighbour. That is not a very fashionable religion, 
 not a very popular one. That is not the complex- 
 ion of the flourishing religions of the day ; but that is 
 Christ's religion. 
 
 XV. What is the Nature of the Pledge taken 
 IN THE Sacraments touching the question 
 OF Temperance > Are those Pledges suffi- 
 cient, OR IS the Christian bound to take 
 some further Pledge ? 
 
 Ans. Much is left in Scripture to the dictates of the 
 individual conscience ; liberty is favourable to the 
 growth of Christians, Still, according to the views of 
 a very large portion of society, it is absolutely incum- 
 bent on the Christian to take a total abstinence pledge. 
 Ah ! but you say, I am not professing to go according 
 to worldly, fashionable, or popular notions ; I want to 
 walk as closely as I can to Christ, and his Scriptures. 
 Well then, look at this question in the light of that 
 text which the teachers of teetotalism put forward 
 most, and on which the advocates of apostolic tem- 
 perance ground their views also. 
 
 " Wherefore if meat make my brother to offend, I 
 will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make 
 my brother to offend." 
 
 I suppose that it will be allowed that the same 
 principle will hold with wine as meat, and that the 
 
28 
 
 self-denying Paul was as ready to make the sacrifice 
 with regard to the intoxicant as flesh. So that to 
 inquire what was Paul's practice and teaching with 
 regard to wine, if discoverable, will quite settle the 
 matter for us. The vile and shameless licentiousness 
 of some of the cities where the apostle had founded 
 churches was well known ; the Greeks were always 
 worshippers of Bacchus ; and if ever there was a time 
 when a prohibitory law would have been wise or allow- 
 able, we might have expected its promulgation under 
 Paul. How stands the case .'* The Bishop Timothy was 
 feeble ; did Paul write " O man of God bear thine 
 infirmities, but touch no wine ; you will be suffering in 
 the glorious cause of temperance ?" Not so ; but lest 
 the young disciple should have scruples of conscience, 
 or superstitious advisers round him, the apostle counsels 
 him to •' take a little wine," either as a cure or a pre- 
 ventive ; the latter is as wise a plan. Did Paul then 
 interpret his own words in the prohibitory sense ? 
 No ; wine-drinking in moderation did not cause a 
 brother to offend ; or Paul could not have said that 
 deacons should not be ' given to muc/i wine." The 
 apostolic clergy then were moderate drinkers, and, 
 while closely following them, we can afford to be scoffed 
 and jeered at by the crowd, or unchristianized by 
 thoughtless or uncharitable men. Christ and his 
 apostles did not forget one of the principal features of 
 the religion that they taught ; and whatever may be the 
 views of Father Mathew and his followers, apostolic 
 teaching should be enough for Christians. Much is 
 left to individual j udgment. You have a right, perhaps. 
 
29 
 
 to take the so-called temperance pledge, the real temper- 
 ance pledge you take of course in baptism, at confirma- 
 tion, and communion, but you have no right to lay 
 down prohibitory laws for others. 
 
 " Let not him that eateth, despise him that eateth 
 not; and let not him which eateth not, judge him that 
 eateth. Rom. xiv. 3. 
 
 Will not the above apply to wine as well as to food "i 
 
 " Let no man, therefore, judge you in meat or in 
 drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, 
 or of the Sabbath days ; which things are a shadow, 
 Col. ii. 16. Which things indeed have a show of wis- 
 dom in neglecting of the body. — v. 23. 
 
 Q. But is it not true that the wine of the New Tes- 
 tament was not intoxicating .'' 
 
 Ans. The Greek word " oin," which is as near in 
 sound to the old fashioned pronunciation ofthe English 
 word wine as possible, means the same. It was 
 because it was an intoxicant that Paul needed to 
 advise Timothy at all, or to permit its use in the case 
 of deacons and of bishops. In Greek lexicons we find 
 it to mean "wine, beer, cider, fermented drink; and 
 any one who knows anything of the origin of the 
 Greek drama, or of the language or history of the 
 Greek nation, knows what " oinos " means. 
 
 Q. What, then, is the nature of the Christian's 
 sacramental pledges, as regards temperance .'* 
 
 Ans. To be temperate in all things ; to " renounce 
 the flesh so as not to follow or be led by it ;" to believe 
 in our Saviour, and to trust his teachings and those 
 of his Apostles beyond any modern discoveries of 
 wisdom whatsoever. 
 
30 
 
 O. What, then, was Paul's remedy for drunkenness ? 
 
 Aims. The cure for drunkenness and vice was, to 
 set up Christ's kingdom or Church on earth, where his 
 laws should be followed, and his discipline carried out. 
 In that Church there is no order to do away with wine. 
 The use of wine in moderation is a matter for indi- 
 vidual judgment. Society has no jurisdiction here ; 
 though it may at times and in places attempt to exceed 
 its jurisdiction. 
 
 " But now I have written unto you not to keep 
 company, if any man that is called a brother be a 
 fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a 
 drimkardy or an extortioner ; with such a one no not 
 to eat." — (i Cor. v. ii). 
 
 Let Christian society avoid the vicious professor, and 
 if he be not reclaimed, at least the young will have the 
 warning, and we the satisfaction of following instruc- 
 tions. But a mock charity makes us fearful to follow 
 such instructions ; we have reversed them ; and when 
 a man pays liberally to his church, and is a prominent 
 worker in it, we condone that which we have a right to 
 overlook only in the non-professor. It is the great 
 Protestant boast that we have our Bibles. Let us 
 stand by them. Let us take the highest stand in this 
 great question ; and that is the apostolic stand. Paul 
 did not call Timothy from a high stand upon this ques- 
 tion to a lower. Our Lord and his apostles were mode- 
 rate drinkers ; the great bulk of the bishops and clergy 
 of the Church of England from the Reformation, and 
 the bulk of all Protestant communities till lately have 
 been moderate drinkers ; and, therefore, in being so, 
 
we cannot become responsible for souls. We are bap- 
 tised members of Christ's Great Temperance Society, 
 and in that society there may be new developments, 
 there can be none to contradict the apostolic teaching 
 that we have. There will be circumstances under 
 which you must abstain in this, as in other matters, 
 totally , at times ; but, according to apostolic injunction, 
 resist encroachment ; let no man presume to lord it 
 over your conscience, or to dictate to you as to food 
 and drink, matters in which the Creator has set yoiL to 
 be your own judge, and the Saviour has ratified the 
 same wise law of liberty. 
 
 If any man object here that such teaching coun- 
 tenances ^^ drinking''' in the sense of immoderation^ we say 
 no. It throws back your responsibility rather to a time 
 before you took the pledge than to the time of your 
 baptismal vows ; or, if you were baptized in infancy, to 
 the time when you began to understand those vows, 
 your pledge to the Good Templars can never add to 
 the solemnity of yor pledges to Christ's Church ; 
 nor can be taken under higher sanctions. We lay 
 this responsibility upon the shoulders of all professing 
 Christians ; and it calls upon them all to battle against 
 this vice by those means which the Saviour has pointed 
 out by the pen of an apostle. Such means will always 
 prove the most successful. 
 
32 
 
 XVI. What is the Teaching of Scripture with 
 
 REGARD TO THE SiGNS OF SALVATION; AND 
 HOW DOES THE TEACHING OF THOUSANDS 
 
 OF Denominational Pulpits obscure this 
 Teaching ? 
 
 We may be asked, perhaps, why we think so much 
 of confirmation ? And we answer, because the apostles 
 made so much of it ; because so many professing 
 Christians make so h'ght of it ; while many, who 
 neglect it, think camp meetings and revivalistic meet- 
 ings of the greatest value. Not understanding the 
 glorious rite, not seeing the high privilege connected 
 with it, not knowing the blessing to be had when you 
 come forward in Christ's way to profess yourself a 
 living witness for him, men have made it a neglected 
 rite. You are not invited to any private confessional ; 
 you are not asked to any penitent bench ; because 
 these thinf^js have no foundation in Scripture, and are 
 in practice baneful. But j^oti are urged to attend to 
 all the forms and ordinances instituted by the Great 
 Physician of Souls. The Church invites you to make 
 your pew a penitent bench where, before the congre- 
 gation, and with the congregation, as with one mouth 
 you confess your sins to God. She calls you to that 
 special penitent bench, the holy communion rails, 
 where you receive the bread and wine. She calls you 
 to that penitent bench where you can appear but once 
 in your whole lifetime, the rails where you seek an 
 outpouring of the Spirit in the apostolic rite of Con- 
 firmation. Think of the solemnity of these occasions, 
 
33 
 
 and you will require no more exciting, more attractive 
 meetings ; you can have no higher services. 
 
 Some, however, seem to zvait for some recosptised 
 moving of the Spirit before they venture; in reality 
 they are waiting till )^\^y fancy they have a call. The 
 apostles laid their hands, we are told, on tJiem ; that 
 is on all ; none drew back as not being good enough. 
 Listen to Paul, " For we being many, are one body." 
 How so ? ''For we are «// partakers of that one bread." 
 If you arc not good enough, are you going to make 
 yourself any better by remaining outside the pale of 
 Christ's Church ; by excommunicating yourself, and 
 not being of His body .'' The Holy Spirit has called 
 yon. He has caused it to be written, " Do this," and 
 it is yours to obey the call. The Church calls you, 
 and he who shall " neglect to hear the Church, let him 
 be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican." Let 
 me quote a well known divine : " We cannot usually 
 distinguish between the influence of the Spirit and the 
 operations of our own faculties ; nor is it necessary 
 that we should. We cannot tell where man ends, and 
 God begins ; nor ought we to trouble or perplex our- 
 selves about the matter," (but obey.) "Listead of 
 waiting for any sensible known ascertained movement 
 of the Spirit, either before we begin to attend to 
 religion at all, or before we engage in any particular 
 exercise of it, we should at once engage all our powers 
 in it ; and engage them in a spirit of dependence upon 
 God. In fact, pay attention, determine, think, plan, 
 decide, just as we do in our worldly affairs." What 
 are the Scriptural signs of being led by the Spirit } 
 5 
 
34 
 
 " He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath 
 both the Father and the Son." " He that keepeth His 
 commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him." 
 John wrote these things, that we who believe on the 
 name of the Son of God may "know that we have 
 eternal life." How are we to know it } We must 
 evidently know whether we are abiding in His doc- 
 trine, or keeping His commandments. Go, then, and 
 abide in the doctrine. Christ's doctrine has two 
 branches ; it refers to being of His body the Church, 
 as well as to, and as a consequence of, belief in His 
 name. 
 
 Q. But do not the great majority of preachers in 
 the present day teach otherwise .-* 
 
 Ans. Undoubtedly they do ; almost every book on 
 religion ; almost every sermon one hears or reads, 
 coming from a certain school of interpretation bears 
 the impress of a false view of justification by faith. 
 There is a false doctrine of justification by faith, 
 which is a falsification of Christ's gospel, as well as 
 a true doctrine of justification by faith, which is its 
 glory and its very essence. But there is a great 
 incU '^^ion to suppose that there can be no danger in 
 taking as a guide a preacher who is highly popular 
 and largely known. It is sometimes, however, the 
 falseness of the teaching which attracts as much as the 
 truth. Let us weigh well words addressed to us " 
 such vital matters, concerning ourselves and our soul'i. 
 well-being for eternity. You may be saved this night, 
 cries the preacher, this very hour, only accept salva- 
 tion, and come to Christ. Doubtless the man who is 
 
35 
 
 not in a state of salvation may place himself in that 
 position ; yes, and on the instant. But do not let him 
 suppose that his momentary feelings of enthusiasm 
 arc any proof whatever that he is in Christ. Some 
 hear the word with joy, yet fall away. I will quote 
 the exact words of one of the greatest of living 
 preachers, as he is supposed to be, but one belonging 
 to what I am representing as a school of error : — 
 " Beloved, whenever there is a question between me 
 and the devil as to whether I am a child of God, / 
 have given over seeking evidence in my own favour, or 
 turning to my experience to prove that I am in a state 
 of grace ; for that cunning old lawyer knows more 
 about my infirmities than I do, and can very soon 
 bring two to one against me. My constant way is to 
 tell the accuser, 'Well, if I am not a saint, I am a 
 sinner, and Jesus came into the world to save sinners, 
 therefore I will go to Christ and look to him again.. 
 The devil himself cannot answer that. You that are 
 oldest in the divine life I am sure that you find times 
 in which no mark, evidence, or experience is worth a 
 sixpence to you by way of comfort, and you are led to 
 adopt the simple plan which I have recommended to 
 all the tempted ones. It will be wise to live upon 
 Jesus always. Begin again at the foot of the cross, 
 where you began at first with the old cry — 
 
 " Nothing in my hand I bring, 
 Simply to thy cross I cling. 
 
 " That is the way to conquer sin, as well as to over- 
 come despair ; for when faith in Jesus comes back to 
 
36 
 
 your soul, you will be strong to fight with your 
 corruptions." 
 
 We have in the above passage something very 
 plausible, something in parts very grand, something 
 the mind is often glad to catch at, something of truth, 
 rays of divine light, if you will ; but we have teaching 
 here so persistently put forward on a subject so 
 momentous, so essential, so weighty and vital, that it is 
 worth examining to see what it really means, and 
 whether on the whole it will not mislead us, whether 
 it will not make us take that to be Christ's gospel 
 which is not his. The man who wrote the passage is, 
 I believe, a witness for Christ, a mistaken witness, but 
 a witness' ; one having, for aught I know, faults, fail- 
 ings, shortcomings, perhaps sins, but one whose life as 
 a whole is a witness for the Lord Tesus. In that 
 capacity he has a right to feel assured of his salvation. 
 " Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men." 
 But you see he does not put it on those grounds. He 
 grounds his salvation on the fact that Christ died for 
 sinners, instead of founding it on the fact that in some 
 humble way he is his follower and witness. Christ in 
 the last day will acknowledge his followers, all of 
 them, the humblest ; and proud shall we then be of 
 the recognition. He will not, I say, deny the humblest 
 and meanest of his disciples. Yet he hath said: " He 
 that denieth me, him will I also deny before my Father 
 which is in heaven." Christ there grounds my salva- 
 tion — on what ? On my being a witness for him ; not 
 alone on his having died to save. Yet how different 
 a thing does the gospel become according as it is 
 
37 
 
 represented in the one way or the other ; if the one 
 way of putting it be sound, the other is an awful falsi- 
 fication. We imcst seek in our walk in life " evidence 
 in our own favour," our own heart and judgment as 
 we probe our actions must not condemn us. It must 
 proclaim aloud. Yes, an unprofitable, a miserable 
 witness ; yet a witness for my Lord. It is, if zve walk 
 in the light, that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us 
 from all sin ; and we must be able to say with Paul, 
 at least, in some feeble way, ''And the life which I nozu 
 live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. 
 I have not touched the question whether it is 
 possible for a Church to unchurch itself by false doc- 
 trine or by unsound practice ; and whether the Angli- 
 can branch of Christ's Church so unchurched herself 
 in pre-reformation times or in the days of Wesley ; 
 and yet such unchurching seems the only proper reason, 
 the only reasonable excuse that can be offered why 
 the denominations left her. Few, we suppose, would 
 venture the assertion ; but it requires a more careful 
 answer than could be given in a little tract. I have 
 not touched on the sacramental side of the sacraments 
 if I may be allowed the expression : the catechism 
 does that. There is a notion in the minds of many 
 that that catechism is unneeded and that the Bible, 
 pure and simple, should be used in Sunday Schools. 
 The Church Catechism is somewhat dry to the very 
 young ; and if, at too early an age, they are forced to 
 learn it off by heart, mischief may of course ensue. 
 But what light that Catechism throws on Scripture ! 
 How long must our Bible be read without it, before 
 
38 
 
 we should attain such a knowledge of God's will as in 
 that short Catechism is conta ned ? 
 
 We quote from the preface to *' Peep of Day " : — 
 
 " Suppose, then, a father compelled to leave his wif 
 and child and to sojourn in a distant land. In parting 
 he commits the unconscious infant to the care of the 
 mother, and thus expresses the feelings of a father's 
 heart : ' I know not when I shall return ; the time may- 
 be near or far distant. This is my earnest request, 
 that whenever I do, I may find my child acquaint 
 with my love for it, and is prepared to love me- 
 Inspire it, if possible, with a desire to please me, and 
 mould its character in conformity to my views. To 
 the ingenuity of your affection I confide the task.' 
 
 " How would the mother betake herself in pursu- 
 ance of this request .'* Would she take the letters of 
 the father, ivritten to herself^ and read them to the child 
 while yet its faculties were hardly unfolded .-' Would 
 she not fear by this method producing weariness and 
 disgust } Much less would she attempt by a series of 
 written questions and answers, to be learnt by heart, 
 as a task, to interest the child in its father. Nor 
 would she content herself by giving a general descrip- 
 tion of his goodness." 
 
 "Would not a mother, thus circumstanced, often 
 talk to the child of its father in language suited to its 
 capacity, relate anecdotes of his virtue, such as the child 
 could comprehend, repeat the gracious sayings he had 
 uttered, yet translating them into language intelligible 
 to the child 1 How carefully would she guard against 
 producing confusion by entering into complicated 
 
39 
 
 details. While she would love to dwell upon the 
 most minute incidents that would arrest infantine 
 attention. She would fear the consequences of giving 
 set lectures, but would intersperse narrative with con- 
 versation, carefully watching favourable opportunities 
 for dropping a reflection. Verses in the father's 
 praise would be familiar to the baby's lips, yet even 
 these would be taught with discretion, arid not forci- 
 bly imposed. It would be the mother's aim to infuse 
 a principle of love, and thus to prepare the child for 
 the performance of filial duties." 
 
 " And has not Christ left his infant family with us ? 
 Has he not given us a charge concerning them in the 
 well-known words: 'Suffer the little children to come 
 unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the king- 
 dom of Heaven .-" Touching and comprehensive 
 words ! charges too imperfectly fulfilled ! How often 
 have efforts been made to bring these children to 
 their father's bosom that have, in fact, driven them 
 further from it." 
 
 The Bible, as a whole, is not addressed to, not 
 intended for, nor fit for, very young persons ; nor 
 would it be wise to leave the young to the individual 
 guidance of a chance teacher. Hence the Church has 
 wisely given a bulwark of the faith in her Catechism ; 
 a commentary of essentials, I have on my table two 
 tracts taking opposite sides of the great doctrine of 
 Assurance ; yet it is found very difficult by most to 
 answer the plausible arguments of the unsound one, 
 even with an open Bible before them ; which shows 
 how individui.1 teachers may wrest the meaning of 
 Scripture to the danger of their scholars. 
 
40 
 
 I have been told, and sometimes in the same breathy 
 that such teaching as is contained in the present tract 
 is apostolic but dmigeroiiSy a contradiction that needs 
 no answer ; be careful to be apostolic, and we cannot 
 be dangerous ; or, to quote the words of Dr. Fuller, 
 present Bishop of Niagara, " If anything deserves to 
 be called folly and madness, it is the preferring human 
 inventions to the wisdom which comes from above." 
 (Sermon : Religious Excitement tried by Scripture.) 
 
 And my prayer is, that those v/ho read this may be 
 helped thereby to exclaim, (if feebly,) " And the life 
 which I now live in the flesh, I I've by the faith of the 
 Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me," 
 
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