Page images
PDF
EPUB

66

offence Saint Paul charges the Corinthians.Whereas," says he, "there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?* Neglecting the purity and simplicity of the Christian Doctrine, they pretended an extraordinary degree of attachment to certain Teachers, saying,-"I am of Paul, and I of Apollos." They seem to have forgotten that the Rule of Faith was to all the same: that "other foundation" (other principles of Religion) "could no man lay, than that which was already laid, which is Jesus Christ:" but as if "Christ could be divided," as the Apostle expresses it, they split into Heresies and Schisms, giving way to a rancorous and unsocial spirit, and presuming to to oppose "the wisdom of this world" to "the hidden wisdom of God, ordained before the world."

How fatally this spirit operated on the morals of Christians, for a long series of years, it is almost unnecessary to mention. In the 4th Century they were reproached, by the Emperor Julian, that "they had learned Atheism from the absurdities of the Jews, and a wicked dissolute life from the carelessness and indifference of the Heathens."+ Amidst the

* 1 Cor. iii. 3, 12, and ii. 7. + See Lardner, Vol. 8, p. 394.

gross superstition and ignorance, which caracterized what are called the middle ages, we shall look in vain for the fruits of genuine piety: such, on the contrary, was the general corruption of mankind, that, in the opinion of some of the most enlightened persons of that period, the Christian Church was become more corrupt than that of the Jews in the time of our Saviour; and, in consequence, many were persuaded that "the reign of Antichrist was near at hand."*

The advantages obtained by the Reformation, by the enfranchisement of the Protestant Church from the tyranny of Papal dominion, and from compulsory Articles of faith, irreconcileable to our reason and our senses, were undoubtedly very considerable, and such as were favourable, in the event, to the interests of piety and virtue. Yet, as in our Saviour's time, the Jewish Church was agitated by disputes about divorce, and other legal ordinances, and harassed with perpetual contests between the schools of their rival Doctors; so the difference of opinion, which took place in the Reformed Church, on the obscure doctrines of Original Sin, Predestination, Free Grace, etc., was productive of endless feuds and contentions, fomented by a persecuting and vindictive

*

Henry's History of Great Britain, Vol. 8, p. 369. 6th Ed.

spirit, directly opposite to that of Christian meekness and charity. It is no favorable omen of the progress of true Religion in the present times, and in our own Country, that the same disputes are revived and carried on, if with greater refinement of language, probably with not less rancour and animosity than in former days.

But, whatever advantages may be supposed to have arisen from the discussion of such subjects, or whatever merit the contending parties may attach to victory over their adversaries, they surely ought not, in pursuit of such objects, to neglect those more weighty matters of the divine Law, "the Love of God, and the Love of our Neighbour." Those points of doctrine which are of the most importance, as involving the duties with which every one is bound to comply, are simple and easily understood. At no time could such as neglect them plead want of Knowledge, and least of all at the present. It is now nearly three hundred years since we have had the use of the Scriptures in our native language, and that excellent Epitome of the Christian Doctrine, the Church Catechism. We have also new sources of instruction opened, and a perpetual succession of useful publications, calculated for persons of all ranks; not to mention the benefit to be derived from hear

K

ing the Scriptures expounded publicly in the Church, or privately in our numerous Schools and places of Education.

For

If under such advantages we remain unfruitful, what excuse can be made for our conduct? Every mode of cultivation has been tried, every attention paid to our spiritual wants, which can possibly be devised. many seasons, year after year, has our heavenly Father borne with us, "coming and seeking fruit;" and if after all he find none;-if he find that his grace has been slighted, and his care bestowed upon us in vain,-what can we reasonably expect, but the same sentence of reprobation which was pronounced upon the barren Fig Tree; that sentence which our hopeless sterility has justly provoked, and which a due attention to our eternal welfare might have enabled us to escape.

SERMON V.

ON THE USE OF THE TERMS CONVERTED
AND UNCONVERTED.

ACTS III. 19.

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your Sins may be blotted out.

THERE is no advantage, which I can perceive, in the indiscriminate use of Scriptural Terms and Phrases. It was a thing, as we know, much affected by Sectarian Divines of the Seventeenth Century; and though it has lately been patronized by some members of our own Church, yet it is certain that these Terms, frequently misapplied and ill understood, have tended more to puzzle and disturb the minds of well-disposed Christians, than to promote their general edification. Among others, the term Conversion, though it might be supposed of obvious meaning, has yet been applied to such a change, and condition of life, as seems to have no intelligible reference to those, who have been brought up from their infancy in the profession of the Christian Faith.

« PreviousContinue »