All Kinds of Strange
Teachings
by J. C. Ryle
"Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange
teachings! It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by
ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them." Hebrews 13:9
The text which heads this paper is an apostolic
caution against false doctrine. It forms part of a warning which Paul
addressed to Hebrew Christians. It is a caution just as much needed now—as
it was eighteen hundred years ago. Never, I think, was it so important for
Christian ministers to cry aloud continually, "Do not be carried away by
all kinds of strange teachings!"
That old enemy of mankind, the devil, has no more subtle
instrument for ruining souls, than that of spreading false doctrine. "A
murderer and a liar from the beginning!" "Be careful! Watch out for attacks
from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion,
looking for some victim to devour!"
Outside the Church, he is ever persuading men to
maintain sinful lives, and destructive superstitions. Human sacrifice to
idols, gross revolting, cruel, worship of disgusting and abominable false
deities, persecution, slavery, cannibalism, child murder, devastating
religious wars—all these are a part of Satan's handiwork, and the fruit of
his suggestions! Like a pirate, his object is to "sink, burn, and destroy!"
Inside the Church he is ever laboring to sow
heresies, to propagate errors, to foster departures from the faith. If he
cannot prevent the waters flowing from the Fountain of Life, he tries
hard to poison them. If he cannot destroy the remedy of the Gospel,
he strives to adulterate and corrupt it. No wonder that he is called
"Apollyon, the destroyer."
The Divine Comforter of the Church, the Holy Spirit—has
always employed one great weapon to oppose Satan's plans. That weapon is the
Word of God. The Word expounded and unfolded, the Word explained and
opened up, the Word made clear to the head—and applied to the heart. The
Word is the chosen weapon by which the devil must be confronted and
confounded. The Word was the sword which the Lord Jesus wielded in
His temptations. To every assault of the Tempter, He replied, "It is
written!" The Word is the sword which His ministers must use in the present
day, if they would successfully resist the devil. The Bible, faithfully and
freely expounded—is the safeguard of Christ's true Church.
I desire to remember this lesson, and to invite attention
to the text which stands at the head of this paper. We live in an age when
men profess to dislike dogmas and creeds, and are filled with a morbid
dislike to controversial theology. He who dares to say of one doctrine that
"it is true," and of another that "it is false," must expect to be called
narrow-minded and uncharitable, and to lose the praise of men.
Nevertheless, the Scripture was not written in vain. Let us examine the
mighty lessons contained in Paul's words to the Hebrews. They are lessons
for us—as well as for them.
I. First, we have here a broad warning: "Do not be
carried away by all kinds of strange teachings."
II. Secondly, we have here a valuable prescription:
"It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial
foods."
III. Lastly, we have here an instructive fact:
"Ceremonial foods are of no value to those who eat them."
On each of these points I have something to say. If we
patiently plow up this field of truth, we shall find that there is
precious treasure hidden in it!
1. First, we have here a BROAD WARNING.
"Do
not be not carried away by all kinds of strange teachings." The meaning of
these words is not a hard thing to understand. "Be not tossed back and
forth," the Apostle seems to say, "by every blast of false teaching, like
ships without compass or rudder. False doctrines will arise as long as the
world lasts, in many numbers, with varying minor details—in one point alone
always the same—strange, new, foreign, and departing from the Gospel of
Christ. They do exist now. They will always be found within the visible
Church. Remember this, and do not be carried away." Such is Paul's warning.
The Apostle's warning does not stand alone. Even in the
midst of the Sermon on the Mount, there fell from the loving lips of our
Savior, a solemn caution: "Watch out for false prophets! They come to you in
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves!" (Matthew 7:15).
Even in Paul's last address to the Ephesian elders, he finds time to warn
his friends against false doctrine: "Even from your own number, men will
arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them"
(Acts 20:30).
Note what the Second Epistle to the Corinthians says: "I
am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds
may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ" (2
Corinthians 11:3). Note what the Epistle to the Galatians says: "I am
astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the
grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel." "Who has bewitched
you?" "After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your
goal by human effort?" "How is it that you are turning back to those weak
and miserable principles?" "You are observing special days and months and
seasons and years!" "I fear for you." "Stand firm, then, and do not let
yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 1:6; 3:1, 3;
4:9, 10, 11; 5:1).
Note what the Epistle to the Ephesians says: "No longer
be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by
every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their
deceitful scheming" (Ephesians 4:14). Note what the Epistle to the
Colossians says: "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and
deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic
principles of this world, rather than on Christ" (Colossians 2:8). Note what
the First Epistle to Timothy says: "The Spirit clearly says that in later
times some will abandon the faith" (1 Timothy 4:1). Note what the Second
Epistle of Peter says: "There will be false teachers among you. They will
secretly introduce destructive heresies" (2 Peter 2:1). Note what the First
Epistle of John says: "Do not believe every spirit. Many false prophets have
gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). Note what the Epistle of Jude says:
"Contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For
certain men have secretly slipped in among you" (Jude 1:3, 4).
These things were written for our learning. What shall we
say about these texts? How they may strike others I cannot say. I
only know how they strike me. To tell us, as some do, in the face of these
texts, that the early Churches were a model of perfection and purity—is
absurd. Even in Apostolic days, its appears, there were abundant errors both
in doctrine and practice. To tell us, as others do, that pastors ought never
to handle controversial subjects, and never to warn their people against
erroneous views—is senseless and unreasonable. If we did this then we would
have to ignore most of the New Testament. Surely the dumb dog and the
sleeping shepherd are the best allies of the wolf, the thief, and the
robber! It is not for nothing that Paul says, "If you point these things out
to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy
4:6).
A plain warning against false doctrine is especially
needed in the present day. The school of the Pharisees, and the
school of the Sadducees, those ancient mothers of all mischief, were
never more active than they are now! Between those who bury truth under
additions—and those who mutilate it by subtractions; between
superstition—and infidelity; between Roman Catholicism—and New Theology;
between Ritualism—and Rationalism; between these upper and lower millstones
the Gospel is near being crushed to death!
Strange views are continually propounded by pastors about
subjects of the deepest importance. About the atonement, the divinity of
Christ, the inspiration of the Bible, the reality of miracles, the eternity
of future punishment, about the Church, the ministerial office, the Lord's
Supper, Baptism, the confessional, the honor due to the Virgin Mary, prayers
for the dead. About all these things there is nothing too outrageous to be
taught by some ministers in these latter days. By the pen and by the
tongue, by the press and by the pulpit, the country is
incessantly deluged with a flood of erroneous opinions. To ignore the fact
is mere blindness! Others see it, even if we pretend to be ignorant of it.
The danger is real, great, and unmistakable! Never was it so needful to say,
"Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings!"
Many things combine to make the present inroad of false
doctrine peculiarly dangerous. There is an undeniable zeal in some of
the teachers of error—and their "earnestness" makes many think they must be
right. There is a great appearance of learning and theological
knowledge—and many imagine that such clever and intellectual men must surely
be safe guides. There is a general tendency to free thought and
free inquiry in these latter days—and many like to prove their
independence of judgment, by believing novelties. There is a wide-spread
desire to appear charitable and liberal-minded—and many seem
half ashamed of saying that anybody can be in the wrong. There is a great
quantity of half-truth taught by the modern false teachers—and they
are incessantly using Scriptural terms and phrases in an unscriptural sense.
There is a morbid craving in the public mind for a more sensuous,
ceremonial, sensational, showy worship—and men are impatient of inward,
invisible heart-work. There is a silly readiness in every direction—to
believe everybody who talks cleverly, lovingly, and earnestly—and a
determination to forget that Satan often masquerades himself "as an angel of
light" (2 Corinthians 11:14). There is a wide-spread "gullibility" among
professing Christians—and every heretic who tells his story plausibly is
sure to be believed—and everybody who doubts him is called a bigot and a
narrow-minded man.
All these things are peculiar symptoms of our times. I
defy any observing person to deny them. They tend to make the assaults of
false doctrine in our day peculiarly dangerous. They make it more than ever
needful to cry aloud, "Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange
teachings!"
If any one should ask me, What is the best safeguard
against false doctrine? I answer in one word, "The Bible—the Bible regularly
read, regularly prayed over, regularly studied." We must go back to the old
prescription of our Master: "Diligently study the Scriptures" (John 5:39).
If we want a weapon to wield against the plans of Satan, there is nothing
like "the sword of the Spirit—the Word of God." But to wield it
successfully, we must read it habitually, diligently, intelligently, and
prayerfully. This is a point on which, I fear, many fail. In an age of hurry
and activity, few read their Bibles as much as they should. More books
perhaps are read than ever—but less of the one Book which makes man wise to
salvation!
The Roman Catholic Church and new theology, could never
have made such havoc in the Church in the last fifty years—if there had not
been a most superficial knowledge of the Scriptures throughout the land. A
Bible-reading congregation is the strength of a Church. "Diligently study
the Scriptures!"
Great are the difficulties of unbelief—it requires
more faith to be an unbeliever than a Christian. But greater still are the
difficulties of Rationalism. Free handling of Scripture—results of modern
criticism—broad and liberal theology—all these are fine, swelling,
high-sounding phrases, which please some minds, and look very grand at a
distance. But the man who looks below the surface of things will soon find
that there is no sure standing-ground between ultra-Rationalism and Atheism.
"Diligently study the Scriptures." Mark what a
conspicuous absence there is in the New Testament of what may be called the
Sacramental system, and the whole circle of Ritualistic
theology. Mark how extremely little there is said about the effects of
Baptism. Mark how very seldom the Lord's Supper is mentioned in
the Epistles. Find, if you can, a single text in which New Testament
ministers are called sacrificing priests, or the Lord's Supper is
called a sacrifice, or private confession to ministers is recommended
and practiced. Turn, if you can, to one single verse in which sacrificial
vestments are named as desirable, or in which lighted candles, and pots
of flowers on the Lord's Table, or processions, and incense, and flags, and
banners, and bowing down to the bread and wine, or prayer to the Virgin Mary
and the angels, are sanctioned. Mark these things well, and you will find it
very hard to be a Ritualist! You may find your authority for Ritualism in
garbled quotations from the Fathers, in long extracts from monkish mystics,
or from Popes—but you certainly will not find it in the Bible! Between the
plain Bible, honestly and fairly interpreted, and extreme Ritualism—there is
gulf which cannot be passed.
"If we would not be carried away by all kinds of strange
teachings," we must remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: "Diligently
study the Scriptures." Ignorance of the Bible is the root of all error.
Knowledge of the Bible is the best antidote against modern heresies.
II. I now proceed to examine Paul's VALUABLE
PRESCRIPTION:
"It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by
grace, not by ceremonial foods." There are two words in this prescription
which require a little explanation. A right understanding of them is
absolutely essential to a proper use of the Apostle's advice. One of these
words is "foods," and the other is "grace."
To see the full force of the word "foods" we must
remember the immense importance attached by many Jewish Christians to the
distinctions of the ceremonial law about food. The flesh of some animals and
birds, according to Leviticus, might be eaten—and that of others might not
be eaten. Some foods were, consequently, called "clean," and others were
called "unclean." To eat certain kinds of flesh made a Jew ceremonially
unholy before God, and no strict Jew would touch and eat such food on any
account. Now were these distinctions still to be kept up, after Christ
ascended into heaven—or were they done away by the Gospel? Were heathen
converts under any obligation to attend to the ceremonial of the
Levitical law about food? Were Jewish Christians obliged to be
as strict about the foods they ate—as they were before Christ died, and the
veil of the temple was torn in two? Was the ceremonial law about
foods entirely done away—or was it not? Was the conscience of a believer in
the Lord Jesus to be troubled with fear, lest his food should defile him?
Questions like these appear to have formed one of the
great subjects of controversy in the Apostolic times. As is often the case,
they assumed a place entirely out of proportion to their real importance.
The Apostle Paul found it needful to handle the subject in no less than
three of his Epistles to the Churches. "Food," he says, "does not bring us
near to God." "The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking."
"Do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink." (1 Corinthians 8:8;
Romans 14:17; Colossians 2:16). Nothing shows the fallen nature of man so
clearly—as the readiness of morbid and scrupulous consciences to turn
trifles into serious things. At last the controversy seems to
have spread so far and obtained such dimensions, that "foods" became an
expression to denote anything ceremonial added to the Gospel as a thing
of primary importance, any Ritual trifle thrust out of its lawful place
and magnified into an essential of religion. In this sense, I believe, the
word must be taken in the text now before us.
By "foods" Paul means "ceremonial observances,"
either wholly invented by man, or else built on Mosaic precepts which have
been abrogated and superseded by the Gospel. It is an expression which was
well understood in the Apostolic days. The word "grace" on the other
hand, seems to be employed as a comprehensive description of the whole
Gospel of Jesus Christ. Of that glorious Gospel, grace is the main feature,
grace in the original scheme, grace in the execution, grace in the
application to man's soul. Grace is the fountain of life from which our
salvation flows. Grace is the agency through which our spiritual life is
kept up.
Are we justified? It is by grace.
Are we called? It is by grace.
Have we forgiveness? It is through the riches of grace.
Have we good hope? It is through grace.
Do we believe? It is through grace.
Are we elect? It is by the election of grace.
Are we saved? It is by grace.
Why should I say more? The time would fail me to exhibit
fully the part which grace does in the whole work of redemption. No wonder
that Paul says to the Romans, "We are not under the law, but under grace!"
And tells Titus, "The grace of God which brings salvation has appeared to
all men." (Romans 3:24; Galatians 1:15; Ephesians 1:7; 2Thessalonians 2:16;
Acts 18:27; Romans 1:15; Ephesians 2:5; Romans 6:15; Titus 2:11).
Such are the two great principles which Paul puts in
strong contrast in the prescription we are now considering. He places
opposite to one another "foods" and "grace"; Ceremonialism and the Gospel;
Ritualism and the free love of God in Christ Jesus. And then he lays down
the great principle that it is by "grace," and "not foods," that the heart
is strengthened.
Now "strengthening of the heart" is one of the great
wants of many professing Christians. Especially is it longed after by those
whose knowledge is imperfect, and whose conscience is half enlightened. Such
people often feel in themselves much indwelling sin, and at the same time
see very indistinctly God's remedy and Christ's fullness. Their faith is
feeble, their hope dim, and their consolations small. They want to realize
more tangible comfort. They fancy they ought to feel more and see more. They
are not at ease. They cannot attain to joy and peace in believing. Where
shall they turn? What shall set their consciences at rest? Then comes the
enemy of souls, and suggests some shortcut road to establishment. He
hints at the value of some addition to the simple plan of the Gospel, some
man-made gimmick, some exaggeration of a truth, some flesh-satisfying
invention, some improvement on the old path—and whispers, "Only use this,
and you shall be strengthened." Plausible offers flow in at the same time
from every quarter, like quack medicines. Each has its own patrons
and advocates. On every side the poor unstable soul hears invitations to
move in some particular direction, and then shall come perfect strength.
"Come to us!" says the Roman Catholic. "Join the Catholic
Church, the Church on the Rock, the one, true, holy Church; the Church that
cannot err. Come to her bosom, and rest your soul in her protection. Come to
us, and you will find strength!"
"Come to us!" says the extreme Ritualist. "You need
higher and fuller views of the priesthood and the Sacraments, of the Real
Presence in the Lord's Supper, of the soothing influence of daily service,
daily masses, confession to priests, and priestly absolution. Come and take
up sound Church views, and you will find strength!"
"Come to us," says the violent Liberationist. "Cast off
the traditions and rules of established Churches. Enjoy religious liberty.
Throw away forms and Prayer-books. Join our party. Cast in your lot with us,
and you will soon be strengthened."
"Come to us!" say the Plymouth Brethren. "Shake off all
the bondage of creeds and Churches and systems. We will soon show you
higher, deeper, more exalting, more enlightened views of truth. Join the
brethren, and you will soon be strengthened!"
"Come to us!" says the Rationalist. "Lay aside the old
worn-out clothes of unfruitful schemes of Christianity. Give your reason
free scope and play. Begin a freer mode of handling Scripture. Be no more a
slave to an ancient old book. Break your chains—and you shall be
strengthened!"
Every experienced Christian knows well, that such appeals
are constantly made to unsettled minds in the present day. Who has
not seen that, when boldly and confidently made, they produce a painful
effect on some people? Who has not observed that they often beguile unstable
souls—and lead them into misery for years?
"What does the Scripture say?" This is the only sure
guide. Hear what Paul says. Heart strength is not to be obtained by joining
this party or that. It comes "by grace, and not by foods." Other things have
a "show of wisdom" perhaps, and give a temporary satisfaction "to the
flesh." (Colossians 2:23). But they have no healing power about them in
reality, and leave the unhappy man who trusts them nothing bettered—but
rather worse.
A clearer knowledge of the Divine scheme of grace, its
eternal purposes, its application to man by Christ's redeeming work; a
firmer grasp of the doctrine of grace, of God's free love in Christ, of
Christ's full and complete satisfaction for sin, of justification by simple
faith, a more intimate acquaintance with Christ the Giver and Fountain of
grace, His offices, His sympathy, His power; a more thorough experience of
the inward work of grace in the heart—this, this, this is the grand secret
of heart strength. This is the old path of peace. This is the true
panacea for restless consciences. It may seem at first too simple, too
easy, too cheap, too commonplace, too plain. But all the wisdom of man will
never show the heavy-laden a better road to heart-rest.
Secret pride and self-righteousness, I fear, are too
often the reason why this good old road is not used. I believe there never
was a time when it was more needful to uphold the old Apostolic prescription
than it is in the present day. Never were there so many weak and worried
Christians wandering about, and tossed to and fro, from lack of knowledge.
Never was it so important for faithful ministers to set the trumpet to their
mouths and proclaim everywhere, "Grace, grace, grace, not foods, establishes
the heart."
From the days of the Apostles there have never been a
lack of quack spiritual doctors, who have professed to heal the
wounds of conscience with man-made remedies. In our own beloved
Church there have always been some who have in heart turned back to Egypt,
and, not content with the simplicity of our worship, have hankered after the
ceremonial fleshpots of the Catholic Church. To hear the Sacraments
incessantly exalted, and preaching played down; to see the Lord's Supper
turned into an idol, under the pretext of making it more honorable; to find
plain worship overlaid with so many newfangled ornaments and ceremonies that
its essentials are quite buried—how common is all this! These things were
once a pestilence which walked in darkness. They are now a destruction which
wastes in noonday. They are the joy of our enemies, the sorrow of the
Church's best children, the damage of English Christianity, the plague of
our times. And to what may they all be traced? The neglect and the
forgetfulness of Paul's simple prescription: "Grace, and not foods,
strengthens the heart."
Let us take heed that in our own personal religion, grace
is all. Let us have clear systematic views of the Gospel of the grace of
God. Nothing else will do good in the hour of sickness, in the day of trial,
on the bed of death—in the swellings of Jordan. Christ dwelling in our
hearts by faith, Christ's free grace the only foundation under the soles of
our feet—this alone will give peace. Once let in self, and forms,
and man's inventions, as a necessary part of our religion—and we are
on a quicksand! We may be amused, excited, or kept quiet for a time, like
children with toys, by a religion of "foods." Such a religion has "a show of
wisdom." But unless our religion is one in which "grace" is all—we shall
never feel strengthened.
III. In the last place, I proceed to examine the
INSTRUCTIVE FACT which Paul records.
He says, "Ceremonial foods
are of no value to those who eat them."
We have no means of knowing whether the Apostle, in using
this language, referred to any particular Churches, or individuals. Of
course it is possible that he had in view the Judaizing Christians of
Antioch and Galatia, or the Ephesians of whom he speaks to Timothy in his
pastoral Epistle; or the Colossians who caused him so much inward conflict;
or the Hebrew believers in every Church, without exception. It seems to me
far more probable, however, that he had no particular Church or Churches in
view. I rather think that he makes a broad, general, sweeping statement
about all who in any place had exalted ceremonies at the expense of
the doctrines of "grace." And he makes a wide declaration about them all.
They have gotten no good from their favorite notions. They have not been
more inwardly happy, more outwardly holy, or more generally useful. Their
religion has been most unprofitable to them.
Man-made alterations of God's precious medicine for
sinners; man-made additions to Christ's glorious Gospel, however greatly
defended and plausibly supported, do no real good to those who adopt them.
They confer no increased inward comfort; they bring no growth of real
holiness; they give no enlarged usefulness to the Church and the world.
Calmly, quietly, and mildly—but firmly, decidedly, and
unflinchingly, the assertion is made, "Ceremonial foods are of no value to
those who eat them." The whole stream of Church history abundantly confirms
the truth of the Apostle's position. Who has not heard of the hermits and
ascetics of the early centuries? Who has not heard of the monks and nuns and
recluses of the Roman Catholic Church in the middle ages? Who has not heard
of the burning zeal, the devoted self-denial of Romanists like Xavier, and
Ignatius Loyola? The earnestness, the fervor, the self-sacrifice of all
these classes, are matters beyond dispute. But none who read the records of
their lives carefully and intelligently, can fail to see that they had no
solid peace or inward rest of soul. Their very feverish restlessness is
enough to show that their consciences were not at ease. None can fail to see
that, with all their furious zeal and self-denial, they never did much good
to the world. They gathered round themselves admiring partisans. They left a
high reputation for self-denial and sincerity. They made men wonder at them
while they lived, and sometimes canonize them when they died. But they did
nothing to convert souls.
And what is the reason of this? They attached an
overweening importance to man-made ritual and ceremonies, and made less than
they ought to have done of the Gospel of the grace of God. Their principle
was to make much of "ceremony," and little of "grace." Hence they verified
the words of Paul, "Ceremonial foods are of no value to those who eat them."
The very history of our own times bears a striking
testimony to the truth of Paul's assertion. In the last twenty-five years,
scores of clergymen have seceded from the Church of England, and joined the
Church of Rome. They wanted more of what they called Catholic doctrine and
Catholic ceremonial. They honestly acted up to their principles, and went
over to Rome. They were not all weak, and illiterate, and second-rate, and
inferior men; several of them were men of commanding talents, whose gifts
would have won for them a high position in any profession. Yet what have
they gained by the step they have taken? What profit have they found in
leaving "grace" for "ceremonies," in exchanging Protestantism for
Catholicism? Have they attained a higher standard of holiness? Have they
procured for themselves a greater degree of usefulness? The religious system
which exalts ceremonies and man-made ritual, does no real good to its
adherents, compared to the simple old Gospel of the grace of God.
Let us turn now, for a few moments, to the other side of
the picture, and see what "grace" has done. Let us hear how profitable the
doctrines of the Gospel have proved to those who have clung firmly to them,
and have not tried to mend and improve and patch them up by adding, as
essentials, the "foods" of man-made ceremonies.
It was "grace, and not foods," which made Martin Luther
do the work that he did in the world. The key to all his success was his
constant declaration of justification by faith, without the deeds of the
law. This was the truth which enabled him to break the chains of Rome, and
let light into Europe.
It was "grace, and not ceremonial foods," which made our
English martyrs, Latimer and Hooper, exercise so mighty an influence in
life, and shine so brightly in death. They saw clearly, and taught plainly,
the true priesthood of Christ, and salvation only by grace. They honored
God's grace—and God put honor on them.
It was "grace, and not ceremonial foods," that made
Romaine and Venn, and their companions, turn the world upside down in
England, one hundred years ago. In themselves they were not men of
extraordinary learning or intellectual power. But they revived and brought
out again the real pure doctrines of grace.
It was "grace, and not ceremonial foods," that made
Simeon and Daniel Wilson and Bickersteth such striking instruments of
usefulness in the first half of the present century. God's free grace was
the great truth on which they relied, and continually brought forward. For
so doing God put honor on them. They made much of God's grace—and the God of
grace made much of them.
The list of ministerial biographies tells a striking
tale. Who are those who have shaken the world, and left their mark on their
generation, and aroused consciences, and converted sinners, and edified
saints? Not those who have made asceticism, and ceremonials, and sacraments,
and services, and ordinances the main thing; but those who have made most of
God's free grace! In a day of strife, and controversy, and doubt, and
perplexity, men forget this.
Facts are stubborn things. Let us look calmly at
them, and be not moved by those who tell us that daily services,
processions, incense, bowings, crossings, confessions, absolutions, and the
like, are the secret of a prosperous Christianity. Let us look at plain
facts. Facts in old history, and facts in modern days, facts in every part
of England, support the assertion of Paul. The religion of "ceremonial
foods" does "not profit those that are occupied therein." It is the religion
of grace which brings inward peace, outward holiness, and general
usefulness.
Let me wind up this paper with a few words of
PRACTICAL APPLICATION. We are living in an age of peculiar
religious danger. I am quite sure that the advice I am going to offer
deserves serious attention.
(1) In the first place, let us not be surprised at the
rise and progress of false doctrine.
It is a thing as old
as the old Apostles. It began before they died. They predicted that there
would be plenty of it before the end of the world. It is wisely ordered by
God, for the testing of our grace, and to prove who has real faith. If there
were no such thing as false doctrine or heresy upon earth—I would begin to
think the Bible was not true.
(2) In the next place, let us make up our minds to resist
false doctrine, and not to be carried away by fashion and bad example.
Let us not flinch, because all around us, high and low, rich and poor, are
swept away, like geese in a flood, before a torrent of Catholicism. Let us
be firm and stand our ground.
Let us resist false doctrine, and contend earnestly for
the faith once delivered to the saints. Let us not be ashamed of showing our
colors and standing out for New Testament truth. Let us not be stopped by
the alarm cry of "controversy." The thief likes dogs which do not bark, and
watchmen which give no alarm. The devil is a thief and a robber. If we hold
our peace, and do not resist false doctrine—we please him and displease God.
(3) In the next place, let us try to preserve the old
Protestant principles of the Church
, and to hand them down
uninjured to our children's children. Let us not listen to those
faint-hearted Churchmen who would have us forsake the ship, and desert the
Church in her time of need.
(4) In the last place, let us make sure work of our own
personal salvation.
Let us seek to know and feel that we
ourselves are "saved." The day of controversy is always a day of spiritual
peril. Men are apt to confound orthodoxy with conversion, and
to fancy that they must go to heaven if they know how to answer Catholic
Priests. Yet mere earnestness without knowledge, and mere head-knowledge of
true doctrine, alike save none. Let us never forget this.
Let us not rest until we feel the blood of Christ
sprinkled on our consciences, and have the witness of the Spirit within us
that we are born again. This is reality. This is true religion. This will
last. This will never fail us. It is the possession of grace in the heart,
and not the intellectual knowledge of doctrine, which alone profits and
saves the soul.