it not more painful to perish by it? To acknowledge that by especial acts we have offended GOD, may be humbling; but will it be less humbling that they should rise up against us unforgiven when we stand for judgment before men and angels? I never visit dying men without fear, when I find that they are ready to depart without fear of death, and yet without true grief for their transgressions. Such persons there is the utmost reason to fear, perish self-deceived. They quit the world quietly, and their friends are well pleased that they should pass decently from their sight. We bury them with the words of hope; for hope we may so long as their destiny is uncertain. But you should be warned beforehand, my Brethren, of the infinite danger of such an end. A thousand times better it were to be affrighted at the prospect of death, rather than to die without fear, yet without repentance. For GOD comes to bring their sin to remembrance; and those who will not grieve for it here, must perish by it hereafter.

R. I. W.

SERMON XXVIII.

FIXEDNESS OF PRINCIPLE AND PERSONAL HOLINESS NECESSARY IN CHRIST'S MINISTERS.

Ember Days.'

1 TIM. IV. 16.

TAKE HEED UNTO THYSELF, AND UNTO THE DOCTRINE.

NEVER was there greater need than at the present time-especially for those amongst you who are about to take the solemn step of devoting yourselves to the Christian Ministry—to bear in mind this injunction of the Apostle.

Let me begin by directing your attention to the exact words of Holy Scripture: "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine." The sense of this text is not precisely the same as if St. Paul had said, "Take heed to thy doctrine-be careful what doctrine you preach. The injunction includes indeed this application, but the meaning is more comprehensive. It may be paraphrased, "Keep thy heart and understanding earnestly fixed on the great truths which GOD has revealed." "O Timothy," says St. Paul in another place, "keep that which is committed to thy trust.' "Hold fast the form

1 Preached at Lichfield Cathedral, on Trinity Sunday, 1845, at the Ordination of Priests and Deacons by the Bishop of Lichfield.

of sound words." "I exhort you," says "I exhort you," says St. Jude, "that ye contend earnestly for the faith once [i. e., once for all] delivered to the saints." What is enjoined by both these Apostles is an earnest attention and a hearty devotion to the pure doctrine of Revealed Truth, in all its completeness and integrity.

Some, perhaps, may be disposed to think that, amidst the multitude of conflicting doctrines and systems current in the world, it is impossible to know for certain which is the true system of religious truth; or that it is a task beyond our finite powers to grasp it. But surely GOD would not have revealed a doctrine, and so straightly commanded us to give heed to it, and keep it, and hold it fast, and even contend for it, if it be impossible to know what it really is. We may be quite sure that the doctrine of the Gospel is something definite and attainable, from the very terms employed in speaking of it.

Where, then, are we to look for this true and genuine doctrine of Revealed Truth?

First, we have means of knowing and keeping the true doctrine, which St. Timothy had not. We have the written volume of the New Testament. That Sacred Volume, which the Bishop will this day place in the hands of each of you, contains, either expressed or implied, all doctrine that is necessary for man's salvation. The Church was enabled, as we believe, by Divine Providence, to collect together into one Canon the inspired writings of the Apostles and Evangelists, discarding what was spurious and apocryphal, preserving what was genuine and inspired; and in her capacity of "witness and keeper of Holy Writ," to transmit them free from material error down to the present day.

1 2 Tim. 13.

2 See Article xx.

It is a great vantage ground that we have, both in our inquiries after truth, and in preaching the truth to others that fixed opinion, so prevalent amongst religious persons, that the Bible which we have in our hands is God's Inspired Word-the depository and standard of the Gospel of Salvation.

Connected, however, with this principle, which can never be too zealously upheld, is the grand fallacy, or false principle, which has turned the Word of God itself into an occasion, or rather pretext, for every form of heresy and schism: I mean the notion that all men may, without blame, fix on Holy Scripture what interpretation they think proper, and that the doctrine which each one gathers for himself is that whereby he may be saved; consequently, that there are many doctrines or schemes of doctrine which may be equally held and maintained as Truth. Few, perhaps, will admit that they hold this opinion in all its naked absurdity. It is usually modified, or wrapped up in some subtle disgiuse; as, that it is presumptuous to fetter men's consciences-uncharitable to dispute about mere forms or dogmasthat doctrines drawn from Scripture are mere theological opinions-that what is necessary for salvation is plain enough to any honest man, and that what is not plain is not necessary to be believed that a man's religious belief is an affair between GoD and himself alone—or that, if we hold some one or more fundamental truths, we are at liberty to disagree about the rest. In one form or another this most dangerous fallacy meets us at every turn, and thwarts our efforts to teach the truth. It is the root of that lamentable laxity and latitudinarianism by which the morals and religion of the age are sapped, truth itself rendered vague and uncertain, Christian unity dissolved, and the

Church becoming gradually transformed into a Babel of conflicting tongues. And never can this miserable state of things be amended until we come to acknowledge what one would think was a mere truism, that there is one doctrine, one great scheme of revealed truth, one true sense of Scripture to which we should take heed, and that whatsoever varies from that standard must, in as far as it varies, be unsound and erroneous.

In order to furnish the means of knowing the true scheme of Revealed Truth,-GOD's Providence so ordained, that the great and vital doctrines of the Christian faith were actually decided at a very early period, when the Church was one united body: and those decisions are transmitted to us principally in the Creeds, in which we have a summary of the Christian doctrine, or "Catholic faith," which it is necessary (as we have ourselves this day confessed our belief) for every one that would be saved "to keep whole and undefiled." 921 In these Creeds the great truths of the Gospel are so digested, systematized, and arranged, that the most unlearned may plainly know them, while the most learned will be in danger of falling, if he neglect them. Consider only the perspicuity and fulness with which the great and mysterious doctrine of the Trinity in Unity is brought out, as it were in relief, from Scripture, and held up to our faith. The doctrine of GOD the FATHER Who made us, GOD the SON Who redeemed us, GoD the HOLY GHOST Who sanctifieth us—their distinct personality, yet united substance and co-equality in the GODHEAD-all, in short, that Holy Scripture teaches us "in divers places," is here ranged, determined, and brought out, so as to preclude the

1 Athanasian Creed.