ANOTHER GOSPEL. THE following extracts are from a Sermon on Gal. i, 6-9, entitled "Another Gospel," by the Rev. T. W. Carr, of Southborough, Kent, who was once, we understand, in great peril of being drawn into the destructive snare of the Oxford divines. 66 Faith, true faith, is a most tender and delicate plant in the soul. Feed it constantly and prayerfully with the pure word of God, and give it simple loving intercourse with brethren in Jesus, and it will thrive and be healthy, and carry the soul through all trial and temptation. But let there come a disrelish for the pure word, let books of devotion be multiplied, and the writings of old or modern divines take its place in our thoughts and studies, let the church become more to us than the love of the brethren, and then its bloom, its life, its freshness, its vigour, its simple, affectionate, childlike character is gone, a formal and ceremonial religion creeps in, and we are insensibly removed to another way of salvation, which is not another, for it leads to any thing but deliverance from terrors of conscience, wretchedness of heart, or the tyranny of sin. "The scripture teaches us that the very pillars of the church,' the first ministers, may quickly be removed from grace, and swerve from teaching gospel to teaching law; from spreading the liberty of Christ, to fixing a yoke of bondage, and self-righteousness, on the spirits of men; from upholding the simplicity and sufficiency of faith, to urging religion of ceremonies, will-worship, and fleshly austerities. a "It shews you, too, what cause we have to be upon our guard against reason, for we act more readily from reason than from faith and reason always of itself leans to the righteousness of the flesh, and is contrary to faith: and the greater a man's understanding, and the stronger his mind, the sooner and the more completely in this matter they deceive and hold him fast. hypocrisy! We are not jealous for Christ, for his truth and the souls espoused to it, but we are wonderfully afraid of displeasing men, let them preach ever so erroneously, lest they should charge us with beiug of a bad spirit, rough, lawless, uncharitable and injurious. We are required to have a greater respect for men than God. It is bigotry and presumption to be decided. My brethren, why are we so cool? why do we make a virtue of lukewarmness on this subject, and denounce those as intemperate, who are faithful? Because we make the offence a small offence, a light matter. And why do we so? Because we have no really exalted views of the majesty of God's truth and grace, or of Christ's righteousness, whilst we have the persons of men in wondrous admiration and awe. We have no deep fixed conviction of the immeasurable distance between Christ's righteousness and our own, and therefore we can hear them put on a similar footing, without horror and indignation. We have the feeblest perception of God's grace, therefore we can suffer our obedience to be patched up with it, and perceive not the blasphemy. But, my brethren, if we believe St. Paul, to mingle Christ's and our righteousness, and take away the simplicity of faith, is the most. horrible sin, because it denies God's truth, it darkens God's grace, it degrades Christ's righteousness to a mere partnership, it takes away his benefit, and cuts off from us his holy Spirit. If then it is harsh and severe to give this offence its proper title, and assign its proper deserts, our excuse is, we follow the authority the apostle has given to the Galatians on this subject. "Is it then a preacher who teaches another gospel? who subverts souls by drawing off their entire trust from the grace of Christ, to their own obedience? I brings in another gospel. He thrusts Christ from his office, he declares Christ's righteousness insufficient. And shall such a man then escape the judgment of the church, because he is zealous, because he is sincere, because he is learned, has rank, is devout, or to our eyes full of good works? No. Though he were bishop or archbishop, though a learned professor, though an apostle, though an angel, let each church, like as the Galatians were bidden to do, hold him anathema, and protest against him. 'As we said before, so say I again, if any preach any other gospel, let him be accursed.' Here we must have no respect for men's persons, office, rank, or ability. It must be a great cause indeed, in which we may not allow ourselves to be influenced, much less awed and silenced by the authority and estimation in which men stand. But St. Paul is our authority. He would himself have no respect to the dignity of St. Peter's apostleship, or the deserved estimation in which St. Peter was held, when he departed from the truth. Dear to him was St. Peter, and honoured in his eyes was the apostleship, but he had a greater majesty and honour before his eyes, even God's truth - Christ's righteousness. There are times when the faithful Christian must be willing to be accounted a despiser of men's persons, times in which he must refuse with pertinacity to give place to parents, to magistrates, to bishops, to the chair of learning and science, to apostles, to angels. It may be hard for a man of no remarkable learning and station, to stand out against a body, for another gospel will always draw the stronger party to it, and the gospel have the weaker; but a poor monk has so stood. It is a hard step to represent men who seem sincere, zealous, devout, and self-denying, as guilty of so grave a charge as perverting the gospel, which they themselves think they are establishing; and if the truth of Christ be not deep in our hearts, to live and die with it, we shall be found cowards. Our judgment will falter-our opinion will be overawed by the imposing front of learning, of works, of station, of character, of piety. But the apostle-no bigot, no violent man-has commanded us in the person of the Galatians, to de our duty." |