of his labours, it is to convince him, that the success of his labours belongs to God; that he ought to humble himself, and pray much, and fear lest the fault should be in himself.

Pride and irreligion meet with darkness in the midst of light; raise vain disputes, unprofitable reflections and inquiries; while humility attains to light, in the midst of darkness and difficulties.

Whenever God vouchsafes to open the heart, be the understanding and parts never so small, we see the reasonableness and beauty of His Word, we taste the sweetness, and feel the power thereof.

John xii. 16. "These things understood not His disciples at the first; but, when JESUS was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things unto Him." We often read Scripture, without comprehending its full meaning; however, let us not be discouraged; the light, in God's good time, will break out, and disperse the darkness, and we shall see the. mysteries of the Gospel. Grant me, O LORD, a persevering love of Thy Word, and so much light, as is necessary for myself, and those that hear me.

John xii. 30. "Jesus said, This voice came not for Me, but for your sakes." The way to profit by reading the sacred Scriptures, is, to apply to ourselves that which is spoken in general to all; this truth, this command, this threat, this promise, this intimation, is to me. . . . .

Acts i. 1. "The former treatise have I made of all that Jesus began both to do and teach." This is the whole of a Pastor's life. For a man to preach the Gospel before he has practised it, is to be a very bad imitator of the Prince of Pastors. ... More. sinners are converted by holy, than by learned men. . . Who can say it is not owing to himself, that his flock are ignorant of their duty? . . . .

Col. iv. 4. "That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak." All preachers do not speak as they ought. A man may have the skill to give Christian truths a turn agreeable to the hearers, without affecting their hearts.

...

2 Tim. iv. 1, 2. &c. "I charge thee, LORD JESUS CHRIST, preach the Word.

before God and the Be instant in season,

out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and gravity. For the time will come, when they will not endure sound doctrine, &c. Preaching is a duty, but not the only duty of a Pastor. He is to take all occasions to instruct those that seek the truth; refute such as oppose it; reprove those that do not practise it; and confirm such as have embraced it. And the more we perceive the times of Apostasy approaching, the more zealous ought we to be to defend sound doctrine. It will be no comfort to a Pastor, that the world praises him for some one part of his duty, while GoD condemns him for the neglect of another...

Reading Scripture.

John xvi. 13. "The HOLY SPIRIT. shall lead you into all truth." O HOLY SPIRIT, make me to understand, embrace, and love the truths of the Gospel. Give, O GOD, Thy blessing unto Thy Word, that it may become effectual to my conversion and salvation, and to the salvation of all that read or hear it. . . . . Let Thy gracious promises, O GOD, contained in Thy Word, quicken my obedience. Let Thy dreadful threatenings and judgments upon sinners, fright me from sin, and oblige me to a speedy repentance, for JESUS CHRIST His sake. . . . Grant, O LORD, that in reading Thy Holy Word, I may never prefer my private sentiments before those of the Church in the purely ancient time of Christianity. Give me a full persuasion of those great truths, which Thou hast revealed in Thy Holy Word. . . . From hardness of heart and contempt of Thy Word, Good LORD, deliver us. . . . .

....

Matt. xiii. 36. "Declare unto us this parable." This should instruct us, that the knowledge of God's Word, and the mysteries of the Gospel, are favours which we must always beg of GOD.

OXFORD.

The Feast of St. Michael.

These Tracts are published Monthly, and sold at the price of 2d. for each sheet, or 7s. for 50 copies.

LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. G. & F. RIVINGTON,

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE.

1834.

GILBERT & RIVINGTON, Printers, St. John's Square, London.

TRACTS FOR THE TIMES.

THE GROUNDS OF OUR FAITH.

EVERY system of theology has its dangers, its tendencies towards evil. Systems short of the truth have this tendency inherent in themselves, and in process of time discover it, and work out the anticipated evil, which is but the legitimate though latent consequence of their principles. Thus, we may consider the present state of Geneva the fair result on the long run of the system of self-will which was established there in the sixteenth century. But even the one true system of religion has its dangers on all sides, from the weakness of its recipients, who pervert it. Thus the Holy Catholic doctrines, in which the Church was set up, were corrupted into Popery, not legitimately, or necessarily, but by various external causes acting on human corruption, in the lapse of many ages. St. Paul's command of obedience to rulers, was changed into the tyrannical rule of one Bishop over all countries; his recommendation of an unmarried life, for certain religious objects, was made a rule of celibacy in the case of the clergy. Now, let us ask, what are the bad tendencies of Protestantism? for this is a question which nearly concerns ourselves. We are nearly 300 years from its rise in this country; have any evils yet shewn themselves from it? It is not here proposed to examine the question at large; but a hint on one part of the subject, may be made in answer to it.

At the Reformation, the authority of the Church was discarded by the spirit then predominant among Protestants, and Scripture was considered as the sole document both for ascertaining and

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proving our faith. The question immediately arose, "Is this or that doctrine in Scripture ?"—and in consequence, various intellectual gifts, such as argumentative subtilty, critical acumen, knowledge of the languages, rose into importance, and became the interpreters of Christian truth. Exposition lay through controversy. Now the natural effect of disputation is to make us shun all but the strongest proofs, those which an adversary will find substantial impediments in his line of reasoning; and, therefore, to generate a cautious, discriminative turn of thought, to fix in the mind a standard of proof simulating demonstration, and to make light of mere probabilities. This intellectual habit, resulting from controversy, would also arise from the peculiar exercises of thought necessary for the accurate scholar or antiquarian. It followed, that in course of time, all the delicate shades of truth and falsehood, the unobtrusive indications of God's will, the low tones of the "still small voice," in which Scripture abounds, were rudely rejected; the crumbs from the rich man's table, which Faith eagerly looks about for, were despised by the proud-hearted intellectualist, who, (as if it were a favour in him to accept the Gospel,) would be content with nothing short of certainty, and ridiculed as superstitious and illogical whatever did not approve itself to his own cold, hard, and unimpassioned temper. For instance, if the cases of Lydia, of the jailor,' of Stephanas, were brought to shew our Lord's wish as to the baptism of households, the actions of his apostles to interpret his own commands, it was answered; "This is no satisfactory proof; it is not certain that every one of those households was not himself a believer; it is not certain there were any children among them:"-though surely, in as many as three households, the probability is on the side which the Church has taken, especially viewing the texts in connexion with our Saviour's words, "Suffer the little children," &c. Again, while the observance of the Lord's day was grounded upon the practice of the apostles, it was somehow felt, that this proof was not strong enough to bind the mass of Protestants and so the chief argument now in use is one drawn from the Jewish law, viz., the direct Scripture command, contained in the fourth commandment.

Our Saviour has noticed the frame of mind here alluded to, in

Mark viii. 11, 12, where his feelings and judgment upon it are also told us: "And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with Him, seeking of Him a sign from heaven, tempting Him. And He sighed deeply in His spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? Verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation. And He left them.”

We are warned against the same hard, intractable temper in the book of Psalms :- "I will inform thee, and teach thee in the way wherein thou shalt go; and I will guide thee with Mine eye. Be ye not like to horse and mule, which have no understanding ; whose mouths must be held with bit and bridle, lest they fall upon thee." Ps. xxxii. 9, 10. This stubborn spirit, which yields to nothing but violence, is determined to feel Christ's yoke ere it submits to it, will not see except in broad day-light, and like the servant who hid his talent, is ever making excuses, murmuring, doubting, grudging obedience, and stifling docile and open-hearted faith, is the spirit of ultra-Protestantism, i. e. that spirit, to which the principles of Protestantism tend, and which they have in a great measure realized. On this subject the reader may consult Nos. 4, 8, and 19, of this series of Tracts.

Now to apply this to the doctrines, at present so much undervalued, which it is the especial object of these Tracts to enforce.

When a clergyman has spoken strongly in defence of Episcopacy, a hearer will go away saying, that there is much very able and forcible, much very eloquent and excellent, in what he has just heard; but after all, there is very little about Episcopacy in Scripture. This is the point to which a shrewd, clear-headed reasoner will resort," after all;" we come round and round to it; the doctrine advocated is plausible, useful, generally received hitherto;—– granted, but Scripture says very little about it.

Now it cannot be for a moment allowed, that Scripture contains little on the subject of Church Government; though it may readily be granted that it obtrudes on the reader little about it. The doctrine is in it, not on it; not on the surface. This need not be proved here, since the subject has been variously considered in former Numbers of this series. But it may be useful in a few words to shew how the state of the argument and controversy concerning Episcopacy, illustrates the above remarks, and how