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:
THE DIVINE WARNING
TO
THE CHURCH,
AT THIS TIME,
OF OUR ENEMIES, DANGERS, AND DUTIES, AND AS TO OUR
FUTURE PROSPECTS:
WITH INFORMATION RESPECTING THE DIFFUSION OF
INFIDELITY, LAWLESSNESS, AND POPERY :
In Three parts.
BY THE REV. EM BICKERSTETH,
RECTOR OF WATTON, herts.
“ Behold, I come as a thief ! blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth
his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame."
30T
ROMANS
HA
14.
W TO THE IES
THE TESTIMONY
Eighth Thousand Enlarged.
LONDON:
PUBLISHED FOR THE PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION;
BY W. H. DALTON, COCKSPUR STREET...
MDCCCXLIII.
MACINTOSH, PRINTER,
GREAT NEW STREET, LONDON,
Tarpuu Rub.
69-1932
CONTENTS.
FACE
PREFACE . . . . v~xxiv
Part I.-Warning to Christians in general.
Chap. 1. General observations . . . .. 1
2. Marks of the present application of the 6th
vial . . . . . . . 8
3. The explanation which this vial gives of
the revival of Romish principles .. 39
4. The troubles which God has foretold us
will ensue . . . . . . 76
5. The final deliverance of God's people . 102
6. Practical application of this subject . . 117
PART II.--The duty of the people of God to
come out of Rome.
Chap. 1. General observations . . . . 133
2. The true meaning of Babylon in the pro-
phecy of the Revelation . . . 138
3. Her sins before God . . . . . 158
4. The plagues to come upon her . . 183
5. The charge to come out of her . . . 193
A 2
iv
CONTENTS.
Part III.- The contrast between the mystery of
godliness and the mystery of iniquity.
Chap. 1. The mystery of godliness . . . . 217
2. The mystery of iniquity . . . . 224
Closing address to Christians . . . 236
· 285
APPENDIX.
I. On the Protestant application of the Man
of Sin, Antichrist, and the Book of Reve-
lation . . . . .
II. Present state of the Greek and Eastern
Churches . . . . . . 301
III. The growing knowledge of our Reformers
in scriptural views on the Sacraments,
and on Regeneration . . . 307
IV. Present position of the Tractarians .. 315
V. Notice of efforts made by Romanists in
Syria and the East . . . . 321
VI. Papal intolerance and idolatry in France,
and exertions in England . . . . 323
INDEX . . . . . . . . 331
PRE FACE.
THE present state of the world may seem to some to
be such as to make it unseasonable and unsuitable to give
warning of danger. It is a time of universal peace.
Troubles and disputes that appeared likely to threaten
the world with convulsion, have been happily and pros-
perously quieted and ended. China and Affghanistan,
the French Algeria and our own colony of the Cape of
Good Hope, Syria and America, Spain and Portugal,
France and Britain, all these countries have been recently
disturbed by wars or commotions, but they are again
tranquillized ; and wars are hushed throughout the earth.
The French King, in his speech of January 9, 1843,
states, “The world is at peace. France is free, active,
and happy.” The speech of our British Queen (and long
may the Almighty preserve our gracious Queen from all
enemies within and without, and bless her and our Pro-
testant Prince Albert, and their Royal offspring; millions
of yet loyal hearts, through her wide-spread dominions,
fervently respond to such wishes)--this speech, on the 2d
of February, 1848, re-echoes from our own shores the
same peaceful sounds. It begins with these words, “ Her
Majesty receives FROM ALL PRINCES AND STATES assur
2
LS
1
.2...
A
3
PREFACE.
ances of a friendly disposition towards our country, and of
AN EARNEST DESIRE TO CO-OPERATE with Her Majesty,
IN THE MAINTENANCE OF GENERAL PEACE.”
Blessed be God for peaceful dispositions among kings
and princes, rulers and statesmen, and all our fellow-men.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the
children of God Blessed are the meek, for they shall
inherit the earth.
Peace is indeed an inestimable blessing. Glory be to
Him who maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth.
If the prospect of continued earthly peace was certainly
assured, who would not rejoice? And if the peace was
connected with righteousness, we might hope for pro-
longed quietness and assurance; if the peace were that
peace which flows from a cordial reception of the Gospel
of Christ and submission of the nations to THE ONLY
PRINCE OF PEACE, no warning would be needed: thanks-
giving and joy would be the privilege and happiness of
the whole earth.
And even if the peace which we now enjoy were really
improved for works of repentance and righteousness, there
would still be good hope for our country. If we bewailed
our national pride, ambition, and love of gain, and our
unrighteousness; if we renounced our patronage of May-
nooth, and the national favour shown to Popery in the
systems of education in Ireland, and the Government
support of Papal priests in our colonies; if the temporal
and spiritual distresses of the poor, against every partial
interest of those over them, were duly cared for; if pure
Protestant Churches were favoured by those in authority;
if Church extension were vigorously and nationally carried
forward; if our power over our colonies was used as a trust
for the honour of Christ, and their religious and moral
w
PREFACE.
vii
improvement; in short, if the wisdom of worldly expe-
dience were renounced in our public measures, and true
Christian wisdom, the fear of God, and keeping his com-
mandments were duly honoured; such things would indeed
be tokens for good that could not be doubted. Nebu-
chadnezzar was in full prosperity, at rest in his house, and
flourishing in his palace, when the prophetic warning was
given to him. Though the prophecy of his humiliation
was from God himself, yet the advice of Daniel was,
Wherefore, O King, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee,
and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities
by showing mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening of
thy tranquillity. If this advice of Daniel had been heartily
followed, no doubt the tranquillity would have been pro-
longed. It is so with us now. National repentance, as
in the case of Nineveh, averts or delays predicted national
judgments.
But we see few signs of this nationally. Many sigh in
secret over the sins of our country, and God marks such
with special favour and promise; but other thoughts are
the prevailing thoughts in our land. The extent of irre-
ligion and unbelief (looking at them as regarded in the
Word of God) openly manifested on the earth, and among
professedly Christian nations, is the most justly alarming
sign of these times. Wickedness more fearfully than ever
abounds throughout Christendom; so as to give occasion
to fear that the nations of the earth are rapidly ripening
for Divine judgments. The wicked are like the troubled
sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
Blessed be God again, for the manifest growth of pious
exertions in our land. We must, however, distinguish
between national acts, and the acts of real Christians.
viii
PREFACE.
iu
1
Look at the Jewish nation in the Apostolic age; nothing
could be more full of piety, zeal, self-sacrifice, devotedness,
and every good work, than the primitive Jewish Church
of Christ at Jerusalem. Myriads believed; a great com-
pany of the priests were obedient to the faith. From them
the Word of the Lord went forth through the world; yet,
at that very time, Jewish national wickedness was deepen-
ing and extending, and it was thus ripening the whole
country for its lengthened ruin. The grace of God gene-
rally shines the brightest in his people in the darkest
season of the world's wickedness; and it is full of in-
creasing blessedness to multitudes that are saved; but if
that grace be nationally resisted and opposed, it aggravates
the general guilt of the nation and fills up the measure of
its sins, as we see in the case of the Jews, 1 Thess. ii.
14-16.
In this view, the more the outward peace abounds, the
more is the faithful watchman called upon to sound the
trumpet of alarm; and to show distinctly on what false
foundations hopes of continued peace and tranquillity
rest. The time of outward peace, if there be no turning
to God, is neither necessarily the time of spiritual prose
perity, nor yet the time of freedom from the most serious
and overwhelming dangers. We are assured that this will
be the state of the world before the last and the greatest
of all its troubles; the unequalled great tribulation yet to
come. The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the
night; for when they shall say, Peace and safety, then
sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a
woman with child, and they shall not escape. (See 1 Thess.
v. 1-11; Luke xvii. 26-30, xxi. 35.)
The often quoted description of the political state of
Europe given in Mr. Canning's celebrated speech of Dec.
PREFACE.
ix
12, 1826—“that the next war which should be kindled
in Europe would be a war not so much of armies as of
opinions; and that the consequence of letting loose the
passions at present chained and confined, would be to
produce a scene of desolation which no man can contem-
plate without horror"-gives us, from an able statesman,
in a situation competent to judge, that view of the world
which is the very counterpart of what God has foretold it
should be at this time. He compares the restraint in
which “ the nations of Europe, amidst the struggle of
political opinions, which agitate, more or less sensibly,
different countries of the world, are at present kept," to
Æolus restraining the fury of the winds.
This withholding of the tempest of Divine wrath,
appears in the course of the prophecies of Revelation to
be predicted at this very season. (Rev. vii. 1-3.) The
ceasing of this restraint at the appointed time, brings on
the great tribulation (Rev. vii. 14); which is more fully
described in the seventh vial (Rev. xvi. 17-21; and
opened out in another vision, chapters xvii., xviii., and
xix.) The first effect of this vial is, the great city was
divided into three parts--a separation of the whole of
Christendom into three divisions ; not merely such divi-
sions as we now see in its distinct kingdoms, the cities of
the nations fell; but a division into three well-defined and
clearly-limited parties in all Christendom; which, as far
as we can judge from the various prophecies of the New
Testament, may be distinguished thus: the followers of
superstition; the followers of lawless or worldly infidelity;
and the true followers of Christ. The completing of this
division may be a progressive work; but we see such
classes more and more marked in society as well as in
prophecy. The intestine war of these parties through
PREFACE.
Christendom, caused by their irreconcileable opinions, will
compel each one to choose whom he will serve, to crystal-
lize around and adhere to that to which he has the greatest
affinity; and so ripen the wicked for judgment, the saints
for their glory, and prepare the earth for the coming and
kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
However, also, men may differ on prophetical views, it
is very clear that these elements of discord and division
do really exist in every Christian land, and can hardly be
kept under by the measures of the wisest statesmen, or the
armies of the most powerful monarch. The affairs of the
nations of the earth are manifestly far beyond all human
control. In the eyes of all men, everything is unsettling,
changing, and moving. The situation of Britain at the
present moment is unequalled among the nations of the
.
merce, and its riches ; its flag waves on every sea, and is
seen in every port, and it has thus a mighty influence over
all nations. But chiefly here is the unequalled privilege,
and responsibility, and, because neglected, the fearful
guilt of Britain; it has the pure Word of God, and the
capability of blessing the whole earth with the light of
Divine truth; it has greater moral and spiritual light than
other nations. It is eminently blessed with Christian laws
and liberty, and pure administration of justice : and it has
'been unfaithful to this trust, and all its many advantages.
Here is one chief part of its peculiar sin and danger, and
of its guilt and condemnation; it is filled with pride at its
national elevation, forgets the hand that has given all, and
neglects the very work for which all was given. The most
special temptation of Britain at the present hour is being,
like Israel, lifted up with pride by its prosperity. We need
the warning, not to say in our heart, My power and the
PREFACE.
might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth-thou shalt
remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth the power
to get wealth. Though the command to diffuse Christian
light be as clear as the noon-day; as a nation Britain does
little, * either at home or abroad, to shine as a light in the
* To verify this, let the reader compare the lists in the
massive Post-office London Directory, and the scanty com-
parative lists of London subscribers to our religious Societies.
The contrast is truly humbling as it regards private exertions.
And then as to what is done nationally; compare its expendi-
ture, on other national objects, with its expenditure on the
most important of all objects, for real national prosperity, the
advancement of the Christian faith. If there be not included
in this estimate the income of the Established Church, which
is the fruit of the faith of past ages, how little has the faith of
the nation enabled its Government to do, either at home for
the instruction of its own subjects; or in its colonies, for
their best welfare: or for the enlightening of the world at
large, according with the present position of Britain. It may
be well to compare all this with what Rome does. By a
letter in the “Record," of January 30, 1843, signed “ Viator,"
whose information seems worthy of confidence, it appears
that A MILLION OF MONEY IS ANNUALLY AT THE DIS-
POSAL OF THE CHURCH OF ROME FOR THE PROPAGATION
OF HER ERRONEOUS FAITH. He says, “ The Government
of the Roman States is strictly an irresponsible ecclesiastical
despotism--the Church property is very considerable-THE
LOTTERY, exclusively a Government Institution, is one very
productive source of revenue. The Church of Rome, through
the Propaganda or Jesuits' Societies, derives a large amount
of revenue from other countries. In making a proximate
estimate, I was guided by the opinion of a person who, during
a long residence at Rome, had the best possible opportunity
of obtaining accurate information. By far the greatest pro-
portion of the public revenue is spent in providing for the
support of a numerous body of clergy. At Rome, ecclesiastics
xii
PREFACE,
world, holding forth the Word of Life. What is done is
chiefly done by the children of God, a little flock in the
midst of Britain. It is yet more sad, that sometimes there
has not been neutrality, or limited support at the best;
but a support of a false religion : Britain, in its Govern-
are met everywhere; abbés, friars, Jesuits, Dominicans,
monks, priests, sisters of charity, cross the path at every turn.
The Pope keeps thus constantly in his pay a large army of
clerical agents, ready at all times to execute his mandates,
either at home or abroad.” He speaks of the Government
as imbecile and wicked, and leaving scarcely a vestige of
liberty; and the administration of justice as most corrupt;
and the people only restrained from open rebellion by the
hopelessness of success-while the priestly Government is
upheld by Austria; were it deprived of this protection, it
would be speedily overturned. So manifestly is the spiritual
energy, and not political power; the false prophet, and not
the beast; the character now of Popery.
If such a weak Government can thus compass sea and
land to propagate the Apostasy--what ought Britain, pos-
sessed of the true faith of Christ, with its vast wealth, mighty
power, and exhaustless resources, to do for the maintenance
and diffusion of that faith. In an account given of the
meeting of the Propaganda at Rome, on January 8, in the
“St. James's Chronicle," of January 31, 1841, it is said,
addresses in forty-eight different languages were delivered by
pupils from different nations, educated in that Institution, and
that all these young men, animated by the one object to which
they have devoted their lives, will return to their native homes
to maintain a close correspondence with the Propaganda, and
in fulfilment of their oaths, to transmit to Rome, at stated
intervals, circumstantial intelligence of everything remarkable
or important that comes under their observation. There is
no nation in the world respecting which the Jesuits do not
obtain the most accurate information through the medium of
these agents." Let us be stirred up by their energy.
PREFACE.
xiii
ment grants, supports the idolatry of Rome; Britain, in
its Government Acts, has honoured the idolatry of the
Heathen in India, and this while Britain has, in too many
instances, been merely passive to the efforts of the Pro-
testant missionary, though its colonies are peopled by tens
of millions of neglected Idolaters.
Britain, in the chief use of its vast wealth and power
is too sunk in worldliness, secularity, and strife ; too eager
in its vehement emulations and competitions ; too ardently
occupied in the pursuit of more money, to regard the spi-
ritual necessities even of its own destitute classes, and still
less to care for that great trust of diffusing the light of
the Gospel over the earth, which the Providence of God
has so remarkably conferred upon it.
Hence Britain is righteously punished by its own sins.
Insubordination, self-will, and lawlessness, prevail among
the lower orders, and alienate the higher classes from
them. The worldly selfishness of those who have been
amassing riches in trades, manufactures, and commerce,
or by other means, without any regard to the spiritual or
even temporal welfare of those who have toiled for them,
thinking dependents only to be employed and retained for
their own convenience, and casting them off with careless
indifference, when they can no longer serve their worldly
interest, has alienated the lower classes too from the
higher. Both classes seem greatly unconscious of their
own danger in consequence of this state of things. While
the poor, thus neglected and despised, are sinking lower
and lower in ignorance and vice, want and misery; lawless
men, to exalt themselves, are everywhere seeking to inflame
their minds, by speaking evil of dignities, and by this
means hope to overthrow all those institutions of our
country, which have blessed both rich and poor. Nothing
xiy
PREFACE.
but redeeming love can remove this alienation and enmity
of the different classes of society, and great numbers of
the wealthy know not this love themselves, and will there-
fore do little to make it known.
The masses of society in Europe at large are fearfully
corrupt, and the great and only efficacious remedy, the
Gospel of Christ, which God has given for the healing of
our disorders, is unapplied, and, to a prodigious extent.
slighted and neglected by the rulers of this world. The
Gospel, the Gospel only, the inward power of Christianity,
can alone bring the submission of the heart to God, and
is, at this hour, the only cure for the moral diseases of
the nations. Its rejection will be the ruin of the kingdoms
of the earth.
In the meanwhile, THE LAST ENEMY OF THE CHURCH is
daily gathering strength. There is a more serious enemy
than Popery, which, however it may for a season concur
with, give strength to, and sustain the harlot Church, is
an enemy that will cast off ultimately the dominion of
Popery, trample it under its feet, and consume it, and
stand distinct as the beast and the kings of the earth, and
their armies, gathered to make war against the King of
kings and his armies. Over this enemy our Lord will
win his final victory. Merle D'Aubigné well observes,
“ An enemy unlike either Paganism or Romanism, at once
within and without, presents itself to sustain the last
assault of the truth : I mean THE UNBELIEVING AND
ANTICHRISTIAN SPIRIT OF THE AGE. More powerful.
more terrible than either Paganism or Popery, it casts
upon Christianity that look of disdain which the gods of
the capitol once bestowed on the citizens of Tarsus, who
appeared in chains at their feet, and which, fifteen centu-
ries later, Leo and the pompous Court of the Medici, fixed
with a smile on the obscure cell of an Augustine monk.
PREFACE.
XV
Or rather the Antichristian spirit of the world, which
now rears its banners so high, does not at present suspect
the enemy which is to vanquish and overthrow it. And
yet it will be vanquished, and the mighty giant of the age
which blasphemes the God of the armies of Israel will
fall :" yes, fall in a moment before the true David, at his
appearing with his armies. (Rev. xix. 11-21.)
May God give grace to our land to return to the better
mind of its best days, with deeper experience, fuller truth,
purer zeal, and more enlarged love. May we nationally
honour God our Saviour and those truths which he restored
to us at the Reformation, and confirmed at the Revolution
of 1688, both at home and abroad. This would indeed
be a token of good for Britain. Thus saith the Lord thy
Redeemer, I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to
profit; which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
Oh that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments ! then
had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the
waves of the sea. We may appeal to every understanding
and every conscience : if we are altogether dependant on
the Lord of heaven and earth; if He have given us in-
struction in the principles of action which ought to govern
the conduct of men and of nations, in order to their safety
and happiness ; and if He have described, in the sure
word of prophecy, the character of our times and the
things which are before us, it is, it must be, unspeakably
important, nationally, as well as personally, to attend to
the instruction which He has given, that we may know his
mind, follow his directions, do his will, and be thus ready
to improve or to welcome all his providence : be advancing
his heavenly kingdom, and be ourselves growing in meet-
ness for all its glories.
Quickened by these motives, the author has here en.
62
xvi
PREFACE.
deavoured to diffuse what he believes to be scriptural
instruction, given by God himself to preserve his people
holy, and harmless, and unblameable in his sight, in the
midst of the many temptations and dangers of these times.
The following work is founded on Sermons preached
at different times for the Protestant Association. They
have already had a large circulation, but many friends
having recommended their being printed in a form more
suited for general reading, the author has adopted their
suggestion, and taken the opportunity of adding farther
remarks to strengthen and illustrate the subject.
Truly thankful will he be if, by this means, any of
his brethren or fellow-men be warned and preserved
from the spiritual dangers to which we are all now ex-
posed. The first part shows Christians in general their
peculiar temptations, dangers, and duties ; the second part
is more immediately applicable to those already under
the snare of Romanism ; and the third part gives the
contrast between the mystery of godliness and the mys-
tery of iniquity.
The chief objections which have been made to the
author's statements in the first part* have been in the
* Many minor objections have been made which need no
notice. I just observe, however, that in one of the notes
(see page 56 of this edition) I had stated, “I am not aware
that at any time the literal directions concerning the daily
saying of the morning and evening prayer were generally
practised." On this, the “ Christian Remembrancer" quotes
an anonymous Tract to contradict it, and prove it to be a fact,
that " at the beginning of the last century, in London alone,
in seventy churches and chapels public prayer was daily
offered." Even this would not show that the statement of
“generally practised" was unfounded. Bishop Ridley's in-
junctions in the Diocese of London, in 1550, are that
PREFACE.
xvii
form of doubts as to the application of the prophecy.
“ The Roman Catholic Magazine" speaks of the different
interpretations put on this book, and of the speculations
of Mr. Bickersteth; while Protestant reviewers say
this interpretation may or may not be true. « The
Christian Observer," (a periodical which has rendered
many good services to the Church of Christ during the
common prayer be had in every church upon Wednesdays and
Fridays, according to the King's Grace's ordinances, and that
all such as conveniently may shall resort to the same." In
reality, the 84th “ Tract for the Times" confirms the remark
which I made. I think no one can read that Tract without
seeing that my statement is fully made out by Queen Eliza-
beth's injunctions of 1559, and the 14th and 15th Canons of
James I., as well as by the statements of Bishop Overall,
Bishop Cosins, Dr. Bisse, and others. A writer, supposed to
be Thomas Smith, is quoted in this Tract, who mentions, in
1683, twenty places of daily worship, in London, morning and
evening. I said not what I said with joy. We hope hereafter
" to serve God day and night in his temple." It is a cause of
grief that we are so far from it, and our joy is that we shall
be for ever in the presence of God in perfected glory above.
(Rev. xxi. 22.) But let us not forget that the pressure of the
outward form may be wholly pharisaic. It was characteristic
of the Jews ripening for judgment. (Matt. xxiii.) In the
recollection of such a fearful danger, may we watch over each
other in faithful love. A daily service from choice and love
to God's house is, however, so delightful and so charac-
teristic of the Gospel of Christ in its purity, and would be
such a blessing to the world around, that I trust nothing that
has been said will be supposed to be adverse to a daily service
of spiritual worshippers ; delighting in God's ordinances, and
so arranged as not to cause a neglect of the ordinary business
and duties of life, in our present condition of discipline and
training up for a better state hereafter. But neglect of private
prayer is, I fear, a more urgent evil than neglect of public
worship; and see our Lord's own view of this. (Matt. vi. 5–8.)
b 3
xviii
PREFACE.
last forty-three years, approving of the practical parts,
views that on which they are founded as “an hypothesis
of a scriptural interpretation, with illustrations such as
every writer, who has connected a scheme of interpreta-
tion with passing events in his own day, has been able to
find." They assert, however, that as applied to the Ro-
manists, the facts and prophecies of Revelation tally as
minutely as a check and its counterfoil. But the Roman-
ists, and a recently risen-up body of Protestants, too,
have a totally different view even of that application, and
have no faith even so far as this, in the interpretation of
the prophecy.
Such loose general objections, without any definite and
specific reasons, mean nothing, and tend only to universal
scepticism. Let us not also forget, that we are solemnly
warned by our Lord himself, in a most startling question
respecting the state of his people, just before his coming,
against this unbelief, as that to which they will be greatly
tempted. (Luke xviii. 8.) Such general doubts and sus-
picions may prevent unreflecting minds receiving an in-
terpretation, but they have no real weight to set it aside.
While I readily admit, and have repeatedly asserted, the
depth and mystery of the Book of Revelation, yet there
is, in reality, no doctrine without its depth and mystery ;
while great and all-important truth is contained in it
for our instruction and salvation. The darkness should
quicken research, and not lead us to neglect the study.
The differences of interpretation in a book so greatly
commended to us by the Holy Spirit, should lead us
to closer, more minute, and full investigation. “The
Jews," Bengelius observes, “ curse those calculating
the times of the Messiah ; the Apocalypse blesses the
faithful hearers of a prophecy, embracing the nearness
PREFACE.
xix
of the time, and in the meanwhile, the times to be cal-
culated.”
In fact, it is the very plan of Infidels, and Christians
should not walk after it, thus to set aside Christianity
altogether. Volney, for instance, gives, in his work on
the “Ruins of Empires,” a plausible statement of differ-
ent opinions on all religions, and thence leaves every man
free from all restraint and at liberty to follow his own
understanding and his own inclination ; and on this Infi-
del ground the blasphemer Paterson was recently de-
fended.
If we receive no interpretation of prophecy till the
interpretation be generally by all parties admitted, we
must reject all interpretation of prophecy, fulfilled as
well as unfulfilled, as none is unquestioned. There is no
royal road to this learning; but here, as in other things,
a patient and diligent application of mind, with a right-
eous, teachable, and devout spirit, will, with God's bless-
ing, give us real light for our paths (Dan. xii. 10; 2 Pet.
i. 19), and be richly rewarded with the solid inward com-
fort of that light, and thence be earnestly desirous to
impart it to others.
We had need also to take heed, while we protest against
it in words, not to act as if Scripture was too obscure or
doubtful to admit of just interpretations. Some parts
are, doubtless, more plain than others; but to an earnest
and patient inquirer there is no part that will not forward
important and substantial truth. It was meant to give
light to all who take heed to it. Luther well observed,
“If Scripture be obscure or doubtful, what need was
there for it to be declared to us by God from heaven ?
Are we not sufficiently obscure and ambiguous, without
having our obscurity, ambiguity, and darkness, in-
XX
PREFACE.
creased to us from heaven ?" He was reasoning against
those who professed, from the difficulties of Scripture, to
doubt on doctrines ; but his reasoning is applicable to
those who raise similar doubts on prophecies. It is easy
to call all prophecy “ obscure prophecies," and discourage
the study. But there is enough of light, especially in
those which concern the coming of Christ, to guide those
who diligently take heed to them. Nor do I see that
humility requires us to put the subject in a supposititious
form, where the mind is satisfied of the reality of an in-
terpretation that furnishes us with a Divine guard against
real and urgent spiritual dangers.
No doubt there is a most serious responsibility to use
the best means in our power to form a scriptural judg-
ment amidst the conflicting opinions of human writers,
especially in the exposition of the deepest part of Divine
truth, and before we testify that to others. No doubt we
are all liable to error in forming that judgment; but all
human exposition being thus fallible, it does not set aside
the duty of testifying plainly, and with firmness, what
we judge to be the truth after diligent investigation.
We might as well, because scriptural doctrines are
mysterious and have been disputed, put them in such a
questionable form. We are not called to such an affecta-
tion of modesty. We having the same spirit of faith
according as it is written, I believed and therefore have I
spoken , we also believe and therefore speak. (2 Cor.
iv. 13.)
Unbelief in the Church would make all Divine truth
in the Scriptures like a jar of frozen oil to us, from which
we can hardly extract a few drops (and then question
whether it be oil or not), to maintain the flame in our
expiring lamps. By faith we might have the whole
PREFACE.
xxi
vessel full and ready for our constant use, furnishing, like
the widow's cruse of oil, an unfailing supply of which we
might freely invite others to partake, and still have
enough for ourselves.
But for the purpose of assisting the student in his
researches on this acknowledged deep and mysterious
part of Scripture, I have added the second and third
parts, and enlarged the first appendix, and given an ac-
count of those authors to whom I have been most in-
debted for the views which I hold.
Thankful will the author be if he can give any help,
however feeble, in directing attention to the prophecies
which God gave to our Lord Jesus Christ to show unto
his servants things which must shortly come to pass. It
would be quite impossible, if there had been a full atten-
tion to those prophecies, in the view of them which
strengthened our Reformers in the day of their fiery
trial, that men would have been carried away as they have
been by the unclean spirits now abroad. Prophecy accom-
plished is a grand confirmation to the Divine inspiration of
the Scriptures, and prophecy, whether fulfilled, fulfilling, or
to be fulfilled, furnishes a real light in a dark place (2 Pet.
i. 19), on the true character of different ages of the Church.
If men saw, for instance, the first purity and conquests,
and then the progressive corruption of the Church in the
sealed book, they would not be looking for the full de-
velopment of the excellencies of the Church in the time
of its predicted growing corruptions. If they saw in the
trumpets the visible judgments of God on the apostate
Churches, they would not be idolizing the very tokens of
that Apostasy. If they saw in the beast from the earth
and in Babylon the clear prophecy of Popery, they could
pot unite in harmony with it. If they saw, in the tenth
xxii
PREFACE.
and fourteenth chapters of Revelation clear predictions
of the glorious Reformation, they could not have slighted
and undervalued that season of grace as they have done.
If they were waiting for the accomplishing of the number
of the elect, and the coming and kingdom of our Lord
Jesus Christ, as this book leads us to do, they could not
be fixing their hopes on a perfect Church on earth before
his return. The Scriptures do indeed furnish other plainer
and more obvious guards against the corruptions now
abroad, but those Scriptures also show us that we do
well to take heed to this light also.
We have seen very remarkable changes in the state of
society at large. Never were oscillations more sudden
than of recent years between extremes of absolutism and
anarchy ; bondage to forms, and lawlessness without
forms ; unmitigated responsibility, and grace without re-
sponsibility. The inspired Word, duly heeded, equally
preserves us from all extremes. It gives us a larger
aspect than our own personal or immediate sphere will
allow, and leads us to guard against error on all sides
with hearty love to all who love our Saviour, of every
name.
Greatly also do we need every help ;--the energy of
the Romanists is quite remarkable. It is ascertained
that already a great number of monks and friars are
getting ready at Rome to set out for Hong Kong, to
proceed into the Chinese empire, under the openings
recently made. Equally energetic are the agents of Infi-
delity and lawlessness. They are meeting us at every
point. The conflict is real, vital, and increasing. Fresh
truth from the storehouse is like new supplies of armour
and artillery for the armies of the faithful.
Blessing God for the additional guide and guard, help
PREFACE.
xxiii
and strength, which I trust that the word of prophecy
has furnished to my own mind, I heartily commend the
study of it to my fellow-Christians.
Now unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins
in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto
God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever
and ever. Amen.
EDWARD BICKERSTETH.
WATTON RECTORY, HERTS,
February 9, 1843.
THE DIVINE WARNING
TO THE CHURCH.
sekutuan
PART I.
WARNING TO CHRISTIANS IN GENERAL.
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
The Church of England teaches us on the 5th
of November to commemorate the happy deliver-
ance of our Church and nation from the gun-
powder treason, and from Popish tyranny, and
arbitrary power. A worldly and a Christian
mind will take a very opposite view of this
commemoration. It will appear to the worldly
mind, possibly, as a vain and feeble attempt
to revive slumbering prejudices, to awaken the
dying embers of religious hatred and intole-
rance, and to cherish groundless alarms about
dangers which are long past and gone. To the
Christian mind, it will appear as the fulfilment
of a solemn duty to remember God's singular
THE DIVINE WARNING
mercies to our Church and nation, a seasonable
warning of dangers of the most imminent kind,
imminent through our own unbelief, and an antici-
pation of a more full and complete deliverance.
Thus our Saviour before the last passover says,
With desire I have desired to eat this passover
with you before I suffer. Though the passover
celebrated a deliverance then 1500 years past,
it was not to be forgotten; and still less so, as
the antitype was close at hand, in the full re-
demption which Jesus was about to accomplish.
So the repeated rescue of our nation from
Popery, as on this day, is not to be forgotten,
because nearly 240 years have past, especially as
the Word of God gives us such full reason to
hope, that the greater deliverance not merely of
our nation, but of the whole world, though with
previous tribulation and suffering, is close at
hand.
But it is a mark of those coming troubles that
many among ourselves are losing all sense of
Reformation mercies. With them Rome is the
Catholic Church, and Protestantism the essence
of heresy: the Reformation is a grievous schism;
and to unprotestantize the Church, a pious, great,
and noble enterprise. Whether the means for
accomplishing that enterprise be slow or sudden,
the storm or the mine, is a matter of small im-
portance. If the work itself be evil, condemned
TO THE CHURCH.
3
by God's Word, and ruinous to the Church
herself, and to the souls of men, we must resist
it to the utmost, and preserve the precious
deposit of God's truth, intrusted to us by our
heavenly Master.
How then are we to decide this question ?
Where are we to obtain guidance in our actual
dangers ? Let us go simply to the law and to
the testimony. God has there provided for every
exigency. In ordinary times of conflict there
are the abundant plain and common tests of his
Word to guide and to guard us; and besides this,
in special seasons of temptation like the present,
there are special warnings to preserve us un-
spotted from the world. Those who profess to
guide, nay, to regenerate the Church, and yet
disparage the Word of God as an insufficient
guide, and slight all the lessons of Divine pro-
phecy on its actual state and prospects, and treat
attention to God's prophecies as uncatholic and
dangerous; or far too uncertain to be of any
use ;* are self-condemned as presumptuously
* See the “ British Critic,” on the subject of prophecy.
Mr. Palmer, though he by no means goes all the length
of the Tractarians, would deprive us, in his “ Treatise on
the Church," of the benefit of the prophecies by the dif-
ferences of Commentators, the very argument by which
the Infidel would deprive us of Christianity. He says,
“ The conclusion we may draw is, that a prophecy
(respecting Antichrist prevailing for 1260 years), in the
B
2
THE DIVINE WARNING
entering on an office for which they are unfit.
They may even, like the Pharisees, in their very
interpretation of which Commentators differ so widely,
is most probably as yet unfulfilled, and that it has no
reference to the Christian Church as existing up to the
present time." The reasoning is palpably of this weak
character: when many thoughtful, diligent, and devout
students of God's Word differ in details, but agree in
some great results, we may be sure that whichever of
them is right where they differ, they are all wrong alike
where they agree!! Or to take a farther application ;
some Christians hold Episcopacy to be right, some Pres-
byterianism, some Independency, some Anti-pædobaptism;
but they all agree that Christianity is divine, and therefore
the conclusion that we should draw from these differences
is, that Christianity is a “cunningly-devised fable !!”
The author in the second part of this treatise proves the
application of the Apocalyptic Babylon to Rome, and there-
fore does not bere enter farther into it. But in an Appendix
to this treatise, some remarks are added on Mr. Palmer's
objections to that application. If various writers, without
concert, differing in many details, agree in some great
common principles, their very diversity should add weight
to their judgment when they agree. Glad would the great
enemy be, either to pluck out of our hands or to keep us
from using the sword of the Spirit. When we consider
how large a portion of the Word of God prophecy is, and
what a special and peculiar blessing is promised twice, on
reading, hearing, and keeping the words of the Apocalypse,
surely we ought to suspect any system which would
deprive us of its promised advantages. (Rev. i. 1-3,
xxii. 7.)
TO THE CHURCH.
5
zeal, prove to be fighting directly against God
himself.
The sixth vial in the book of Revelation, will
furnish us with peculiarly seasonable instruction
for this time. Let us consider it:-
“ The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the
great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was
dried up, that the way of the kings of the east
might be prepared. And I saw three unclean
spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the
dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and
out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they
are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which
go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the
whole world, to gather them to the battle of that
great day of God Almighty."
These words, with the awakening admonition
of our Lord, Behold I come as a thief, Blessed
is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments,
lest he walk naked and they see his shame, are
the special message of our Divine Redeemer
to our times. Without entering on the wide
range of the Apocalypse, they are separately
an expounded prophecy fulfilling before our
eyes. Their application to the Turkish empire,
for instance, when no indication of its present
state had appeared, was made beforehand, above
200 years ago, by such Commentators on this
book as Brightman and Mede. The most
B 3
THE DIVINE WARNING
judicious writers since agree in this view. From
the passage also itself, we may, when compared
with present events, gather strong proofs of its
meaning, and its full application to our days.
It serves thus as a Divine caution and direc-
tory to the Protestant Churches at the present
day.*
It is my purpose, then, to use this passage as
a Divine guide given of God himself for our
direction. May his own Spirit, whose special
office it is, when he comes, to guide into all truth,
not to speak of himself, but to speak whatsoever
he shall hear, and to show us things to come ;
Oh, may this Spirit now be our teacher and
sanctify us by the truth! Specially, do we need
that teaching and guidance in entering on the
highest, the deepest, the widest, and the most
heavenly part of Divine truth.
Let us observe then from the passage now
to be considered :-The marks of the present
application of the sixth vial. The explanation
* The vast importance of this prophecy and its right
'interpretation and application, must be obvious. The
more assuredly just interpretations we gain of different
parts of the book of Revelation, the more light is gained
for interpreting the whole. If this propheey be rightly
applied to the present time, it not only shows our present
situation, but helps us to discern the true character of past
events, and shows us what we have yet to expect.
TO THE CHURCH.
which it gives of the revival of Romish prin-
ciples. The troubles that God has foretold
us will ensue. The final deliverance of God's
people, and then practically apply the whole
subject.
8
THE DIVINE WARNING
CHAPTER II.
THE MARKS OF THE PRESENT APPLICATION
OF THE SIXTH VIAL.
The evidences of this application must, on this
occasion, be given very briefly, rather as sugges-
tions for private and fuller meditation than as
unfolded argument. Yet the more closely we
investigate the prophecy, and the evident signs
of the times, the more, we are assured, will this
application be established.*
The general application of the seven vials to
the last times, and that they are not to be viewed
as synchronous with the whole range of the
earlier prophecies, is clear from their intro-
duction as well as from their position in the
* The author's view of the prophecies of Revelation are
given more at large in the sixth edition of his “ Practical
Guide to the Prophecies,” page 359-376, and “The
Restoration of the Jews," page xxxix._xli., and in an
Appendix to the Restoration, he has stated at length
those conclusions to which he has been led as to what is
now before the Church and the world.
TO THE CHURCH.
9
course of the prophecy. St. John thus intro-
duces them, I saw another sign in heaven, great
and marvellous, seven angels having the seven
last plagues, for in them is filled up the wrath of
God. As in the Divine type of the book of
Revelation, the siege of Jericho, on the closing
day of the seven the city was encompassed seven
times; so have we seven vials, preparing the
way for the utter fall of that great city, which
opposes the possession of the promised inherit-
ance of our Redeemer. We view then the sixth
vial as descriptive, in the chronology, of the
sixth time of the Church's encompassing the
great city of the apocalyptic Babylon, on the
last day which brings on her fall.
The symbolical or political meaning of the
vials will be obvious. They cannot be literally
interpreted of events merely corresponding to
the letter of the prophecy. This may be seen
from the analogy between the four first trumpets
and the four first vials. That analogy has been
generally observed, and is indeed obvious; each
of the series affecting respectively the earth, the
sea, the rivers, and the sun. Now since the
trumpets contain the clearest marks that they
must be interpreted symbolically, so must the
vials. In Daniel's predictions, the beast is used
as the symbol of an idolatrous kingdom, and so
it must be here. The sores, the unclean spirits,
10
THE DIVINE WARNING
the throne of the beast, the cup of God's wrath,
equally require from us a symbolical meaning.
The rapid course of so full a prediction, is
accounted for in the type of the siege of Jericho,
which was encompassed seven times in the last
day. In the best manuscripts the action is
manifestly more rapidly continuous, as Bengelius
has noticed, by the word angel not being re-
peated : so that many interpreters who lived
before its fulfilment had anticipated a still briefer
time than events have mauifested, as the period
in which the vials would be poured out.
The historical correspondence of the four first
vials, with the leading events of Europe from the
rise of the French Revolution to the fall of
Buonaparte, may be distinctly discerned in any
full history of that most eventful era. A
valuable historian of that period thus divides
that remarkable time :-"The history of Europe
during the French Revolution naturally divides
itself into four periods :" the spread of infidelity
and lawlessness-the reign of terror-the de-
structive wars of Napoleon-his despotism and
overthrow. These events occupied a quarter of
a century, full of the most important events that
ever affected the western empire.*
* Sir Robert Peel justly observed, in his speech on
Finance, March 11, 1842, “ There may be a natural ten-
dency to overrate the magnitude of the crisis in which
TO THE CHURCH.
The fifth vial was the time of retributive
justice on France, the chief inflicter of the former
judgments, and which during that time was the
seat or throne of the beast, or the centre of the
secular empire. His kingdom was full of dark-
ness. As there was a darkness over the land
of Egypt that might be felt; so was there in
France an entire disappointment of all Infidel
counsels and plans. For three years France
was occupied by allied armies. From 1813 to
1822, more or less, this vial was filling France
with its sores and pains,* while Infidels were
we live, and of those particular events with which we are
immediately concerned; but it is impossible to overrate
the importance of the period in which our lot and the
lot of our fathers have been cast—that period which has
elapsed since the outbreak of the French Revolution, and
which has been one of the most memorable periods the
history of the world has ever presented.” How important
is it, then, if God has given us in his Word a view of his
own mind and purposes respecting this period, for all
men to know his mind.
* Buonaparte himself verified ver. 10 and 11, in St.
Helena. It has been noticed by those who never thought
of this prophecy, “Spain was my ulcer,' was the expres-
sive language of the tyrant and usurper, when time and
torment forced him to speak the truth.” No repentance
of his deeds, but the very opposite, marked his conduct in
his exile. So, on hearing disastrous news, Count Segur
remarks, “ The Emperor, striking the earth with his
baton, raised his eyes with an expression of fury towards
12
THE DIVINE WARNING
venting fresh blasphemies against God. The
Infidel poet Shelley, writing at the very time,
commences his “ Revolt of Islam" with these
words-
“ When the last hope of trampled France had failed,
Like a brief dream of unremaining glory;
From visions of despair I rose.”
The scope of his poem is to raise the hopes of
Infidels in the prospect of a future triumph of
Infidelity and a fancied reign of Atheism. In
such writers, you have the vivid exhibition of
the prophecy, they blasphemed the God of
heaven because of their pains and their sores,
And they repented not of their deeds. We see
nothing like a national repentance for their In-
fidel principles and their evil fruits. As late as
the close of 1840, at the removal of Buonaparte's
remains from St. Helena to Paris, like a fresh
rising of the beast from the midst of the sea,
there was in the honour paid to that Satanic
heaven, and exclaimed, “It is, then, written there, that
henceforth everything shall be a fault.'” La Cases
gives these words of Buonaparte, “Cette malheureuse
guerre d'Espagne a été ma véritable plaie; c'est ce qui m'a
perdue." (Allison 8. 269.) Count Segur notices that in
the difficulties of the Russian campaign Buonaparte said
to his Generals, “ that the war of Spain and of Russia
were two cancers which were corroding France, and
which she could not support at the same time.”
TO THE CHURCH.
13
character, the national accrediting and adopting
of all the monstrous Infidelity, ambition, vanity,
oppression, cruelty, and blood-shedding of that
dreadfully wicked and subtle man.
The sixth vial is a pause in the judgments on
the Western Roman empire, and a season of
grace for its inhabitants; the long-suffering of
God waiting for their salvation. The prophecy
leads us therefore, in this respect, to look for
that which we have seen in the last twenty years
of European history.
This vial is THE EXHAUSTION OF THE
TURKISH EMPIRE. From the time of Mede
the prediction has been applied to that empire.
Nearly 200 years ago, when Turkey was at the
height of its dominion and glory, Tillinghast
thus stated views in which our leading com-
mentators since have mainly concurred. “By
the river Euphrates," he says, “we are to un-
derstand the Ottoman or Turkish empire. It
is called the great river, because of the mul-
titude of people and nations therein. The
people who at this present time are of all others
accounted the greatest are the Turks, who
therefore, and no other, are here to be under-
stood; especially as the river Euphrates, in the
ninth chapter, under the sounding of the sixth
trumpet, by general consent of expositors, has
reference to the Turkish power. By the Kings
14
THE DIVINE WARNING
of the East, we are to understand the Jews, who,
upon the pouring forth of this vial shall return
to their own land and be converted to Christ;
the pouring out of this vial preparing a way
for both. They are called Kings of the East
from the honour and dignity which God will
put upon his people. (Micah iv. 8; Isa. Ixi. 9;
Zech. viii. 23.) God, in his wonderful provi-
dence, will so order, that at the appointed time
of the Jews' return, the power and the multitude
of the Grand Seignior, who is now the greatest
monarch in the world, and holds their land in
possession, shall be much wasted and con-
sumed."*
This interpretation of the prophecy was pub-
lished in the year 1655—nearly 200 years since.
You witness in this day its accomplishment.
From 1822, when Greece revolted, this vial has
been pouring out on Turkey. In January, 1834,
M. de La Martine, in the French Chamber
of Deputies, dwelt at length on the ruins of
desolation on all sides, in that which once
constituted the Ottoman empire, concluding with
this striking illustration of our prophecy-
“ You see by this rapid sketch that the Ottoman
empire is no empire at all; that it is a mis-
shapen agglomeration of different races without
* See Tillinghast's Generation work, 12mo., 1655.
TO THE CHURCH.
15
cohesion between them; with mingled interests,
without a language, without laws, without reli-
gion, and without unity or stability of power.
You see that the breath of life which animated
it, religious fanaticism, is extinct. You see
that its fatal and blinded administration has
devoured the race of conquerors, and that
Turkey is perishing for want of Turks.”
So proclaims one of the most eloquent of
French statesmen in the ears of all Europe, the
actual fulfilling of one part of this prophecy.
All the events that have taken place in the eight
years since; the fires, the wars, the change of
dynasty, and the present temporary propping
up of the empire, have served more and more
to illustrate the prediction, and the progressive
wasting and consuming of this power.*
Amidst a considerable variety of opinions, as
to the Kings of the East, and the caution which
the future reference of that part of the prophecy
* As the Euphrates was the defence and glory of
Babylon, so we may consider that it has here a farther
reference to the outward defences and glory of Rome. See
a note in the second part of this treatise. Through all
Papal kingdoms the revenues, resources, and political
power of the Roman Church have been wasting, as we see
in Spain, Portugal, France, and Russia; but yet with all
this wasting of its outward defences, we see the mighty
energy of a spiritual delusion carrying on all those ex-
tensive efforts which Rome is now making.
c2
16
THE DIVINE WARNING
should give to our interpretation, though there
are considerable difficulties which I do not
profess to be able to remove, we may admit the
general view, without excluding a farther mean-
ing, that they represent the tribes of Israel, and
chiefly those ten who were carried away captive
into the east and have never been restored from
their captivity.* The original expression does
not immediately signify those who reign over the
east, but kings from the east, or from the risings
of the sun;t the Jews were styled by God
* The touching way in which the Saviour speaks of the
Jews, through the book of Revelation, the time of their
rejection, is very descriptive of his heart, who said, For
Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, for Jerusalem's sake
I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as
brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.
Here he calls them, anticipating with a heart of love their
future office--the Kings from the East. When others
are unfaithful to their profession, how strongly he repro-
bates with zeal for his ancient people, the inconsistency-
Behold I will make them the synagogue of Satan which say
they are Jews, and are not, but do lie.
+ The kings from the rising of the sun are strongly
contrasted in our text with the kings of the whole world.
God's commissioned angel prepares the way for the kings
from the rising of the sun; the unclean spirits of devils
gather the kings of the whole world, and this while they
are wholly unconscious of God's purpose of judgment.
(Isaiah xxviii. 15; xliv. 19.) The preparation of the
kings from the rising of the sun we may conclude are for
their deliverance in the great battle; and of the kings of
TO THE CHURCH.
17
himself, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
(Exod. xix. 6.) The whole aspect of the land
of Palestine has been for many years that of a
land loosening from the Gentile power. The
place of conflict called in the Hebrew tongue
Armageddon, refers us again to that land, and
the continual weakening of the Turkish empire
has as much prepared the way for their restora-
tion, as the drying of the Euphrates prepared
the way for the entrance of the Medes and
Persians into Babylon, and so to the decree of
Cyrus to restore the two tribes from their cap-
tivity. Thus the state of the Turkish empire is
a distinct, visible, and open mark in the sight of
all Europe and the whole world, of the applica-
tion of this prophecy to the present times.
Equally so is the diffusion of the UNCLEAN
the world for their overthrow. This corresponds to a
variety of other predictions. (See Isaiah lx. 1--3; lxii.
66; Ezekiel xxxviii. 39; Dan. xii. 1; Joel iii.; Zech.
xiv., &c.) All the energy of the hostile kings will at
last apparently be directed against the kings from the
rising of the sun; how gracious then is the Divine as-
surance of its failure. Whereas Edom saith, We are impo-
verished, but we will return and build the desolate places;
thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall build, but I will
throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wicked-
'ness, and the people against whom the Lord hath indignation
for ever. And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The Lord
will be magnified from the border of Israel (Mal. i. 4, 5.)
C3
18
THE DIVINE WARNING
SPIRITS. Let us consider it. In the twelfth
chapter of this book we have a revelation of a
great red dragon, having seven heads and ten
horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. Open
and avowed idolatry, the manifest empire of
Satan, is here viewed in full power, enthroned
with diadems through the whole Roman empire,
the empire that is meant, as is clear from the
correspondence of the description with the
prophecy of Daniel's fourth beast. The dragon
was cast out, and Pagan authority and power
overthrown by the faithful testimony of the early
Church.
In chapter thirteen a fresh power appears;
a beast rises out of the sea, having seven heads
and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns,
and upon his heads the names of blasphemy; still
corresponding to the fourth beast or Roman
empire in the prophecy of Daniel. We have
here the ten European kingdoms, rising out of
the troubled sea of the Roman empire, self-styled
the Holy Apostolic Empire, after the invasions
of the Goths and Vandals and the capture of
Rome, as had been predicted in the second
trumpet.
* The worshipping of this beast as well as the dragon
(Rev. xiii. 4) is thus illustrated by Dean Woodhouse,
" Whosoever to attain worldly eminence relinquishes his
trust in God and deviates from the path of the Divine
TO THE CHURCH..
19
In the same chapter, the inspired John after-
wards beholds another beast, coming out of the
earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he
spake as a dragon. We have here the Pope
and his regular and secular clergy, rising not
as the first beast out of the sea, but from the
earth, the more settled state of the Roman
empire; and at length attaining the spiritual
and temporal power over Europe which we see
in Hildebrand and Innocent the Third. This
laws, withdraws his allegiance from God and transfers it
unto the devil. (Matt. iv. 8, 9.) And this allegiance may
be transferred to the agents of the devil; to the powers
of this world, who promote his infernal interests in op-
position to that heavenly kingdom, which we daily pray
for, and which we are bound daily to promote.” The
variations of the description of the same fourth or Roman
empire in the prophecy, correspond to the changes in its
state. It is curious that Bellarmine, the most able cham-
pion of the Romish Church, stakes his whole defence of
the Pope from the charge of being Antichrist on that
continued existence of the Roman empire, to which Dr.
Todd and Mr. Maitland object in the Protestant inter-
pretation. (See “Letters on Prophecy,” No. vi. p. 332,
in the “Churchman” for November.) History teaches
us that although the empire of Charlemagne was distinct
from the old empire of Rome, it was still a revival of it
in a new form. Gibbon says, “Europe dates a new era
from his restoration of the western empire." Bellarmine
and Dr. Todd thus together furnish the full truth to
identify the Roman empire in its changes, and yet fix the
charge of Antichrist on Rome.. ,
THE DIVINE WARNING
second beast loses his political power on the
pouring out of the vials, and becomes the false
prophet.
The description under the sixth vial corre-
sponds to the altered state of the European king-
doms. We have no longer the dragon; idolatry
enthroned; we have no longer the first beast
speaking blasphemies ; nor the second beast, or
Papal kingdom, having horns as a lamb, and
speaking as a dragon, and exercising all the
power of the first beast before him, and while he
subsists, but we have a false prophet; just what
we see, spiritual influences, not embodied in
acts of open authority; a deference in all classes
to public opinion; a continual reference to the
power of the press. The open exercise of
power in its apostate form no longer appears.
We are arrived at the last stage of the devices of
Satan, before his complete overthrow.
Let us now more distinctly notice these three
unclean spirits like frogs, which are predicted
here as the distinguishing features of the present
day. The Scriptures open out to us the invisible
principalities and powers and the rulers of the
darkness of this world. Thus when four hundred
false prophets bid Ahab go up to Ramoth
Gilead to battle and the Lord would deliver it
into his hand, the secret was unfolded by the
true prophet Micaiah, The Lord hath put a lying
TO THE CHURCH.
21
spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and
the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee. In
these unclean spirits we have, then, permitted
spirits of delusion, pretending to bring good,
promising great advantages, and only hastening
on the destruction of those who are willingly
deceived by them. There is,
Ist. THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT FROM THE
MOUTH OF THE DRAGON. The apostle tells
us that the dragon is that old serpent, the devil,
and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.
He once openly and visibly animated the whole
Pagan Roman empire: there can be no mistake
about the great enemy here intended. The
spirit of Infidelity and falsehood, with all its
various delusions, marks the character of this
unclean spirit: not exercising power but dif-
fusing itself in all the ways still open to it, by
its apostles and its publications; its teaching and
its journals. This has been its course under this
vial. Infidelity has lost its seat of dominion; but
its frog-like, disgusting, noisy, filthy character is
marked in its open casting off and reviling the
truth, as we have seen in St. Simonianism, in
Socialism, and in Mormonism ; and in many
German, French, and American associations for
that which is evil.
The same thing is manifest in philosophy,
22
THE DIVINE WARNING
falsely so called, in Infidel poetry, * and in
Neology. The infection has tainted even those
who have in a measure opposed it. They have
breathed a sickly atmosphere, and their own
spirit has imbibed the poison.t It has spread its
filthy slime over Christendom, and is now weekly
and daily, even in England, spreading its vile
principles. I could hardly have imagined Satan
would have completely dropped the veil and
manifested his proper character of lies and blas-
phemy, as he is now doing in many a weekly
penny publication. The “ Oracle of Reason"
is a specimen of this unclean spirit, without
any attempt to hide it.f The highest act of
* Such as Byron, Shelley, and like-minded German
poets.
+ I have been struck with this in reading Knapp's
“ Christian Theology," full of information and with
decided condemnation of Neology, yet manifestly much
affected and weakened by the taint of that Infidelity.
# The number and the wide circulation and constant
repetition of these periodicals and the classes which they
reach is, to all who really love their fellow-men, one of
the most alarming and distressing of the signs of the times.
One is openly called “the Atheist; or Republican," and
states, that it has thirty able and scientific contributors;
the character of the one called “ the New Moral World,"
and the wide circulation of the “ Weekly Dispatch” are
well known. Here is one spring of the evils under which
we now groan. The boastfulness of “the Atheist,” now
TO THE CHURCH.
23
God's love, the incarnation of his only Son, the
Lord of Glory, is, as might be expected when
we look at the Dragon, the breather forth of
this unclean spirit, the constant subject of denial
and ridicule, mockery and blasphemy. These
suspended for a short season, is such that it claims the
whole of Continental Christendom and a large part of
England as really its own. I am told the same spirit as
among us is called Socialism, prevails extensively also in
Germany. I have been informed that the most popular
novels are grossly immoral and form the staple of many
circulating libraries throughout the country. I am told
that great novel publishers in London give large sums for
copyrights of works containing scandals and immoralities,
and that the most impure are the specially prized. The
slight insight which has been brought before me in the
investigation of this part of my subject has been horribly
disgusting! O my soul, come not thou into their secret,
may well be the language of every Christian. They
are, alas ! blazoned in the face of shops in London with
the most daring effrontery; and faith and zeal for Christ
is now so nationally weak that what withheld (2 Thess.
ii. 7, 8) has been almost wholly removed. Their whole
wisdom, carnal, earthly, sensual, and devilish, is flatly to
contradict the truths of Scripture in Scripture words, and
to blaspheme the Holy Ghost; greedily rushing into that
unpardonable sin.
The public attention has, since the above was written,
been most usefully called to this enormous evil, and the
Society for the Suppression of Vice is vigorously directing
its attention to it. May God graciously strengthen the
hands of his servants in putting down such open blas-
phemy and wickedness !
24
THE DIVINE WARNING
things are so apparent to those who are
acquainted with the periodical publications
circulating in this country, that I need not, as
from my limits I cannot, enlarge
THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT OUT OF THE MOUTH
OF THE BEAST has next to be considered.
The beast represents the secular empire of the
ten European kingdoms. The unclean spirit out
of his mouth is the spirit of lawlessness, self-
will, and anarchy, the teachers of which promise
liberty, while they themselves are the servants
of corruption. The whole of our manufacturing
districts have been disturbed by it. The Chief
Justice Tindal, in his charge to the Grand
Jury at Stafford (Oct. 3, 1842), after describing
the destitution of the workmen in the manu-
factories and collieries, states, that “ certain
strangers, persons altogether unconnected with
thein in interests, appeared among them, and
by addresses made to them against religion, the
law, and the Government, excited them to a
state of dissatisfaction with all the established
institutions of the country.”*
* It was gratifying to read the Christian view which
the Chief Justice took of the remedy_“The effectual and
only effectual method of counteracting the attempts of
wicked and designing men to undermine the principles of
the lower classes and to render them discontented with
the established Constitution of their country, consists
TO THE CHURCH.
25
We see it in political unions, in the doctrine
of the sovereignty of the people, viewing the
voice of the people as the voice of God. We
see it in Chartism in our land ;* in Republican
in the diffusion of sound religious instruction, in which
there can be no excess among those classes who are
most exposed to these attempts; and the educating their
children in the fear of God, so that all classes may be
taught that obedience to the law of the land and to the
Government of the country, is due not as a matter of
compulsion but of principle and of conscience.” This,
with the grace of the Holy Spirit, would indeed change
the whole character of our population.
* The Chartists have their regular organs of publi-
cation, such as the “Chartist Circular" (the eighty.ninth
number is before me), and the “ Northern Star.” “We
hold it," say they, “ to be an axiom in politics that self-
government by representation is the only just foundation
of political power—the only true basis of constitutional
rights--the only legitimate parent of good laws." Thus
God and his Word (Prov viii. 15; Dan. i. 21; Rom.
xiii. 1–6) are cast aside. They, too, boast of their three
millions and their future triumphs ; “ The indications of a
great political epoch, which used to follow each other
singly and gradually, are now forced onwards in thick
battalions, and no man can any longer be insensible to the
fact that we are on the eve of a great revolution.” The
Anti-Corn-law League is another section of this move-
ment. The principles avowed by the Chartists are, 1,
Annual Parliaments ; 2, Universal Suffrage; 3, Equal
Voting Districts; 4, No Property Qualification; 5, Voting
by Ballot; 6, Payment of Members. These they embody
in what they call “ The People's Charter.”
26
THE DIVINE WARNING
secret Societies in France and on the Continent.
It is said that eleven attempts have been made
on the life of the present King of France.
Everything, according to the dictate of this
unclean spirit, must yield, not to the Word of
God, but to the popular will. Insubordination,
restlessness, love of change, contempt of autho-
rities, speaking evil of dignities, these are its
characteristics, and they defile, alas ! those who
make profession of the Gospel of Christ.
THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT OUT OF THE MOUTH
OF THE FALSE PROPHET must next be noticed.
We have seen that Popery is first called the
beast from the earth, and then in a later stage,
as here, the false prophet. It is first a power,
like a worldly empire, and then a system of
false teaching. The Romish hierarchy in former
times despatched its bulls of justice or of grace
to dethrone or to establish the monarchs of
Europe. Now it sends forth its allocutions to
complain or to solicit the prayers of its adhe-
rents, as recently in the case of Spain and of
Russia.* It does not speak now as a dragon,
* In the Letter Apostolic of Pope Gregory XVI.,
dated Feb. 22, 1842, we have a full specimen of this false
teaching. The object of the letter is to solicit the
prayers of Papists for Spain. It concludes thus .-" And
in order that God may the more readily hear our prayers,
let all address their supplications to his Virgin Mother,
TO THE CHURCH.
27
but with all the insinuating subtilty of a false
the most powerful auxiliary of the Church, the tender
Mother of all, and the most faithful Patron of Spain. Let
them also invoke the aid of the Prince of the Apostles,
whom Christ has constituted the rock of the Church,
against which hell's gates shall not prevail. And let
them also have recourse to all the saints, more especially
to those who have shed a lustre on Spain by their virtues,
sanctity, and miracles. In order that the faithful of all
ranks, grades, and conditions, may with more fervent
charity, and with more abundant fruit, redouble their
prayers, we have resolved to proffer with a liberal hand
the treasures of celestial grace. We have, therefore,
granted a plenary indulgence, in the form of a jubilee,
to all those faithful servants of Jesus, who being duly
purified by the Sacrament of Confession, and nourished
with the most holy Eucharist, shall assist three times at
least at the solemn prayers which may be fixed by each
ordinary at his own choice ; and most firmly do we hope
that the angels of peace, who carry in their hands the
phials and the censers of gold, will offer to the Lord on
the altar of gold, our humble prayers, and those of the
Church, in favour of Spain.” (From the “ Catholic
Magazine,” April, 1842.) How glaring is the unchanged
Idolatry of the false prophet.
In the Exposition of the Allocution respecting Russia,
dated 22d July, 1842, given September 17, 1842, in the
“ Catholic,” a Romish newspaper, the Pope thus com-
plains :-" The last blow was dealt to the unfortunate
Catholics of those vast regions on the day most sacred
to them. An Imperial Ukase, dated on last Christmas-
day, has consummated the spoliation long since under.
taken of ecclesiastical property, ordaining that all the
immoveable goods, with the peasants attached to them,
D 2
28
THE DIVINE WARNING
teacher.* Yet that the false prophet is sending
forth his pestilential breath over Christendom
belonging theretofore to the clergy of foreign worship
in the western provinces, shall pass under the control
of the ministry of the national domains, excepting from
this measure the goods which, not forming part of the
possessions of the high hierarchy, or not forming a fund
of capital for foundations, are solely in the possession of
the clergy administering parishes."
* This remarkable change in the course and proceed-
ings of the Papacy, may be seen by comparing bulls at
different periods. The bull against Henry VIII., for
instance, not merely requires all princes and military
persons, in the virtue of holy obedience, to make war
upon that King of England, but also requires that such of
his subjects as were seized upon should be made slaves.
But now the Pope finds it convenient to issue a bull
(dated Dec. 3, 1839), “ That none henceforth dare to
subject to slavery, unjustly persecute, or despoil of their
goods, Indians, negroes, or other classes of men;" and
the Pope reprobates such “ offences as utterly unworthy
of the Christian name.” (See the bull against Henry
VIII., in Barlow's “ Brutum Fulmen," and the bull
against slavery in the Report of the African Civilization
Society.) How well Popery fulfils its predicted character
of thinking to change times and laws. Notwithstanding
its infallibility and unchangeableness, it can decree at
one time what it pronounces at another to be utterly
unworthy of the Christian name. Mr. M'Ghee, in a
very important speech on Wednesday, October 26, 1842,
brought before the Liverpool Association a work written
by the present Pope, Gregory XVI., and accredited by
him since he has been Pope, which manifests most fully,
TO THE CHURCH.
29
with renewed energy and activity, is notorious.
Its journals, its newspapers, its institutes for
the propagation of the faith, its tracts, its
building of colleges, churches, and schools, its
nunneries, its largely imported Sisters of Charity
everywhere, its zealous activity and revival,
its diffusiveness over the British Isles, and
through Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, and
its meeting us in all our most distant missions,
all these things proclaim in the ears of all men,
that with renewed strength there has been a
going forth of the unclean spirit from the mouth
of the false prophet. In the year 1822, the
Society for the Propagation of the Faith was
formed to counteract Protestant missions. It
has adopted our plans. It raised in 1841,
113,0001. and has stated its expectation of
carrying its income to 600,0001. a-year. Read
only the “Annals of the Propagation of the
notwithstanding the visible change in its outward pro-
ceedings, the really unchanged and unchangeable cha-
racter of Popery, which claims, in its teaching as a
false prophet, and amidst all its chamelion changes, with
unmitigated rigour, infallibility and supreme dominion
over all Christendom. He also illustrated very forcibly
the ceaseless activity and rapid growth of the Papacy in
the last twenty years. Deeply is the Church of Christ
and our country indebted to such faithful witnesses as
my brethren M Ghee, M'Neile, and Stowell.
D 3
30
THE DIVINE WARNING
Faith," published by the British Auxiliary Insti-
tution for that object. This Society has been
warmly recommended by all the Popes since
March, 1823, and see by its proceedings whether
the last twenty years have not witnessed the
going forth of this unclean spirit through the
earth and the whole world, to use the large
expressions of the text. No country seems
excepted from its baneful influence. With a
zeal and with sacrifices which, if according to
knowledge, would be full of blessing, and which
puts to shame those who profess a purer faith,
they compass sea and land to make one proselyte,
and when he is made they make him twofold more
the child of hell than themselves.
That the recent movement in our own Church
is in the same direction, and partakes of the
same character with the revival in the Romish
communion, is confessed by its own admirers.
They view them in common as a yearning after
Catholic truth. We have, therefore, their own
warrant for referring these events to a common
source and spirit, and the passage before us
supplies us with the true key to this move-
ment in our own Church as well as in more
avowed Romanism.*
* A friend writes to me from Ireland, that those closely
connected with zealous Romanists state, that “ their
TO THE CHURCH.
31
The unclean spirits, though they may not wear
the outward profession of embodied Popery or
other falsehood, are yet viewed in the Divine
judgment as one with them, and where they
contaminate, cause men to partake of the sin
and the plague for that sin. Many a professor
in Reformed Churches may thus come under
the fearful judgments of the Babylon of the
Apocalypse, the mother of harlots and abomi-
nations of the earth.
The unclean spirits all come out of the
MOUTH. As the Spirit of truth proceedeth from
the Father and testifies of Jesus in every work
of righteousness and love, truth and holiness, so
these polluting spirits, proceeding from Satan
and his instruments, are continually manifesting
exultation in Ireland is very great, and that they say
they would much rather that the Tractarians continued to
act as they are doing, than that they professed themselves
Roman Catholics, because they are doing the work much
more effectually in the unsuspected way in which they
are carrying it on, than if they were more open.”
“L’Esperance," of October 25, 1842, a Paris newspaper,
says, “ The journals of the Roman Church are elated
with joy at the progress of Puseyism in England. They
proclaim with delight the conversions to Catholicism, for
which Puseyism had prepared the way. They already
see England again attached to the See of Rome, and the
millions, employed without fruit! by the Bible Societies,
devoted to the service of the Roman Propaganda.”..
32
THE DIVINE WARNING
themselves in falsehood and wickedness. These
evil principles are not concealed, but professed,
and open and avowed ; they are full of auguries
of future success and triumph. Popish legislators
talk of the 300 years' heresy speedily coming to
an end, and triumphantly anticipate witnessing
the mass again in Westminster Abbey. They
are boastful and confident.* The order of
Jesuits is everywhere reviving and spreading.
They are not concealing their principles or
their intentions. They diffuse them far and wide
by myriads of publications, t and in every
* At a Meeting in Liverpool, on August 9, 1842, Mr.
O'Connell moved a Resolution, that it would be highly
conducive to the good of religion that the Fathers of the
Society of Jesus be enabled to resume their labours in
the sacred ministry in Liverpool. In his address, he said,
" he rejoiced that the spring-tide swelling from the throne
of eternity was watering the land with Catholicity again,
and that he could anticipate that the period was not
remote when all England, with one acclaim, would rejoice
to be brought into one fold, under one Shepherd. But
this prospect was not confined to England alone ; in
every nation of the earth, from one hemisphere to the
other, where there was a love of literature, of science and
the arts, Catholicity was daily increasing, and promised to
be completely triumphant.” (See the “ Catholic,” August
13, 1842.) Phædrus has long ago, in his “Rana Rupta,"
told us the issue of such frog-like boasting-"Dum vult
validius inflare sese, rupto jacuit corpore."
+ Their periodicals and journals are conducted with
TO THE CHURCH,
33
land, * that they may verify to the letter the
predictions of the Divine Spirit 1800 years
_
N
.
great talent and shrewdness, science and intellect. The
“Dublin Review,” the Roman magazine, the “ Catholic,"
the newspaper, the “Catholic,” the “True Tablet,” Lucas's
“ Penny Reader," the tracts of the Catholic Institute,
and many other publications, are sent forth, adapted to
seduce all classes of society, from the highest to the
lowest, and to neutralize every Protestant publication,
from the Bishop's Charge to each daily journal; the
“Catholic” newspaper, published every week, having
twelve quarto pages of close print, with three columns
in each page; reviews of modern books, Protestant
journals, and Bishops' Charges, &c., with much subtle
cunning and sarcasm in it, is sent gratuitously to every
Romish priest in Great Britain and Ireland, and to the
heads of every Papist College and Institute for education
in the United Kingdom.
* Though England be the special scene of temptation
now, much of a similar character seems going on through
Europe as well as in the foreign possessions of England.
Thus “ L'Esperance," speaking of Christian language
used in the Council of Berne, says, “ Notwithstanding the
agitation which runs through Switzerland, from the Jura
to the Alps, and from the lake of Constance to that of
Leman-whether it is Radicalism and Infidelity on the
one side, or implacable Jesuitism on the other-Swit-
zerland, we hope, will not perish beneath the dangers
which now threaten it.”
The following extract from a letter recently written
from Leipsic by a faithful missionary, gives a similar
view of other parts of the Continent:-
" I fear the apprehensions (of the spread of Popery]
.
34
THE DIVINE WARNING
since, and do those evil works which God before
has shown by the mouth of his holy prophets
they would do.
are but too true. We know, however, that the kingdom
of darkness will obtain a great apparent victory before
- the kingdoms of this world shall be the Lord's, and his
victory be displayed in full glory. Let us, therefore,
when we see these things approach, lift up our heads,
humbly, devoutly, joyfully, knowing that our redemption
draweth nigh. Here, in Germany too, particularly in
Prussia, Roman Catholicism is making very great pro-
gress. In the annual returns of the parishes, we read,
for instance, in parish A, twenty-six persons became
Protestants, and one hundred and ten turned Roman
Catholics; in parish B, six persons became Protestants,
and eighty-five turned Roman Catholics. Thus there is
a constant changing about, through which changes light-
minded people get into the habit of despising religion
more and more. But the number of persons that turn
Roman Catholics is from five to ten times greater in most
parishes than the number of those who turn Protestants.
In all the schools, the system of education is decidedly in
favour of Roman Catholicism. The weapons against it
have been laid aside.
“ Besides, Infidelity is, if not on the increase, yet it
certainly assumes a more decided, active, and exasperated
position than formerly. Here, in Saxony, Russia, and
the neighbouring countries, a large association of persons
(chiefly learned men) who call themselves friends of light
(illuminati), is very active in disseminating principles
of Infidelity among all classes of people, by distributing
bad tracts, by publishing bad journals, periodicals, &c.,
devising all possible means to disseminate the poison
universally. In Denmark there is a sect which makes
TO THE CHURCH.
35
The Divine Spirit gives them their real
designation. In contrast with all their assumed
names of freedom of thought--friends of the
people; liberty and equality; candour and
liberality; as well as the most precious Church
or scriptural names ;—such as, the true, holy,
Catholic and Apostolic Church, and the like;
calling good evil, and evil good; putting dark-
ness for light, and light for darkness; bitter
for sweet, and sweet for bitter : the Holy Ghost
tears away the veil under which they hide
themselves, and calls them distinctly the spirits
of devils ; deceitful and false ; speaking lies in
hypocrisy, like him who was a liar from the
beginning and the father of lies.
Far am I from meaning here to assert that all
who are more or less under Satanic influence,
or even those for a season wholly carried away
by these delusions, will finally be condemned at
the last day. This would be to have a very
limited view of the temptations of the great
great progress, a sect which has fully renounced all
religion, and will have neither clergy nor churches, nor
marriages, nor baptisms, nor burials, as religious acts.
You have no idea how the old dragon puts his artillery
in battle array against the Church of Christ; and if I did
not know that the Lord is a mighty conqueror I should
be afraid. But I believe that a great crisis, or, perhaps,
the great crisis is drawing nigh. May God grant us to be
faithful to the end !.
36
THE DIVINE WARNING
enemy. Which of the servants of God have not
been tempted by Satan, and against whom has
he not in some measure prevailed ? David was
tempted by him to number the people. Heze-
kiah to pride. St. Peter was told by our Lord
himself, Get thee behind me, Satan. St. Paul
assures us Satan is transformed into an angel of
light, and tells us he had a messenger sent
from Satan to buffet him. Here is our great
danger, and the special need that the children of
God should use the shield of faith, and be
watchful and prayerful.
Such are the unclean spirits; well are they
called UNCLEAN:* for with a contaminating
* The blasphemous and disgusting impurity of mind
that fills the pages of the avowed Atheist, and the vile
filthiness of the Socialist, are manifest on the surface;
but the more hidden, but abominable sensual impurity of
the Romanist, may be seen in the books of sanctioned
public instruction for the priests, and in those for the
College of Maynooth, only concealed under the Latin
language, and under the veil of obtaining a complete
confession of sin. The yet more dangerous spiritual
filthiness of self-adoring pride and ambition, full of
present self-sacrifices, that stoops and crouches to raise
itself to carnal glory and superiority over others, with
self-righteousness, and delights in spiritual power over the
consciences of others, seeking to have dominion over their
faith, and lording it over God's heritage, are other indi-
cations of the unclean spirit. This appears to be the
meaning of the apostle (Col. ii. 23), which might be
TO THE CHURCH.
37
and pestilential infection they are now diffusing
themselves over the whole world. There is a
filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, and their
uncleanness partakes of pride or sensuality; and
of self-righteousness or licentiousness; boasting
or a voluntary humility can be assumed by
them. God has foretold their going forth at
this time. We behold in our day the reality of
it. The malaria not only is destructive alto-
gether to myriads of precious souls ;-it affects
even those who have risen up to oppose it.
They contend against it with a weakened and
sickly moral constitution. The unclean spirit
selects the class and the individual he can most
easily tempt. Some are drawn in by inordinate
views of Church authority and Church order;
some by love of mystery; some by a lively
imagination ; some by ascetic and mystical
sentiments; some by the love of liberty. Some,
in fleeing from one unclean spirit, fall under the
power of another. Some are altogether seduced,
and some are but partially tainted. Men of
rendered thus ; Which things are indeed with a show of
wisdom, in will-worship, and humility, and neglecting of the
body; not of any worth against the indulgence of the flesh.
There is as much indulgence of the carnal mind in these
austerities, as of the body, in the opposite sensual grati-
fications. Thus advocates of Total Abstinence Societies
should be guarded against intemperance of spirit.
38
THE DIVINE WARNING
talents, without real conversion of heart to God,
and neglecting the teaching of his Spirit, in vain
seek to comprehend, and grasp, and state clearly
to others the things of God. They themselves
are in special danger, and special objects of
seduction. “ While he that is spiritual dis.
cerneth all things, yet he himself is discerned of
no man.” (1 Cor. ii. 15.)
The term, frogs, seems to have a special refer-
ence to the plague of frogs in Egypt, which came
up and covered the land; their land brought
forth frogs in abundance, in the chambers of
their kings ; so do we find these unclean spirits
multiplying among all classes, from the highest
to the lowest, and engaging the thoughts, the
fears, the conversation of all men ; mingling
with everything; taking possession of all litera-
ture, religious or irreligious, of all education,
and government; entering into all architecture,
trade, and commerce; visible in shops ; filling
story-books, and journals, and newspapers. This
is only to be met, resisted, and overcome, by
that Omnipotent Spirit, who in the last days
shall be poured on all flesh, and be completely
victorious over all error and falsehood, sin and
wickedness; and yet redeem everything from
Satan to God's holy service. It will be con-
quered also by those who have been filled with
heavenly grace and power, wisdom and love..
TO THE CHURCH.
39
CHAPTER III.
THE EXPLANATION WHICH THIS VIAL GIVES
OF THE REVIVAL OF KOMISH PRINCIPLES.
When we have a message from God clearly
pertaining to our times and to our own peculiar
dangers, it is important to study its general spirit
as well as its details. Thus in this vial there are
general features which need to be apprehended,
that we may see more exactly the causes, limits,
and issues, of that revival of Popery which is
now troubling all faithful Christians.
The sixth vial is, as we have seen, a time
chiefly marked by long-suffering. Its judgments
fall on the East, and especially on Turkey ; but
towards Christendom, in respect of visible judg-
ments, it contrasts with the five which go before
it and with the seventh which follows it. God
now waits to be gracious. It is a time of silence
and pause in heaven. (Rev. vii. 1.) The four
angels holding the winds are prevented from
hurting the earth, and the sea, till the servants of
God are sealed in their forehead. It is, then, at
,
E 2
40
THE DIVINE WARNING
present a season of grace, but rapidly running
out. There is yet time for repentance to the
worldly, the superstitious, and the ungodly.
There is long-suffering towards those who
worship the beast and those who worship his
image: a space to repent is given for those
following that false religion of forms and sha-
dows, which is the mere refinement and reflec-
tion of open worldliness.
The same accepted time and day of salvation
is also a season for growth in grace, and in the
knowledge of Christ, and a preparation for future
trials and the last conflict with the powers of
darkness, for all true Christians.* The opposing
unclean spirits exercise all the graces of the
children of God, require their deeper investiga-
tions of Divine truth, give them fuller insight
into all the doctrines of the Gospel, keep them
from vainglory, and preserve them from error
on the right hand and on the left. The state
of our own country may serve to illustrate what
is more or less affecting all Christendom. The
bitterness of political lawlessness might have
left faithful Christians ashore in formal and cold
profession of what are called Church principles,
if the errors of Tractarianism had not compelled
See the Author's tract, entitled “ The Church's Trials
and Deliverance, or Preparation for Suffering,” published
by Baisler.
TO THE CHURCH.
41
them to contend for the vital doctrines of the
Gospel; and in contending for those they might
have sunk into neglect of the value of forms as
a means to an end, had not the extravagances of
those professing independency of all authority
in religion, shown them the value of obeying
those who have the rule over us. All is working
for good to the faithful followers of Christ.
They are also increasing in numbers everywhere,
in England, France, Germany, America, and
bestirring themselves, and abounding in more
diffusive benevolence day by day. It is pleasing
to see, amidst all their difficulties, the growing
enlargement of the religious Societies at home
and abroad, and in such missions as Dingle and
Achill, in Ireland; by such exertions as those
of the Evangelical Societies of France and
Geneva; and by such a mission as our Christian
brother, Dr. Malan, has made in the south of
France, an increasing number are obeying the
direction of the Holy Ghost to those in Babylon,
Come out of her, my people.
We may further observe, that times of long-
suffering are always marked by a growth or
revival of corruption or apostasy. Egypt was
spared from the period of the seven years of
famine to the time of the plagues sent upon
her, and used the season for oppression. Egypt
was again spared and a pause of judgment
E 3
42
THE DIVINE WARNING
was given her after the slaying of her first-
born, but hardly were the Israelites departed
than they said, Why have we done this that
we have let Israel go from serving us ? Their
hearts became hardened by the respite of judg-
ment, and so they brought upon themselves the
destruction in the Red Sea. Judah had a con-
siderable space of repentance given them from
the time of the death of their good king Josiah
till the time of Zedekiah, but they repented not,
and were carried captive to Babylon. The Jews,
from the time when John the Baptist was killed
by Herod, to the captivity under Titus, had
space for repentance for forty years, but they
repented not; they killed the Lord, and their
own prophets, and persecuted the apostles, and
pleased not God, and were contrary to all men,
and so this last awful judgment of 1800 years
has come upon them. And so in the Christian
Church; the judgments fell on the Eastern
Churches in the tremendous scourge of the
Turkish woe; but a season of grace was given
to the Western Churches, but they repented
not of the works of their hands, that they should
not worship devils, and idols of gold and silver,
and brass and stone, and of wood, which neither
can see, nor hear, nor walk. Our Lord's parable
illustrates this, When the unclean spirit is gone
out of a man, he walketh through dry places,
1
TO THE CHURCH.
seeking rest, and finding none. Then he saith,
I will return into my house from whence I came
out, and when he is come, he findeth it empty,
swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh
with himself seven other spirits more wicked
than himself, and they enter in and dwell there :
and the last state of that man is worse than the
first. The Lord then applies this statement to
the generation of the Jews whom he addressed.
It is, alas, similarly applicable to a large part of
Christendom, and portends similar judgments on
the Gentile Churches. And to no country in
the whole world does it give a more solemn
warning, or is it more fearfully applicable, than
it is now to the British Churches.
But, further, the religion of forms is con-
genial to the natural heart. It has a natural
elasticity; when it has been crushed by judg-
ments, it is ready, whenever the secret permis-
sion is given to the spirit of delusion, to revive ;
and we painfully witness such a revival among
us.
From these causes combined we might infer,
even from the prophecy itself, that under this
sixth vial there would be an extensive relapse ;
and that the superstitions which had been visited
with such fearful judgments by the pouring out
of the first five vials, would revive, as we have
ourselves beheld. Rome is not ashamed to re-
44
THE DIVINE WARNING
store its order of Jesuits, * its open idolatry
of the Virgin and the saints,t to bring its ficti-
* The most remarkable exhibition perhaps in the world,
of Satan transforming himself into an angel of light,
was given in the rise and progress of the Order of Jesuits.
The extraordinary spiritual energy of its first founder
and its first generals were displayed in a striking article
in the “ Edinburgh Review” of July, 1842. This Order,
founded in 1540, was Satan's grand engine against the
Reformation truth, and the mighty, terrible, subtle, and
complete dominion of that arch fiend, in leading men cap-
tive at his will, and over the most powerful intellects, was
never more awfully displayed. The Lord preserve us
from all his subtilty and power in our day !
f I have in my possession the Psalms of Bonaventura
in praise of the Virgin, printed at Rome in 1838, full of
blasphemous perversions of the Word of God to the
Virgin. The following extracts from a blasphemous
parody of the Te Deum are translated from the “Tributo
Quotidiano," in my possession, which applies many of the
Psalms in a similar way to the Virgin. This book of
idolatrous devotion was printed at Rome in 1839, and
bought there. It perverts thus that ancient and beautiful
hymn. See page 72–78, beginning
“ We praise thee, O Mary, as the Mother of God ; thy
worth as a Mother and Virgin we reverently adore ;
“ To thee the whole earth obsequiously bends as the
august daughter of the eternal Father.
“ To thee all angels and archangels, to thee thrones and
principalities offer faithful service;
“ Thee all powers and heavenly virtues, with all domi-
nions, respectfully obey ;
“ All the choirs of angels, cherubim, and seraphim, exult-
ingly magnify thy throne ;
TO THE CHURCH.
45
tious relics from Algiers and elsewhere, and to
press with increasing zeal all its foul corruptions
of Christianity through Christendom.
And it may be further noticed, that where
“ To thy honour every angelic being raises his melodious
voice, saying incessantly to thee,
“ Holy, holy, holy art thou, O Mary, Mother of God,
both Virgin and Mother.”
I will select four more sentences of this most horrible
idolatry and blasphemy :-
“Thou art the powerful mediator between God and man,
full of love towards us mortals, dispenser of heavenly
light:
“ Thou art the fortress of combatants, the pitying advo-
cate of the poor, and the refuge of sinners ;
“ Thou art the distributor of supernal gifts; thou art the
invincible destroyer and terror of demons and of the
proud;
“ Thou art the Sovereign of the world, the Queen of
heaven; after God, our only hope.”
The transparent veil does not cover the vile and open
idolatry. It stands in its visible nakedness in the temple
of God; as the manifest Antichrist denying the Father
and the Son (1 John ii. 22); setting both aside. It sets
aside also all the sympathy and fellow-feeling of our
Great High Priest Jesus, who took our flesh and blood
that he might be touched with a feeling of our infirmities,
and puts the Blessed Virgin in his place as our mediator,
as if to realize in the face of all men the prediction, Every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the
flesh, is not of God; and this is that spirit of Antichrist
whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now
already is it in the world. (1 John iv. 3.)
46
THE DIVINE WARNING
the truth has been long presented and is not
received in the love of it, God himself, in
righteous wrath and judgment, gives a special
opening and commission for the detection of
evil in men's hearts, and this because it is the
only way to a deeper work of conversion and
repentance.
If you weigh these things you need not be
surprised, that in a time of the revival of vital
godliness, notwithstanding the growth of piety
and pure religion among true Christians, and
the greatly increased exertions which they have
made to spread the pure Gospel of Christ
through the world, the delusions of Infidelity,
Popery, and lawlessness, are also all abroad and
mightily growing and increasing.
The application then of these truths will ex-
plain our present condition. Popery for a time
bad been crushed by revolutionary violence and
commotions. These have been suspended, and
the corruption of man has abused again the
season of grace, by the revival and wide diffu-
sion of the apostate principles of Rome.
This Mystery of iniquity is now also mightily
working in this highly favoured land, which,
having maintained a pure confession of the
reformed faith, had been specially preserved
from those judgments which so largely were
poured out on other European nations. Here
TO THE CHURCH.
47
the Gospel has long been presented to British
Christians. Its gracious and holy principles
were fully unfolded at the Reformation, as they
are clearly stated in our Thirty-nine Articles,
our Liturgy, and our Homilies, and all the great
Protestant confessions of the faith. These prin-
ciples were restored to us afresh in the Evan-
gelical revival of the last century. Especially
in the course of the French revolution God
graciously poured out his Spirit upon us; and
religious Societies, founded on the great prin-
ciples of the Gospel, were raised up among us
to diffuse them through the world.
Never can we be thankful enough that God
so honoured our country, that it was especially
from Britain the revival of Evangelical missions
to the Heathen had its great impulse in our day.
There went from us that glorious flight of the
Gospel so clearly predicted to take place before
the hour of judgment,I saw another angel fly
in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting
Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the
earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and
tongue, and people.
But there has been, I fear, a decline, and
many have a name to live and are dead. True
principles are recognised and admitted ; but mul-
titudes have rather an hereditary than a personal
and living faith, and so become an easy prey to
48
THE DIVINE WARNING
novelties in doctrine and the flesh-pleasing at-
tractions of Rome. Truths have been received
in the intellect, but they have not become the
daily food and nourishment of the soul in living
and heartfelt experience. The sight of them is
indistinct and confused, the hold upon them is
feeble; it is more man's teaching than God's
teaching ; the world and the Church have come
nearer together. Hence a decay of earnest zeal
and of plain and bold faithfulness, testifying the
truth in the face of all opposition. Hence a
general liberalism of sentiment, falsely called
candour, or even charity, though it be the very
opposite to all real charity, has been too pre-
valent both in ministers and people where the
truth is really held. As we see in the case of
Eli's sons and David's, God is very jealous on
the subject of a consistently religious education.
Have we, that are Christian parents, taken due
pains to give our children full religious instruc-
tion in our families day by day, in plain, earnest,
and scriptural teaching, with many prayers for
them ? Have we made due use of parental
authority ? Have we not had too much of a
worldly atmosphere around - us, and drunk too
much into the spirit of the world ? Have not
our children been specially exposed to danger
in classical studies of Heathen writers, without
any adequate counteraction in constantly in-
TO THE CHURCH.
49
stilled Christian truths ? And if so, need we be
surprised if they fall so easily into temptation ?
Is there in our public schools a sound scriptural
education, or are the principles of the Reforma-
tion so taught as to withstand the present
tendency to Rome ?
Breadth without depth, diffusion without ful-
ness, has been with some the character of their
Evangelical profession, and where it has been so,
it has left ministers and Christians, as well as the
world around them, fearfully open to the influence
of these evil spirits, and thus many have been
defiled.
The open power formerly possessed by the
Popes having been long lost, we no longer see a
Pope, like Boniface VIII., for instance, arro-
gating sovereign power over everything sacred
and secular; overawing kings and nations with
the terrors of his bulls, and deciding the contro-
versies of sovereigns as their arbiter. But the
very loss of this power, and the ceasing of all
political fears from it, have made the mock
professions of Romish advocates far more plau-
sible and more spiritually dangerous. The
merely political statesman, seeing only the wast-
ing and annihilation of its temporal authority,
perceives now no danger in Popery; but those
who are alive to the power of spiritual delusion
will discern, in the present state of the Apostasy,
50
THE DIVINE WARNING
a very special, subtle, and wide-spread snare of
the enemy. The pretended liberal views of the
Papists do but increase the danger to those who
are not taught from God's Word, to see that
men's words may be smooth and soft, while war
is in their heart (Psalm lv. 21), and that it is
easy, while men are destitute of the power to
persecute, to disclaim persecution. Our text
foretels that which we actually see, a fresh
going forth of this spiritual delusion, with a
vastly revived energy, activity, and power, in all
lands, and through the whole world.*
* See notice of the efforts made by the Romanists in
the East, in the Appendix. The Rev. Henry Caswall,
who has given so striking an account of the Mormonités
in America, was kind enough to give me the following
account of the Roman Catholic establishment at St. Louis,
the capital of the Missouri, on the Mississippi, in the
remote West. He says, “ The Jesuits politely showed
me their new Church of St. Francis Xavier, together
with their University immediately adjoining. The latter
is greatly in advance of our Protestant Kemper College.
One of the Jesuits connected with it is almost constantly
traversing Papal Europe in the work of obtaining dona-
tions. Their library contains probably 10,000 volumes.
Their philosophical apparatus is very fine, having been
given them by the managers of a Jesuit College in France,
suppressed by Charles X. I visited their cathedral, which
cost 80,000 dollars. This is crowded to excess every
Sunday, six times during the day. Matins are performed
to three different congregations, German, French, and
English respectively. At vespers the same arrangement
TO THE CHURCH.
51
. We may observe, too, that those who have
in God's providence been artificially, so to speak,
or rather most graciously, protected from error, as
we in Protestant Britain have by our national
Constitution been protected from Popery, may
be especially exposed to temptation. Where
these advantages have not been improved, and
where men remain, in such a case, without the
personal experience of the power of the truth, and
without that real love to it in their hearts, which
flows from such experience, they are specially
exposed to the delusion of error, when it revives
around them. The armour is not ready, they are
not accustomed to its use; the oil is not in the
vessel with the lamp, and they are left in darkness.
In our own commercial and wealthy country,
the idolatry of wealth has been long the great
snare and the besetting sin of a large class.
The religious Societies of every kind, which are
the glory and bulwarks of Britain, are almost
entirely supported by a small number, who give
to all. Multitudes of our nobility, our great
landed proprietors, our prosperous merchants,
is made. In St. Louis, with a population of 30,000,
14,000 are Papists. The Bishop has published a work to
prove the miraculous translation of the holy house of
Loretto. I was shown Doomsday Book,' and about seventy
other volumes presented to the College by the British
Government."
F 2
52
THE DIVINE WARNING
and our tradesmen, with annual incomes of thou-
sands, though some are not wanting in bounty to
some local or merely temporal object of charity,
give nothing, or the veriest trifle, to these So-
cieties. Superstition does far more among the
Romanists, than the mere name of a purer faith,
or even the sense of shame does amongst them.
So the fearful curse of God righteously comes
upon their blessings (Mal. ii. 2; James v. 1–5).
In the fulness of their sufficiency they are in
straits (Job ii. 22); even while they are heaping
treasure together for or in the last days. Oh!
how would the right use of their wealth have
blessed themselves and all around them, now and
evermore (1 Tim. vi. 17-20), and made Britain
a blessing to the whole world! Let all we have
be devoted to God, and used simply as we think
he would have us to use it, and so riches will
bring that full happiness which God designed
to bestow on us and on others, by intrusting us
with them.
All these causes are in operation in our own
beloved country at this moment, and encompass
England with peculiar dangers. These dangers
are from opposite and contrasted false doctrines ;
yet all equally contrary to the holy truths of
God's Word. Hence a system so vile as
Socialism, or barefaced Infidelity, licentiousness,
and blasphemy seduces its thousands ; has its
TO THE CHURCH.
53
missionaries, and periodicals, and tracts; raises its
halls of pretended science in the face of society;
and after all its failure and disappointment of
its followers, still maintains itself. Hence, a
delusion so transparent as Mormonism entraps
its hundreds and thousands, and bears them off
in triumph to a foreign land, in numbers far
exceeding all the missionaries of the Gospel of
Christ who have gone forth from us to evan-
gelize the heathen, probably, since we were a
Christian land. Hence, officers in our service
have been required to give honour to Papal and
Pagan idolatries; and when faithful men would
not thus deny Christ, they have been obliged to
resign their situations, and our country has been
indifferent to it.*
* In the former Edition notice was taken of a report
that one lately in chief authority in India had made an
offering in an idol temple; I am thankful to be able to
say that this report has been contradicted in India. The
“ Friend of India," of December 15, 1842, says, “ If his
Lordship visited the temple of Benares, it is extremely
probable that the priests, who were in attendance, received
the usual acknowledgments for their attentions. But
this present does no more imply a homage to the Hindoo
religion on the part of the Governor-General, than the
present made by a Roman Catholic, when visiting West-
minster Abbey, implies homage to the Protestant creed.
It was a deed of civility, not a religious act. As such the
money was given by his Lordship, as such it was received
by the officiating priest.”
F 3
54
THE DIVINE WARNING
Hence the extensive disregard of God's law,
of supreme love to God, and real love to man.
You see it in the eager thirst for gain. For
the love of filthy lucre, the rich will so look
on human beings, their fellow creatures, as to
lose all sight of their immortal souls, and care
for them only as machines, to accomplish for
them a certain quantity of work at a given rate.
God Almighty prosper that best patriotism, the
righteous and inerciful, but arduous efforts of a
Christian nobleman (Lord Ashley), in contend-
ing with the selfishness of all classes to remove
such national sins, and to lead us to show mercy
to the poor! The poor, also, have shown the
same lawlessness in other forms, and have mani.
fested that, for some personal gratification, they
can be without natural affection to their own
offspring. And all classes, equally disregarding
God's law, will trample under foot the restraints
of constituted authorities, whether temporal or
spiritual, and seek only entire freedom for every
corruption, without restraint from any laws,
human or Divine. The seeds are thus sown for
producing through our land, as well as in other
lands, even through all Christendom, the unre-
strained triumph of wickedness.
Hence, also, the rapid spread of Papal prin-
ciples through our country, once above all
others distinguished by a righteous abhorrence
TO THE CHURCH.
55
of the Apostasy. We must not conceal from
ourselves the fact that even zealous Protestant
ministers have become priests of the Apostasy;
that our Government supports in its colonies
the priesthood of the mother of abominations ;
that our system of national education in Ireland
is based on an union of effort with the Popish
priest; that Jesuits, priests, and missionaries,
Popish churches, chapels, colleges, seminaries,
and nunneries, magazines, journals, newspapers,
and tracts, are multiplying; and that the College
of Maynooth, with all its proved evil system
of instruction, receives its yearly thousands from
Government.
Nor is this, alas! all. There is a corre-
sponding movement even within our own Pro-
testant Church-a inovement, in all points, in
the dangerous direction of Romanism.
It is no pleasure to me to dwell on errors
of brethren in the same ministry, and in the same
Church, many having zeal, earnestness, and labo-
rious diligence, and, avowedly at least, holding
great fundamentals of our common Christianity.
I would do it with humility, and I hope real
love, to the persons of those I believe to be in
error. I deny not their fervent zeal, their
sacrifices for what they think right, nor their
self-denying pastoral exertions according to their
views. It would be a subject of real joy if there
56
THE DIVINE WARNING
were a spirit of devotion given to the members
of our Church, to use spiritually and profitably
more frequently its services, and not formally or
self-righteously.* I deny not, I have just shown
* The appointed use of our public forms of prayer in
the English language daily, in the first energy of our Re-
formation, (when the nation had been so long immersed in
the thick darkness of what was to most an unintelligible
Latin service, and books and literature were in their
infancy,) was calculated to meet the wants of men, and
to remove their ignorance. But I am not aware that at
any time the literal directions concerning the daily saying
of the morning and evening prayer were universally prac-
tised, and the thirteenth and fourteenth canons of 1603
(the canons binding on the clergy) virtually limit them,
and confine it to Sundays and holydays. Our present
situation and circumstances are much changed. Know-
ledge is much more generally diffused. Family prayer is
now used in religious households, as more adapted to
gather together constantly all the members of each house.
It admits also of greater variety, and can be made more
expressive of our daily changing necessities and joys, and
be more suited to the circumstances of each family. Yet
I deny not the blessedness of daily public worship also.
I see it in the primitive Church. (Acts ii. 46 ; iii. 1 ;
iv. 42.) Should, happily, a more general spirit of piety,
rejoicing in every variety of mode of approaching to God,
be granted to us, Christians will be glad again to make
sacrifices of secular things for the sake of public worship
daily. But in the present state of the nation, with forms
so limited as those of our Liturgy, seeing in Cathedrals
so little profit by it, and remembering our Lord's solemn
charge against the vain repetitions of those who think that
TO THE CHURCH.
it, that there are contrast spirits of evil to be
withstood. I judge them not personally, nor
condemn, far from it, any of their attempts to
conform more exactly to the appointments of
our Liturgy, made in spirit and in truth. But
their peculiar principles are published far and
wide. I promised, at my ordination, to be ready
with all faithful diligence to banish and drive
away all erroneous doctrines, contrary to God's
Word, and I verily believe their peculiar doc-
trines to be thus erroneous. They first began
they shall be heard for their much speaking, I should dread
fostering the evils of formality and self-righteousness by
a forced revival of the same daily public prayers. The
energetic spirits of evil are not to be resisted by the
revival of forms, but by the superior energy of the en-
larged outpouring of the Holy Ghost. The Bishops of
our Church have, therefore, as it appears to me, judged
wisely in not now requiring a strict obedience to directions
on this point, more especially as the circumstances of our
country have so long hindered the Convocation, which is
the only power of our Church in such matters, from
meeting to consider and decide what might be best for the
Church in its present situation. Let us not lose all the
lessons taught us by the sorrowful example of Laud in
one age, or the unhappy course of non-jurors in another.
Yet if any of my brethren can, in the larger towns or
elsewhere, thus secure a daily congregation of spiritual
worshippers, all true Christians will rejoice in their success,
and be encouraged to follow in their steps, and probably
the increasing intenseness of the conflict will make us all
glad of every practical occasion of public worship.
58
THE DIVINE WARNING
this movement, and in love to them, and in
love to the souls of men, we cannot now be
silent. Let us never forget that one grand sign
of the perilous times of the last days is to have
a form of godliness, and deny the power thereof,
and that from such we are to turn away.
The errors against which I protest are such as
these.
It is asserted that the Gospel message is but
indirectly and covertly revealed in Scripture,
and tradition is regarded as the Church's
divinely-inspired sense of the Bible, requisite to
make the Bible really a revelation to us.* We
are told that there is an absolute necessity of
a succession of bishops,t consecrated by the
* The Author has printed at length in the later editions
of his “Scripture Help" a translation of Luther's per-
fectly unanswerable argument against the necessity of
tradition, as an interpreter absolutely requisite for a right
understanding of the Scriptures. But one of these writers
talks of " the fatal principle of the sufficiency of Scrip-
ture, unregulated by the Church, as the avowed essence
of Socinianism."
Our orderly descent from the apostles, which is in
itself a fact and a privilege, though humbling enough
when we consider some of the persons through whom our
orders have descended to us, may become a mere idol, if
trusted in and boasted of, and this without regard to
truth of doctrine, or holiness of life. The honest and
martyred Reformer John Bradford tells his Papal oppo-
nents, “ You shall not find in all Scripture this essential
TO THE CHURCH.
59
apostles, to the existence of the Church, and
the administration of the Sacraments. The
Church of England leads her true ministers to a
far more important inquiry than the outward
line of succession from the apostles. It puts the
question, “Do you trust that you are inwardly
moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you this
office and ministration, to serve God for the
promoting of his glory and the edifying of his
people ?" Here is the chief origin of a faithful
and successful ministry. Here is the most im-
point of succession of bishops. The ministry of God's
Word, and ministers, are an essential point; but to trans-
late this to the bishops and their successors is a plain
subtlety." So the martyred Hooper testified: “Seeing
the Church of God is bound to this infallible truth, the
only Word of God, it is a false and usurped authority
that men attribute to the clergy, and bind the Word of
God, and Christ's Church to the succession of bishops."
The full Protestant answer to this Papal dogma is given
by Bishop Pilkington. See his Works, pp. 596-605.
The reality of Apostolical succession is in all Churches
holding the truth. The threefold order of the ministry we
believe to be scriptural, and of Divine appointment, but
not exclusively so. The idea of an Apostolical succession
only by bishops ordaining in a regular series from the
times of the apostles to the present time; the idea that
this is the only true ministry in the Church of Christ,
and essential to the existence of a true Church of Christ,
is nowhere laid down in the Scriptures, and nowhere
inserted in our Church formularies; to trust in such a
succession is an idol of the Church of Rome.
60
THE DIVINE WARNING
portant of all questions to us. I deny not the
subordinate importance of the outward calling.
But let us not attend to that to the exclusion of
the supreme importance of the Divine calling ;
let us mainly insist upon the necessity of that
succession which the Holy Ghost gives to the
apostles, in raising up from age to age, and
sending forth faithful ministers of his Word, as
infinitely most important. In this system, in
perfect contrast to the lawlessness of the day,
Popish, unscriptural, and delusive claims of
spiritual power in the ministry, are advanced ;
the Church usurps the place of the Saviour,
and is made an idol. The covenant privileges
of the Church, also, are made to supersede the
living faith and love which are peculiar to those
finally saved. Regeneration, in a vague, un-
scriptural, and Pelagian sense, as a grace de-
pendent on man's will, neither meaning a state
of covenant privileges, nor of real spiritual life,
is pressed as invariably accompanying baptism.
It is fully admitted that the baptism which is
common to all called Christians is a sign and
one of the means of regeneration. But let it not
be forgotten, that Scripture, antiquity, and our
own Church, have a lower as well as a higher
use of the same terms-one implying only
covenant privileges, the other including the
highest spiritual blessings. We see it in the terms
TO THE CHURCH.
61
“ Jew," “ Israel,” “ the children of God," “ the
called," the “ being in Christ,” “the chosen,"
and many like expressions, and so it may be in
the use of the word regeneration.* The Sacra-
* The original word rendered regeneration, radiyyavaola,
occurs only twice in the Scriptures ; in the first, Matthew
xix. 28, applying to a state of restitution, unconnected
immediately with baptism at all; and in the second, Titus
iii. 5, it may either mean an entrance into a new world
of covenant privileges, or the reception itself of spiritual
life, whereby those dead in trespasses and sins become
quickened, and serve God with renewed affections in
spirit and in truth. The equivalent expressions, however,
born of God, born again, begotten of God, new creature,
new heart, new spirit, are so employed in the Scriptures,
and that generally with no allusion to baptism, that it
is quite impossible for any plain simple understanding,
submitting itself wholly to God's Word, to identify them
with any baptism which issue only in a nominal Christi-
anity, or with any merely covenant privileges. The terms
manifestly describe a spiritual life, a divine nature, a vital
change in the heart and will, wrought of God himself.
The author's views on this have been stated more at large
in his “Treatise on Baptism.” The believing adult obtains
the blessing in every sense; the unbelieving loses it in the
highest sense; remains only under covenant privileges,
and in a dispensation of grace ; if he repent and believe,
he too shall be saved; if the adult continue unbelieving,
or if the infant perform not the promises of repentance
and faith, they will perish with an aggravated condem-
nation. (Matt. ix. 20; Jude 5.) They, being without
repentance and faith, need regeneration, in its highest
sense, quite as much after baptism as they did before.
It was Dean Milner's decided judgment that we ought
THE DIVINE WARNING
ments have a wholesome effect only on such as
worthily receive them. We renounce, as a
Church, the opus operatum of Popery. A rege-
neration, without repentance and faith, neither
of which it is possible for baptized infants, from
their tender age, as is plainly stated in our
Catechism, to perform, and without faith in
parents or sureties, can only, in the plain
meaning of the Church formularies, be rege-
neration in a lower use of the term. We maintain,
on the other hand, the scriptural doctrine of
promises in baptism to the children of believers.
boldly and unshrinkingly “ to address those as unre-
generate who were evidently without any spiritual life.
This, he apprehended, had been uniformly the language
of our greatest divines from the time of the Refor-
mation.”-See his Life, pp. 638--654, where the subject
is fully discussed. The holy martyr, St. Stephen, full of
the Holy Ghost, calls the circumcised Jews uncircumcised
in hearts and ears, and by that very faithfulness won the
crown of martyrdom. Acts vii. 51-60. Well then may
we call the unregenerate in heart, really unregenerate.
Our Lord told the circumcised Jews, ye must be born
again. By this faithfulness Nicodemus was truly con-
verted. Some have supposed that by confining the term
regeneration to baptism, and the term conversion to spiri-
tual life, they would free the subject from all ambiguity;
but the term conversion also has a lower and a higher use
(Jer. iii. 10); and St. John's Epistle furnishes scriptural
evidence against such a limited use of the term regene-
ration, or born of God.
TO THE CHURCH.
63
(Acts ii. 37, 38; 1 Cor. vii. 14.) We deny
not regeneration, in the highest sense, where
there is faith in the promises of God. A
believing parent may have such an assured
hope of the higher blessing given at baptiem,
in answer to the prayer of faith, a blessing to be
unfolded in the future life, and under the diligent
use of all means, as already to furnish a suffi-
cient ground of thanksgiving that the infant
has been regenerate by the Holy Spirit. We
may thus cordially go along with every word
of our Articles, our Catechism, our Liturgy,
and our Homilies, and, what is infinitely more
important, with every word of the inspired
Volume. The Church of the living God is
visible and invisible; and in its type, the
Temple, there was the inner and the outer court
of the Temple. There is the form of godliness,
and the power. But this only makes it the more
needful to distinguish the two senses, as St. Paul
so often and so clearly does (Rom. ii. 28, 29;
ix. 6-8; Gal. vi. 15), and not to hide, cover
up, and bury, the all-important doctrine of the
inward, entire, and divine change of heart which
arises from a real birth from above, regeneration
in its highest sense, and which is so absolutely
necessary to our seeing the kingdom of God,
and being truly in Christ Jesus (Jobn iii. 3;
2 Cor. v. 17), and yet is so offensive to the
G 2
64
THE DIVINE WARNING
natural man. We dare not flatter the sinner,
deaden the conscience, and delude the soul, on so
vital a doctrine, with a vague dreaming gene-
rality, meaning anything or nothing. The
language of faith and charity, the promises of
God, made generally to the children of believers,
the covenant privileges of a divinely-appointed
ordinance, the triumph of faith which may be
suited to a devoted Christian parent, or which
glowed with such ardour in the primitive Church
as almost to identify the sign and seal and the
end, -these, however important in their right
use, must never be allowed to set aside vital
scriptural doctrines; so putting a sign and means
for the end as to deceive immortal souls, and
permit men to rest on an unscriptural hope.
Nor must baptismal privileges be identified
with justification. We believe in one baptism
for the remission of sins; faith in the adult
obtains that remission, and faith in the parent
of the infant realizes every blessing, and, in
case of baptized children dying before they
comniit sin, we doubt not of their salvaion. It
is unspeakably important for true peace and
holiness, to have clear and scriptural views of
our justification in the sight of God. Jus-
tification in our being accounted righteous
before God. In justification our sins are not
only all forgiven, but righteousness is imputed
TO THE CHURCH.
65
to us. That, in this accepted time, through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, there
is a free justification, by God's grace, for all
sinners having committed actual sins, however
numberless or full of aggravation, and that this
justification comes by faith only, and comes by
faith from first to last, is the grand and peculiar
testimony of the inspired Volume, from Genesis
to Revelation. We ministers are unfaithful to
our Divine commission, if we cease to declare
it, or explain it away. It is the only scriptural
relief to the burdened and afflicted conscience,
the only doctrine that gives us peace with God,
and joy in him, and a glowing heart of love to
him and to all men. The effectual guard against
all Antinomian perversions of it is, that the
faith by which we receive justification is a lively
faith, filling the soul with joy and peace, working
by love, purifying the heart, and overcoming the
world. Lively faith is so invariably productive
of good works, that looking at its strength and
evidence, and beholding its necessary fruits, in
this connexion, St. James, in answer to any
abuse of the doctrine, and any mere profession
of faith, does not hesitate to declare, Ye see then
how that by works a man is justified, and not by
faith only.*
* The author many years since stated his views at
large on this doctrine, in a " Discourse on Justification
TI
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3
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THE DIVINE WARNING
But in this new movement, men darken
counsel by words without knowledge, and full
of contradictions; justification and sanctification
by Faith,” the fourth edition of which was included in
his “Occasional Works.” The reader whose whole hope
is in Christ, and who has experienced the peaceful and
purifying effects which follow justification by faith, will
clearly discover the workings of the unclean spirit,
discerning where is the real strength of Christians, in
such bitter attacks upon that truth as are contained in
the “British Critic” of October, 1842; I mean such as
follow :-“ The very first aggression then of those who
labour to revive some degree at least of vital Christianity
(in the room of those gross corruptions and superstitions
which have in these latter days among ourselves overlaid
the primitive and simple truth), their very first aggression
must be on the strange congeries of notions and practices
of which the Lutheran doctrine of justification is the
origin and representative. Whether any heresy has ever
infested the Church so hateful and unchristian as this
doctrine, it is perhaps not necessary to determine. None
certainly has ever prevailed so subtle and extensively
poisonous." After then, most grossly, like the father of
lies, burlesquing and misrepresenting this doctrine, the
reviewer adds: “We must plainly express our conviction,
that a religious heathen, were he really to accept the
doctrine which Lutheran language expresses, so far from
making any advance, would sustain a heavy loss in
exchanging fundamental truth for fundamental error.”
Truly, these men speak evil of things which they know not ;
sporting themselves with their own deceivings. The Lord
open their eyes before it be too late to see that they are
reviling his own truth, which is the more inexcusable
TO THE CHURCH.
67
are confounded, just as the Papists have long
confounded them; and the conscience is left in
darkness and bondage.
Preaching is also depreciated, and we are
told that the atonement for sin by the death
of Jesus, the very glory of the Gospel, must
be kept in reserve. Voluntary austerities, and
rites, and ceremonies not commanded in God's
Word, are pressed and magnified. Forms of
prayer are idolized, while the spirit of grace
and supplication without a form is slighted.
Much is made of external things, such as bow-
ings, and dresses, and turnings of the body, and
mere outward services ;* we have a voluntary
from the clear statement which the Church to which they
yet profess to belong has given of that truth. The very
same article in the review talks of “the awful guilt of a
bickering and controversial temper, and training our-
selves carefully in lowly thoughts of ourselves, and in a
loving regard to all that is good in others." Truly they
know not what manner of spirit they are of.
* Rites and ceremonies are, in their nature, of inferior
moment, and are left to the Church under the general
directions, Let all things be done decently and in order
(1 Cor. xiv. 40), and unto edifying. The doctrines of the
Church are unchangeable, being the inspired truth of God.
To make ceremonies of equal importance is to depart from
the plain statement of the Prayer-book, which teaches us,
the ceremonies that remain are retained for a discipline
and order which (upon just causes) may be altered and
changed, and therefore are not to be esteemed equal
68
THE DIVINE WARNING
humility, if not a worshipping of angels, which
the Apostle includes among the rudiments of
the world; which things have indeed a show
with God's law." To cry out, in the manner some do,
for discipline, and the exertion of authority, reminds one
of the fable of the frogs asking for a king.
The way in which rubrics and canons are now pressed
leads me to enlarge upon this note. One says, “ there is
really no medium between a strict obedience to the prayer-
book and the wildest licence and disorder." “ The clergy
are strictly required to obey in every particular. The
bishops have no dispensing power over the rubric." No
such strictness is promised in our consent to use the
Liturgy ; nor is it very modest in any one thus to censure
every bishop, priest, and deacon in our country, for there
is not one that has thus observed every rubric and
canon. In reality there has been, and in the necessity of
the case must be, in every age of the Church a measure of
dispensation as to outward ceremonies. Under the law of
Moses, so strict in all its requirements which had both
the promised obedience of the people, and the direct divine
sanction, Moses justified Aaron in not having fulfilled
one of its ritual directions. (Lev. X. 16-20.) David
himself disobeyed its injunctions about the show-bread.
(1 Sam. xxi.) Our Lord justified his disciples in a
similar case. (Matt. xii. 1--5.) A departure from the
letter of a canon or a rubric may be the most conscien-
tious observance of its scope and intent. The matter is
by no means of so easy a decision as such rash statements
as those above given would imply. It is not without deep
significance that our Lord twice reproves the Pharisees
for not knowing the meaning of God's words, I will have
mercy, and not sacrifice, as a great principle of action
VUC
TO THE CHURCH.
69
of wisdom in will worship and humility and
neglecting of the body, but out of all which,
except as far as regards submission to those over
us, and the doing all things decently and in
order, the spirit of the Christian soars upward,
and is risen with Christ to holier, higher, and
heavenly things.
We are told, in this school, that there is a true
and proper sacrifice for remission of sins made
in the Lord's Supper, by the minister, in a strictly
sacerdotal character; that sin after baptism has
no promise of pardon ; that departed saints are
never to be lost sight of. (Matt. ix. 13 ; xii. 7.) The
Apostle also shows us that the custom of the Churches
is a measure by which we have to form our judgment
in these external things. (1 Cor. xi. 16.) I allow that
there should be no departures from any appointed rites
for which we cannot assign a good reason. Where the
end designed by all ceremonies would be frustrated in
their use, and where general custom allowed by our
superiors would make their revival offensive to our
congregations without any corresponding good, I would
not revive mere outward ceremonies and services. We
are all in danger of trusting to the forms of religion. We
may soon punish ourselves by making snares and traps
for the conscience, and bring ourselves under an intoler-
able yoke of bondage. No promise of consent given to
use them implies their equal authority with God's law, or
our equal subjection to them. In this, let us have and use
the liberty of the Christian, the understanding of men,
and the simplicity of children.
70
THE DIVINE WARNING
to be invoked; prayers made for the dead;
Catholic Councils are infallible; the clergy may,
by authority of the Church, be obliged to celi-
bacy; the primacy of St. Peter is maintained,
and the strong testimony of revelation against
the Apostasy is softened into a description of
it, as our sister or our mother. Our present
authorized formularies are disparaged, as wanting
many excellent things which the Romanists
have retained. In the Communion service the
omission of the superstitions of the Roman mass
is noticed as a judgment, and a mutilation of
the tradition of 1,500 years. A by-gone Je-
suitical perversion of the Thirty-nine Articles
has been revived by a clergyman of the Church
of England; it has had defenders in leading
and influential situations, and is still published,
and republished, and extensively circulated and
maintained. These professed members of our
Church express a growing hatred to the Re.
formation and the Reformers, call it a deplorable
schism, and think Ridley deserves no praise,
because he was the companion of Cranmer,
Martyr, and Bucer; while they style Jewell an
irreverent Dissenter.* They have said that the
* The peculiar displeasure against Jewell, I suppose,
arises from the plainness and distinctness with which he
sets aside the idolatry of a mere Apostolical succession,
in such words as these:"Annas and Caiaphas, touching
TO THE CHURCH.
71
Protestant tone of doctrine is essentially anti-
christian. They extol the worst Popes and
succession, were as well bishops as Aaron and Eleazar.
God's grace is promised unto a good mind, and to any one
that feareth him, and not unto sees or successions, ....
if so be the place and consecration be sufficient, why
then Manasses succeeded David, and Caiaphas succeeded
Aaron. And it has often been seen that an idol has been
placed in the temple of God. .... Lawful succession
standeth not only in possession of place, but also and
much rather in doctrine and diligence. Antichrist may
easily sit in Peter's chair.” Our Church has by no means
denied the lawful ministry of those who faithfully preach
Christ, though they may not have had episcopal ordina-
tion, as we see in the Twenty-third Article. For my own
part, I heartily love my own Church, and wish in every-
thing its prosperity, and I cannot be blind to all the evils
of divisions among Christians in our land, the causes of
which all sides will have to give account of in the day of
Christ. But still, in the total want of adequate church
room and accommodation, and in the state of secularity
and formality which so largely prevailed in the established
ministry of this country, I cannot judge and condemn
zealous servants of Christ, not of the Established Church
of these realms, for labours which God has largely blessed.
I believe the Apostle Paul to have rejoiced in such labours
in his day. (Phil. i. 14—19.) The unclean spirit from the
mouth of the Beast has found its more appropriate scene of
temptation among the Dissenters, as that from the false
prophet has among us. We have none of us reason for
boasting: we have all of us deep cause for humiliation.
Let us, then, all from the heart say, Grace be with all
them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Our
.
72
THE DIVINE WARNING
Papists; with them Hildebrand, Becket, and
Innocent, were the lights of the Church in the
middle ages, ranked in the same class with Elijah
and the Baptist. And, finally, they have said,
that as we go on we must recede more and
more from the principles, if any such there be,
Church has pronounced no judgment against an eccle-
siastical government in Churches in other lands different
from her own. With her usual wisdom and charity she
takes her own stand; commends the three-fold order of
bishops, priests, and deacons, as scriptural, and ever in the
Church; and in her own household, in the United Church
of England and Ireland, she confines her family to that
ministerial order. Dissenting Churches, being “such as
by the laws of this land are held and allowed," do not come
within the Twelfth Canon of 1603. Blessed be God for
the legal toleration of, and for all the good that, in the
moral and spiritual destitution of our country, has been
done by faithful ministers holding the Head, even Christ,
not of the Establishment, in our land. Our country, and
our Church, are deeply indebted to their labours. Many
a precious immortal soul has, we doubt not, thus been
brought to Christ and saved. Greatly to be dreaded is the
spiritual evil of that self-exalting spirit which, in any
quarter, despises others, and cries out repeatedly, The
temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of
the Lord are these. (Jer. vii. 4.) It is peculiarly calcu-
lated to bring down spiritual drought, blight, and famine,
and the curse of barrenness on all our labours, for God
resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. The
reader will find some just remarks on union with Dis-
senters, by Dean Milner, in the recently published Life by
his niece, pp. 477–481.
TO THE CHURCH.
73
of the English Reformation. Oh, my brethren,
let the Word of God be your shield from these
temptations! Keep distinctly before your mind
that plain prediction of St. Paul, This know also,
that in the last days perilous times shall come.
Remember that, after plainly and clearly de-
scribing those awful iniquities which manifest the
working of the other unclean spirits; For men
shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous,
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to pa-
rents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affec-
tion, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent,
fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors,
heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than
of the wohl iniquities'y and clear come.
* I need not enter into the proofs of all this, as the
painful exposure has been so ably made by my friend Mr.
Goode, in his valuable and seasonable works, " The Divine
Rule of Faith," and especially in his “Case as it is," which
is now published at one shilling, and should be widely
circulated. A valuable work, in two volumes, 8vo., has
appeared since this “ Warning” was first published;
by Mr. Garbett, the Professor of Poetry in Oxford,
which, with candour, comprehensiveness of view, and
ability, meets this movement. It is entitled “ Christ as
Prophet, Priest, and King; being a Vindication of the
Church of England from Theological Novelties.” On the
personal reign of Christ, I have been led to a different
view, and see in this work, nothing which has not been
already answered, to shake that view. But the work is in
general seasonable and important, and coming from such
a quarter, will, I trust, be influential for good.
74
THE DIVINE WARNING
lovers of God: the apostle closes his warnings
with an impressive and solemn instruction, spe-
cially adapted to those tempted by the unclean
spirit from the mouth of the false prophet, having
a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:
from such turn away. For of this sort are they
which creep into houses, and lead captive silly
women laden with sins, led away with divers
lusts, ever learning and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth. (2 Tim. iii. 1—7.)
But why recapitulate such erroneous doctrines ?
For this reason. These things have been with-
stood, and brought into the light, and condemned,
by those having authority in the Church, and
yet there has been no manifestation of repent-
ance, no bringing forth of fruits meet for
repentance. For this farther reason also, they
are the lively illustration of one part of the
prophecy we are now considering.
Here is distinctly the defiling and polluting
breath of the false prophet. The doctrines of
the Gospel are removed, and the souls of men
are starved with the once cast away husks of
the man of sin. Oh! deep ingratitude for all
God's love to us in the glorious revival of his
grace at the Reformation. Men are again
tricking themselves out in the tinselled dresses of
the harlot of Babylon, and renouncing the golden
faith and godly love of our holy, heavenly, and
TO THE CHURCH.
75
martyred Reformers. Oh! that the solemn and
most awakening words of our Lord to the men
of his generation may be duly pondered at this
time by us, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres,
which indeed appear beautiful outward, but within
are full of dead men's bones, and of all unclean-
ness. Brethren beloved, see with what vehement
earnestness the Apostle Paul met a similar per-
version of the Gospel, in his whole Epistle to the
Galatians. Here is a truly primitive Episcopal
charge on this subject, from the first Apostle
and Bishop of all the Gentile Churches. Here
is genuine and unadulterated Christian antiquity.
Here the chief Shepherd and Bishop of our souls
himself speaks by one whom he especially raised
up to declare the Gospel to us. He says-let us
listen to his voice--- There be some that trouble
you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ.
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach
any other Gospel unto you than that which ye
have received, let him be accursed. Continue,
I beseech you, in the faith grounded and settled,
and be not moved away from the hope of the
Gospel which ye have heard. Ye are complete
in Christ Jesus Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to every one that believeth ;
trust only in him; glory only in him.
open though ecopel vento e aceur
any of received long the faith from the fact
#
2
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THE DIVINE WARNING
CHAPTER IV.
THE TROUBLES WHICH GOD HAS FORETOLD
US WILL ENSUE.
It is the special duty of the Lord's watchmen
to discern approaching dangers, and warn his
people of the coming evil. The Word of God
does not flatter us with national or ecclesiastical
immunity from danger. It clearly foretels it.
Yet to those who serve God, a sure protection
and a final deliverance are fully promised. We
cannot, indeed, minutely and particularly fore-
show events yet to come: times and seasons are
put in the Father's own power. But we may
and ought to arrive at this state of mind to know
perfectly that the day of the Lord comes as a thief
in the night, so that it may not overtake us, as
a thief, in a state of slumber : but we may be
found watchful as children of the day and of the
light, and all clothed with our heavenly armour
of faith, hope, and love.
What, then, are the immediate prospects which
God has given us of what is now before us?
TO THE CHURCH.
1. THE EXTENSIVE PREVALENCE OF FALSE
RELIGION. These three unclean spirits go forth
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole
world. The words are awfully comprehensive
as to their influence upon the governing powers
of the whole world. They do not merely affect
the earth, either the Roman empire or the four
empires which were the subject of Daniel's pre-
dictions, but the whole world is brought under
their deleterious influence. Under the influence
of the lying spirit in the mouths of the false
prophets of Ahab, the armies of Israel and of
Judah went up to Ramoth-Gilead: not merely
the wicked King Ahab, but the righteous King
Jehoshaphat joined him in this expedition. We
have very little knowledge of the immense
power and influence which evil spirits, permitted
and commissioned of God, have. The rulers of
the darkness of this world, wicked spirits in
heavenly places (ta avevPaTika ins movnpias Ev TOLS
etrovpavous ), allowed of God to deceive men, as a
just punishment for their sins, delight in their
malignant office, and rapidly accomplish their
dreadful mission. The actual state of the Greek
and Eastern Churches, where there has not been
some gracious revival, seems, as might be ex-
pected from the prophecies of the Revelation,
to be more superstitious and dead than the
н3
78
THE DIVINE WARNING
Papal.* We see Infidelity, lawlessness, and
Popery, now spreading east and west, north and
south, through the world, and nothing withstands
or withholds. We behold them reaching North
and South America; in our remotest colonies
they forth with appear. No part of the world is
free from their pollutions. They outstrip the
steam-vessels; they rise up in every land. The
spirit from Satan and his fellow-workers of
evil, are in operation in New Zealand and in
North America, in China, and beyond the rocky
mountains of the remote West. In Africa and
in South America, Papal, Infidel, and lawless
men are inflated, and boastful, and confident.
They already anticipate the last gatherings of
Antichrist against the Lord's people, when they
shall run to and from the city; they shall run
upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses,
they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
* See Appendix II., on the present state of the Greek
Church. See also the History of the Greek Church in
Russia, in “ Mouravieff's History of the Russian Church."
See also “ Hough's History of Christianity in India," and
the Journals of the American Missionaries in the East.
Christians in this country had need to be acquainted with
the relations of the Greek and Eastern Churches, also
with Rome, lest unawares they be supporting the agents of
that Apostasy, instead of aiding in the restoration of sister
Churches. From various accounts the Nestorian and
Armenian Christians seem to have escaped some of these
corruptions.
TO THE CHURCH.
79
The earth shall quake before them, the heavens
shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark,
and the stars shall withdraw their shining. They
glory in their numbers. They think that their
system will universally prevail ;* and to a large
extent they will for a season succeed. The
boast of " quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab
omnibus creditum est : Hoc est etenim vere pro-
prieque catholicum," has pertained, alas ! to error
more than to truth; to self-righteousness rather
than to faith in the Divine righteousness; and
will do so till that blessed day come when the
knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the
waters do the sea.+
* Dr. Pusey could not have been aware of the boastings
of “ the Atheist," nor of “ the Papist," nor of “ the
Chartist,” in their wide and rapid success, when he gloried
in the wide diffusion of his views, in his letter to the
Archbishop. May we all be preserved from the Tractarian
boasting and judging of one who says, “ The present
revival has all the good of the old Evangelical leaders"
(he had mentioned Cecil, Simeon, Venn, and the Milners),
“ without their Dissenting bias and their doctrinal de-
ficiencies."
of I can conceive few things more calculated to produce
universal scepticism than the full reception and following
out of this celebrated saying of Vincentius. That it has
done this in the case of Mr. Newman seems clear from his
own statements, “doubt is ever our portion in this life"
S to accept revelation at all"_"we have but probability
to show at most, nay to believe in the existence of an in-
telligent Creator." See this fully shown in “Goode's
80
THE DIVINE WARNING
THE PECULIAR SUBTILTY OF THE DELUSION
MAKES IT MORE ENSNARING. They are the
spirits of devils, or demons (daqoviwv), working
miracles or signs (onueta). The long infidelity
which has prevailed as to the reality of any
spiritual influence, lays men peculiarly open to
Satanic influences and false miracles. Our Lord
himself has foretold this:--There shall arise
false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew
great signs and wonders ; insomuch that (if it were
possible) they shall deceive the very elect. (Matt.
xxiv. 24.) The Church of Rome distinguishes
herself from other Churches by her miracles,
and to this very day makes these great signs
and wonders her boast and her glory. There
has been a marked revival of these pretences.
We are continually hearing of fresh miracles
wrought to prop up the falling Mystery of
Iniquity.* Nor are the spirits of Infidelity and
Divine Rule," vol. i. p. 540, &c. I do not wonder at the
men of this world eagerly embracing the system. It is a
skilfully contrived soporific to quiet the conscience.
* I need not refer to that descriptive of the Estatica of
Caldaro, and the Addolorata of Capriano, which the Earl
of Shrewsbury has brought forward; nor to the pilgrimage
of Dr. Wiseman to Sens, to the relics of Thomas à Becket;
nor to the transporting of the remains of Augustine; nor
to the fresh saints canonized, and whose pretended relics
are trumpeted forth as thus mighty. They verify the
application of our text to this time.
TO THE CHURCH.
81
lawlessness without their wonders in the march
of intellect, and the marvels of new discoveries.*
Our text leads us to look for a multiplication of
signs and wonders to be boasted in by these
spirits of demons. Let us be prepared for such
delusions, and only be the more confirmed in the
faith of God's elect.
I conceive that one peculiar subtilty of the
temptation arises from the large intermingling
of the truth with the error. Error cannot stand
alone, and error cannot be wholly conquered
while it holds with it neglected and important
truth. We must separate the precious from the
vile, that we may be as God's mouth. (Jer.
xv. 19.) It is the union that makes the marvel
of the Mystery of Iniquity, so that when the
apostle saw it he wondered with great admiration.
How unspeakably important, then, it is to try
things that differ, and only to approve things that
are excellent, in order that we may be sincere and
without offence till the day of Christ. Let us
dread tampering with evil. If the trumpet give
an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to
* A Neologian Professor (Strauss) speaks of the steam-
vessel as a mightier miracle than our Saviour's walking on
the sea. It is the glorying in these things that seems to
be the special intention of the word onusia, rather than
miracles properly so called. Wonders in general are used
as the materials of Infidel boasting.
82
THE DIVINE WARNING
the battle ? (1 Cor. xiv. 8.) Let us dread two-
faced statements; being double-minded, and
seeking to please men. Let our eye be single.
Never were temptations abroad so sifting and
so discriminating, so suited to all classes, and
so calculated to mislead every half-hearted and
hollow professor. Never was watchfulness more
requisite. Error is winning its way and being
inculcated by the slightest admixture of some
neglected truth. Let us separate the truth from
it, and distinctly condemn the error. He that is
spiritual discerneth all things.
In the present spread of Tractarianism you
see this exemplified. The one universal Church
of Christ, in every age is a glorious fact plainly
revealed and too much lost sight of. We ought
to realize the privilege and responsibility of
belonging to the household of faith, and seek to
fulfil the duties of such a relation. There is a
real value in forms and Church order, and
submission to authority, of which, in pressing
the power of godliness earnestly and exclusively,
we may lose sight. There is a real blessedness
in the unity of the whole Church in great and
vital truths. (Ephes. iv. 1-12.) It is unspeak-
ably precious and valuable, and there is really
a growing enlargement of this unity in the whole
Church, * and we may sacrifice this union need-
* See the author's sermon on “The Permanence and
TO THE CHURCH.
83
lessly by false liberalism on the one hand, or a
pressing forward of minor points on the other.
Progress of Truth," preached before the Prayer-book
and Homily Society. No doubt each believer ought to
have a solemn sense of his individual responsibility to God
for his faith in his Word, and to be assured that his great
confidence is placed in the Divine testimony, and not on
human authority. But we must not lose sight of our
corporate relations and the many duties which we owe to
each other as fellow-members of one body, the Church,
existing in all ages from the beginning, under all dispen-
sations, Patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian, and under one
head, even Christ, having one common law, and in one
kingdom, and responsible for our conduct towards each
other in the coming judgment, and the great benefits
which we have derived from the Divine institution of
our blessed Lord. Attention to this will be a guard
against that spirit of independency which is one of the
contrast temptations of our times, and which eminently
tends to confusion and every evil work. How beautifully
the holy Scriptures set before us this spirit of love and
union, is eminently seen in such chapters as 1 Cor. xii.,
xiii., and xiv.; Rom. xii., xiii., xiv., and Ephes. iv.;
while only one is our Father in heaven in its highest
sense, and in this respect we are to call no man our
father (Matt. xxiii. 9); in a lower sense, we each may
have a spiritual father, who has begotten us through the
Gospel. (1 Cor. iv, 15.) We must not lose sight, there-
fore, of our obligations to the Church of Christ and of our
union with it. The church at large, and each branch
of it, has also an authority or just weight of influence.
The Church of England speaks to us by its creeds, its
Liturgy, Homilies, and Articles, as well as by its rulers;
everything, however, must be ascertained by us to be in
84
THE DIVINE WARNING
There is a solemn personal responsibility to God
for our daily thoughts, words, and works, as
well as the blessed truth of salvation by grace
through faith. There is a judgment according
to our works, and a recompence of reward for
our conduct, as well as free justification by
faith only. These doctrines, though contrast
truths, are perfectly harmonious, and none need
be omitted, overstated, or exclusively declared.
Error on one side or exclusive statement on
one side, will lead to error or exclusive state-
ment on the other. Prejudices must be guarded
against on all sides. Even in the Roman
Church, amidst its corruptions, truth was pre-
served and partial truth remains. We must
not be blind to this, nor count Romanists as
enemies only to be fought with. Many a
Romanist now wholly sunk in the Apostasy,
many a one for a season misled by Tractarian
harmony with God's Word (Acts xvii. 11, 12), that our
faith in truth thus made known to us may be evidently a
Divine faith from our own personal resting on God's
Word. This we see in the case of the Samaritans.
Many first believed for the saying of the woman, and then
they went to Jesus themselves, heard the Word from him
directly, and so could say to the woman with a firm, en-
larged, and truly Divine faith, Now we believe, not because
of thy saying; for we have heard him ourselves, and know
that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.-
John iv. 39-42.
TO THE CHURCH,
85
errors will, we trust, come out and become a
brother beloved in Christ. There is a false and
blind bigotry in Protestants also which we have
seen acting merely in a political spirit, as far
from Christ as Romanism. Though it eagerly
contend for the names of Protestant doctrines, it
may be quite regardless of their inward power
and sanctifying influence; it may have a name
to live and be really dead. In the days that
followed the Reformation this soon recoiled into
the unbelief of Socinianism. The present divi-
sions of Protestants, and the growth of Neology,
and the violence of political Dissent, have given
power and life to those opposite errors which
are now harrowing up the fallow land of Pro-
testantism. Oh, how subtle and manifold are
the devices of Satan; how needful it is to bring
everything to the law and to the testimony !
We have an infallible light for our pathsono
mere teaching of man-no human tradition of
Divine doctrine—these will increase our per-
plexities and our obscurity. God has not left us
to such uncertain, mock, delusive lights. We
have clear, full, broad daylight in his own
Word. He who knows the mind of man best,
and all its darkness, weakness, and infirmities,
has there given us infallible truth, expressed
with a clearness that his unsearchable wisdom
and love saw to be most suited to us. Beloved,
86
THE DIVINE WARNING
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether
they are of God, for many false prophets are gone
out into the world.
Let us guard also against a judgment of
persons; principles we are commanded to try,
Prove all things, and hold fast that which is
good. But false principles may influence and
proceed from those * really devoted to God.
True Christians may be partially seduced and
spread error. Let us not then judge any man
rashly, whether more or less carried away by
* For instance, all the beautiful imagination, devotion,
and spirituality of the author of the “Christian Year,"
not indeed without its minglings of mysticism, Pelagi-
anism, and tampering with Rome, may be connected with
a mind and pen that maintains a most serious if not vital
error on the necessity of tradition as an interpreter of
Scripture. We see the same minglings with other minds,
in which eloquence, genius, zeal, and a large measure of
devotion and Evangelical truth, are also manifest. Oh
what need we all have for personal watchfulness and for
earnest prayer that God will keep us from every snare of
the enemy. Who can think that he is wholly free ? The
Lord give us grace to watch over each other in the spirit
of faithful love ! In journeys in the frozen regions such is
the tendency to drowsiness that fellow-travellers have
need to caution, and rouse, and watch over each other,
lest they sleep the sleep of death. And so, for such a
time as this, the exhortation is given, Let us not sleep as
do others, but let us watch and be sober; exhort one another
daily while it is called to-day.
TO THE CHURCH.
87
these errors, as to their personal piety. This,
in many cases, is known only to God. Let us
judge nothing before the time till the Lord come.
But the principles the holy Scriptures do de-
cidedly condemn ; and when false principles in-
fluence those really devoted to God, when the
truly pious fall in with such a current of the
times, they mightily swell the stream. Thus
Chrysostom, and Augustine, and other Fathers,
to no small extent, fell in with the growing stream
of superstition in their days, and notwithstanding
all their eloquence, and zeal, and deep piety,
their pernicious example helped to overspread
the Churches for centuries with the destructive
and soul-ruining errors of the Man of Sin.
And this danger is the more subtle and de-
structive, as it is only gradually that the full
tendency of the delusion is unfolded. Who
imagined at the beginning of the French revolu-
tion, when it seemed rather the overthrow of
tyranny and Papal superstition than the triumph
of Infidelity, that it would go on to the reign
of terror and the iron despotism of Napoleon ?
Who imagined from the earlier “ Tracts for
the Times” that they would close in a Protestant
clergyman using the same sophistical arguments
to bring us to a pretended Catholicity that the
Jesuit Davenport had used two hundred years
I 2
88
THE DIVINE WARNING
before * to bring us to Rome, or, soon after,
issue in the open avowal of a settled and fixed
design to unprotestantize our Church? Oh,
what need we have to watch against and resist
the first beginnings of the Mystery of Iniquity!
I conceive nothing more important to the full
assurance of a Divine faith, than that its warrant
and foundation should be clearly seen by us to
be God's word only; and here in reality is the
true root of those controversies which are now
exercising the whole of Christendom. The bene-
fits derived from the Church, and the need of
union, love, and forbearance, with our fellow-
Christians, were noticed in a former page. We
should have also a full assurance of heart that it
is God's word on which we are resting, and we
can have this only with reference to his inspired
Word-He that hath my word, let him speak
my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the
wheat ? saith the Lord. (Jer. xxiii. 28.) The
Scriptures very strongly and very repeatedly con-
demn leaning, either on our own understanding
(Prov. iii. 5; Jer. ix. 23, 24; Rom. xii. 16), or
on any other arm of flesh, and as strongly and
repeatedly commend a simple trust and confi-
* The reader will find the most accessible account of
this in Stillingfleet's “ Discourse on the Idolatry of the
Church of Rome," chap. v. pp. 454-462, edit. 1676.
TO THE CHURCH.
89
dence in God and his word. (Psalm cxviii. 8, 9;
cxix. 42, 100, 101 ; cxlvi. 3–6; Isa. ii. 22 ; XXX.
1-3; Jer. xvii. 5-9; Acts iv. 19; 1 Cor. iii.
18-23.) We have to thank God that our supe-
riors have so generally and so strongly condemned
these vital errors. But we are continually prone
to rely on our own wisdom and to trust in man.
Were not many who hold Evangelical sentiments
rejoicing too much, with a kind of human con-
fidence and fleshly wisdom, that none of the
dignitaries of our Church had supported any of
the peculiar principles of the Oxford Tracts, and
many had condemned them ? In the variety of
opinions of those in authority over us, God has
taken away this ground of glorying, that we may
rest simply on his Word; which is a clear light
on all saving truth, given us in infinite love by
him who knows us most fully. It is a light
which is brighter than the sun, and far plainer
to meek and humble minds than any mere human
teaching, or all human teaching put together can
be. We are commanded to refer everything to
this Divine Word, and for the understanding of
it we have the promised aid of the Holy Spirit,
Our Church is built on this truth. All its
creeds, articles, and formularies, are thus proved.
Our faith ought to be such that, whatever
human authority opposes the Bible, even if
Pontius Pilate, Herod, Annas, Caiaphas, and all
13
90
THE DIVINE WARNING
the Scribes and Pharisees, Chief Priests and
Sadducees, and the whole mass of the people,
or of the whole world, as in our text, united
together in condemning Christ's truth, we would
stand alone for it, and adhere to it even unto
death. Our Lord himself calls us to guard
against false teachers, and gives us the test by
which to try them--by their fruits ye shall know
them. (Matt. vii. 15-20; xvi. 6.) He requires
of us the personal exercise of the solemn duty of
judgment-why even of your own selves judge ye
not what is right. The reality of the inspiration
of the Scriptures must be indeed ascertained,
either by historical and external evidence in the
case of those who have time and learning, or by
that full internal proof with which the Bible,
like the light of the sun, self-suspended in the
heavens, beams forth its own glory to all men,
leaving unbelievers without excuse, and with an
evidence perfectly conclusive to every humble
and devout student of the Bible, and increasing
in strength from his own growing inward experi-
ence of the truth of its doctrines and the faith-
fulness of its promises. Having thus ascertained
that what we read is really the Word of God, it
should have our entire confidence. We should
use all helps which God has afforded us to
understand its precious contents; give ourselves
continually to meditate with prayer on its all.
TO THE CHURCH.
91
important truths ; believe thein with the heart,
confess them with the mouth, and never be
moved from their plain meaning by sophistry,
authority, numbers, learning, or anything else
that man can bring against it. No simple, plain,
humble Christian thus acting, is likely to be led
away by the temptations of this day. Here is
the real strength of Evangelical Christians.
· Let us distinctly, however, notice that God
has not left us without specific means for the
TRIAL OF THE UNCLEAN SPIRITS. To ascertain,
for instance, the nature of the unclean spirit out
of the mouth of the false prophet, let us observe,
that in the book of Revelation he is represented
to us under two names, the false prophet, and
the second beast having horns as a lamb, and
speaking as a dragon. This description will
furnish us with scriptural instruction on his
character..
As a FALSE PROPHET, this unclean spirit may
be detected by the corruption of leading and
fundamental doctrines. The Lord has clearly
and distinctly shown us that there are weightier
and lesser matters of the law. (Matt. xxiii. 23 ;
Mark xii. 28, 31.) His apostles bring out re-
peatedly and prominently fundamental doctrines.
Such a doctrine is the atonement. I determined
to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ, and
HIM (TOUTOV) crucified. I delivered unto you,
92
THE DIVINE WARNING
is justice of the mark the pe
FIRST OF ALL, that which I also received, how
that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures. When any class of men, then, would
in the public teaching of the Church reserve
this doctrine from the people of Christ, they
give a distinct mark of being under the defiling
influence of the unclean spirit. Such a doctrine
is justification by faith only. With what ardour
the apostle presses it in epistle after epistle.
How strenuously and urgently he states and
re-states it. Thus in the Galatians it appears in
one verse negatively or positively six times over
--as a thing distinctly known by Christians-
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works
of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even
we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might
be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the
works of the law: for by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. When any persons, whoever
they may be, would ascribe justification in a way
which the Scriptures do not to the sacraments,
or confound it with sanctification, they give a
clear indication of being defiled with the teaching
of the false prophet. Such a leading doctrine is
spiritual regeneration and the new life of faith,
hope, and love. How much our Lord dwells
upon it. Ye must be born again. That which
is born of the flesh is flesh; that which is born of
the Spirit is spirit. I am come that they might
TO THE CHURCH.
93
have life. The dead hear the voice of the Son of
God, and they that hear live. How plainly the
apostle states it. If any man be in Christ he is
a new creature. In Jesus Christ neither circum-
cision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but
faith which worketh by love: and he repeats it;
for In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth
anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
To identify Divine and true regeneration, even
with God's own appointed means of grace, or
to confine it to baptism, as the exclusive and
invariable effect of that ordinance, is to con-
tradict God's word, and the manifest workings of
his grace, and the sight, sense, and experience of
the whole Church. It affords another indication
of the defilement which proceeds from the false
prophet.
But the false prophet has another name; THE
SECOND BEAST; a ravenous, persecuting, and
destroying power, appearing as a lamb and
speaking as a dragon. He exercises all the
power of the first beast which made war with the
saints. Hence, when you discover a sympathy
with the persecutors of God's witnesses in times
past, and excuses made for their cruelties ;
when you see the lives of persecuting popes
commended, and great pains taken to fasten the
charge of heresy on those who suffered from
them ; when the inquisitors and the persecutors
94
THE DIVINE WARNING
of the Albigenses and the Waldenses are spared
and excused; when the martyred Reformers are
vilified, you have what may be to you clear
indications of the same unclean and polluting
spirit.
But I must not delay pointing out more
directly these Scripture intimations of the pro-
gress of those evils which we now see going
forth.
Our present temptations and delusions, from
all these spiritual enemies, should warn us of
THE POSSIBLE PREVALENCE OF THE ROMISH
Church FOR A SHORT TIME. This might have
been thought a thing incredible before the latter
stage of this vial began. But the unclean spirits
have done their work effectually and their pol-
lutions have spread with startling rapidity; to
use the words of another, * " At home, abroad,
within, without, in palace or cottage, from con-
tinent to continent, we see it spread daily; every-
where opposed, yet finding the more entrance."
Hence it is by no means incredible, that the
Romish Church should again through the ten
European kingdoms have a short-lived supre-
macy.t God does not judge the weak, but the
* See Dr. Pusey's Letter to the Archbishop of Canter-
bury.
# If we are unwarned it will not be for want of the plain
speaking of the Romanist. The following extract from
TO THE CHURCH.
95
strong. Egypt in its strength was overthrown in
the Red Sea. The Jewish zealotry was at its
height when Jerusalem was taken by the Roman
the “ Phoenix,” of the 10th of April, 1840, a Romanist
newspaper published at Edinburgh, in connexion, I am
told, with the Catholic Institute, was communicated to me
by a friend :~" Is this the tenth year of emancipation, and
do we yet endure tithes and church-rates ? but wonders
never cease : not only do these things exist, but the system
is to be extended. Sir Robert Inglis, the worthy tool of
such a priestcraft, declares the 16,000 existing churches
insufficient: 16,000 churches of error and falsehood, sup-
ported by insolent robbery and oppression, are not enough!
Hundreds, nay, thousands more, wrung from the sufferings
of the poor Catholic and Dissenter for the dispensation of
doctrines which he abhors, and calumniating himself and
the religion he reveres! Shall we put up with this? No;
by eternal justice the cup runs over ; let it be returned
to their own lips ; let all free, good, and wise men unite
in opposing this monstrous tyranny. Let them not only
oppose the increase of the evil, but hasten its diminution
and bring about its final extinction. It is contrary to
justice and common sense that there should be a State
Church in a mixed population. It ought not, it cannot,
it must not, it shall not be. But above all iniquity is
the Established Church of England, founded on fraud,
cemented with blood, and prolonged by ignorance,
existing through more than Carthagenian perfidy and
cruelty. Delenda est Carthago." Surely the harlot is
dow ready to mount the scarlet-coloured beast and to take
her full libations of the blood of the saints before her last
overthrow. It is a total mistake to imagine that liberalism
has quenched the spirit of persecution ; it only wants
power, to manifest itself as much as it has ever done.
96
THE DIVINE WARNING
armies. The strength of the Roman empire
under Diocletian, one of the most vigorous
of the Emperors, brought the Church to its
extremity, and he boasted of extinguishing the
name of Christ, just before the triumph of the
faith under Constantine. We may therefore
anticipate that all the wisdom, might, and hatred
of Satan, and these spirits of devils going forth,
will be exerted, before God's open judgments
upon them. This also is the last view given of
the Harlot Church in the Apocalypse before its
destruction. I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-
coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having
seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was
arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked
with gold and precious stones and pearls, having
a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and
filthiness of her fornication : and upon her fore-
head was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON :
THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND
ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw
the woman drunken with the blood of the saints,
and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus : and
when I saw her, I wondered with great admi-
ration. Such is the last view of the Mystery of
Iniquity, immediately before the flesh of the
harlot is eaten, and she is burned with fire. We
may then, I fear, expect to see Popery once
more manifest its distinct and cruel character
TO THE CHURCH.
97
openly, directing for a brief season the political
power of Europe. The auguries of it, both
among Infidels and Anarchists, Papists and
Protestants, have some scriptural warrant, and
the last cruelties will manifest the unchanged
nature of Popery, and bring down its last and
final judgment.
Little as they imagine it, in anticipating their
own ungodly triumph, these unclean spirits are
really gathering the kings of the earth, and of
the whole world to a battle, of which they
have no conception, no foresight whatever. The
real warfare to which they are gathering their
followers is not with their fellow-men, but with
God Almighty: he is the mighty opponent with
whom so many are unconsciously fighting. We
may repeat to them Gamaliel's advice; wherever
they are contending with the true servants of
Christ. Refrain from them, lest haply ye be
found to fight against God. All their success
in making converts, and uniting them with
themselves; all their mighty toils, and labours,
and preparations, and the vast hosts which they
accumulate, are just to accomplish that which
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God has ordained. A remarkable change in the
persons who gather at the beginning, and Him
who gathers in the close of this vial, has been
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THE DIVINE WARNING
noticed long ago by expositors of this book.*
The unclean spirits go forth to gather; but the
real gatherer is the Lord himself. He gathered
them together into a place called Armageddon;
he leads them just into the very place where he
means to punish; where he intends to overthrow
them; just as he led Pharaoh and his hosts into
the channel of the Red Sea, and there over-
whelmed them. So will he gather his enemies
and then completely vanquish them.
And in the midst of this warning of the Holy
Spirit, the blessed Saviour, who has had the
sealed book opened to himself alone by the
Father, and who said on earth, of that day and
hour knoweth no man, no not the angels of
heaven, but my Father only, he himself speaks.
The language is changed. The holy Redeemer
* See “ Joachim Abbas," pp. 190, 191. Ed. 1527. Older
Commentators, though, as might be expected, crude and
feeble in the historical application, are full of instruction
in the elucidation of the text and the language.
† My attention has been called to the various readings
of the passage which tend to throw a doubt on the view
above taken, so that according to the reading, it may be
either he gathered or they (the spirits) gathered. I am
disposed, however, to rest in the view taken by our trans-
lators above expressed. It corresponds to other passages
in which the last gathering is expressly ascribed to God,
Joel iii. 2; Micah iv. 11-13.
TO THE CHURCH.
99
in his own person addresses us. Why is this?
What occasions his voice? What address has
he to make at such a time? Hear his solemn
words. He says, Behold, I come as a thief :
blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his
garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his
shame. As if, in the midst of all the progress
of the gathering, and the accumulating of the
armies of the aliens, and the thickening of the
conflict, to cheer his own people, and strengthen
them with the assured hope of his being at
hand, and ready at the appointed and nearly
completed time to surprise and overthrow all his
foes, and for ever save his people: He himself
speaks, that they may lift up their heads, know-
ing that their redemption draweth nigh. The
voice of the Church on earth ought ever to be
the echo of the voice of the Saviour in heaven.
Her response should be immediate and in direct
harmony with his. If he says, Surely I come
quickly, our reply should be instant, Amen.
Even so come, Lord Jesus. This responsive
voice accounts for the extended preaching of
the second coming of our Lord in our day ;*
* Mr. Fry, in 1822, published his “Second Advent;"
in 1825, Mr. Stewart published his “Practical View of
the Second Advent," and from that time increasing atten-
tion has been paid to this blessed hope of the Church ; 80
K 2
100
THE DIVINE WARNING
but at present it is but very feebly uttered.
As the tokens of his return multiply upon us,
we may expect it to be vastly increased. Then,
and not till then, will it call forth on every side
the full mockery of scoffers. (2 Peter iii. 3, 4.)
At length the midnight cry, Behold the bride-
groom cometh, will sound so loud that every
virgin slumberer will awaken and rise up and
trim her lamp.
But the seventh and LAST VIAL is hastening
to us. It has yet to be poured out. It is, with
its unequalled earthquake, a time of trouble, such
as never was since there was a nation even to
that same time. Then we read, the great city
was divided into three parts, and the cities of the
nations fell, and great Babylon came up in
remembrance before God to give unto her the cup
of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. The
three parts of this great city seem to be the
followers of Infidelity, and of superstition, and
of true Christianity. They are now so mingled
together, that we cannot clearly and fully
distinguish the followers of each of these parts
of the great city. The whole of professing
Christendom will thus resolve itself into these
three, the Infidels, the superstitious, and the true
as to furnish a remarkable sign of the times, in corre-
spondence with the period of this prophecy.
15
TO THE CHURCH.
101
Christians. The Infidel powers will, as we see
in the burning of the harlot, and in the last war
of the nineteenth chapter, have the mastery over
the superstitious. These shall make war with
the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them:
for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings, and
they that are with him are called, and chosen, and
faithful.
These things are at hand; we see all the
commencing preparations for the last conflict.
Surely then, we the Lord's watchmen should lift
up our voice as a trumpet. We must not, we
dare not, be silent. We call you to be decided
for Christ. We beseech you, be ye reconciled
to God; join heartily, join fully the Lord's
people: watch and pray always, that ye may be
accounted worthy to escape all these things that
shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of
man.
Let us now proceed to consider the final de-
liverance of God's people.
K 3
102
THE DIVINE WARNING
CHAPTER V.
THE FINAL DELIVERANCE OF GOD'S PEOPLE.
In our twofold deliverance from the Gunpowder
treason of the Popish priesthood * and the
tyrannous power of the monarch, James II.,
commemorated by the Church of England on
the 5th of November, we have some earnests,
and in some respects a type of the far greater
deliverance, not merely of a highly-favoured
nation, but of that holy nation, that peculiar
people to be gathered from all lands, a royal
priesthood, made kings and priests unto God
and the Father.
Grievous indeed is that ingratitude which, in
the idolatry of the name of a king, who had
himself rebelled against the King of kings, and
his own first duty as a monarch, allows any to
speak of the Revolution of 1688, as a rebellious
dethroning of a monarch, and the sin of 1688;
though ministers of a national Church which,
* See Lathbury's “ Gunpowder Treason."
TO THE CHURCH.
103
with a far deeper view of God's providence, has
expressly taught us to adore in it his wisdom,
justice, and loving-kindness.
In both cases, the extremity of the danger
was very great, and the deliverance, sudden,
and complete. On the very day, while com-
memorating the first deliverance and thanking
God for his past mercies, the Lord was graciously
accomplishing a still more important deliverance,
and a fuller establishment of that truly Christian
Constitution, which has preserved and blessed
our land for so many years.* He heard the
prayers made, and raised up wise, courageous,
and faithful men for the arduous undertaking.
In the Gunpowder Treason, the conspirators had
proceeded in safety to the eve of the completion
of their plot. As it is distinctly shown by the
Act of Parliament requiring us to observe this
day, the whole had been most horribly conspired
by Papists, Jesuits, and Seminary Priests, for
* How gross is that perversion of Providence which has
ventured to state, “ It was artfully contrived that William
should land on the 5th of November, and the consequence
of this was, that the Church, in her service for that day,
was throughout the country reading her lesson of loyal
allegiance, and raising her protest against THAT REBEL-
LION.” (Tract 86.) As if no allegiance was due first of
all to the King of kings, and no prayer made at the time
for the continuance of the light of the Gospel to us and
to our posterity for evermore.
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THE DIVINE WARNING
the blowing up the king, the queen, the prince,
and all the Lords, spiritual and temporal, and
the Commons, with gunpowder. But when they
thought all secure, the treason was discovered,
not many hours before the time of its execution ;
the traitor was surprised with the lantern in his
hand, and complete deliverance, for which we
this day thank God, was effected.
Equally remarkable was the deliverance of our
country at the Revolution. Efforts had been
made before, which might have left us, had they
succeeded, without our strongest protests against
both Popery and Socinianism, but they were
crushed. An absolute and Popish monarch
seemed to have brought under every opponent,
and to triumph without opposition over our re-
ligion ; and then, in the very scene of his
triumph over other enemies in the west, God
sent a deliverer from Popish tyranny and arbi-
trary power, and we this day adore the wisdom
and justice of God's providence, which so timely
interposed in our extreme danger, and disap-
pointed all the designs of our enemies.
These things may feebly shadow out some.
thing of that greater deliverance yet to be ac-
complished for the Church of God. It is called
in our text the battle of the great day of God
Almighty ; emphatically that day, as it is so often
brought before us by the prophets, both of the
TO THE CHURCH.
105
Old and of the New Testament, under similar
expressions. It is called, The day of the Lord,
the day of wrath and slaughter, the day of the
Lord's anger, visitation, and judgment, the great
day, and the last day. All the events of the
last 6000 years have been preparing the way for
it; all that is now going on in the world is
hastening the preparations for it. It is the day
of the completed triumph of our Lord. Let us
notice some particulars.
I. Consider the character and glory of the
true CHURCH OF CHRIST. Often is it brought
before us in the Word of God. In contrast to
the false Church, they have their names written
in the book of life, of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. Thus, chosen in Christ
from the beginning, they are called, and chosen,
and faithful. (Rev. xvii. 14.) They have his
Father's name in their foreheads. His holiness is
prominent in their whole character. They are
pure from the defilements of the harlot. They
follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth : in their
mouth is found no guile: for they are without
fault before the throne of God. We doubt not
that the Holy CATHOLIC Church is a most
important and blessed article of our Creed. We
want no isolation of spirit from the Church
universal, but a growing oneness with it, and a
real sympathy with the whole Church: yes, with
106
THE DIVINE WARNING
the whole body of Christ's Church, with all
who love our Saviour in sincerity, of every
clime; of every tongue; of every name; and
of every denomination ; let them but hold the
Head, and call on the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, their Lord and ours, and worship God in
the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus; and have
no confidence in the flesh, and we will acknow-
ledge them as children of one Father, brothers
in one family, disciples of one Saviour, and
joint-heirs with us of the same glory. Nor
confine ve the blessed privilege to those on
earth; all who have died in the faith, from
righteous Abel to the consummation for which
we wait, are one with us; nor even they include
the whole. We have union also with angels and
archangels, and all the company of heaven.
Jesus having made peace by the blood of his
cross, God has by him reconciled all to himself :
by him I say, whether they be things in earth, or
things in heaven. If our brethren can help us
to rise out of ourselves to the whole Church
universal and triumphant, we will be thankful,
as we trust any will be, if we can preserve
them from the fearful delusions and tremendous
judgments of the Apostate Church. Never may
we any of us lose sight of that to which we are
come by a true faith, even unto mount Sion, and
unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
TO THE CHURCH.
107
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of
angels, to the general assembly and Church of
the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to
God the Judge of all, and to the spirit of just men
made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the
new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling,
that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
O Christian reader, whatever be the sacrifice,
whatever be the cost, let us count all but loss,
rather than lose a part or share in this blessed
society, and in the everlasting kingdom.
II. THE EXTREMITY OF THE DANGER OF
God's PEOPLE WILL BE VERY GREAT. We
have seen that it is emphatically the great tribu-
lation : a great tribulation, such as was not since
the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor
ever shall be. And except those days should be
shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for
the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
(Matt. xxiv. 21, 22.) The very statements, invi-
tations, and promises of Scripture, show the
greatness of the extremity; The Lord knoweth
how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and
to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment
to be punished.-Come, my people, enter thou into
thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide
thyself as it were for a little moment until the
indignation be overpast. Because thou hast kept
the word of my patience, I will also keep thee
108
THE DIVINE WARNING
from the hour of temptation, which shall come
upon all the world, to try them that dwell on the
earth. The strength of our Saviour's language,
as to the times previous to his coming, very
distinctly sets forth the urgency of their need,
and the extremity of the danger. God's elect
are represented as crying day and night unto
him, and he, as bearing long with them, and
the trial of their faith is so great, that a ques-
tion is asked which may in that time be more
fully understood, and especially profitable and
quickening, When the Son of man cometh shall
he find faith upon earth? In the same way the
apostle speaks, Heb. x. 35-38, Cast not away
your confidence, which hath great recompence of
reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after
ye have done the will of God, ye might receive
the promise. For yet a little while, and he that
shall come will come, and will not tarry. Such
directions, with the general account given in
the prophetical writings of the day of the Lord,
show that the last troubles are especially heavy,
and the storm is deep and loud.* We may
* The tribulation and extremity has indeed its own
blessedness as the token of the drawing nigh of our re-
demption (Luke xxi. 25_-28); in the great conversion
of sinners (Isaiah xxvi. 9; Rev, vii. 9–14; xiv. 15); in
the remarkable preservation of God's people, notwith-
standing the peculiar trial of their faith (Luke xvič. 7;
Isaiah xxvi. 20; Rev. iii. 10; 2 Pet. ü, 9); in the special
TO THE CHURCH.
109
see one part of these troubles in the siege of
Jerusalem by the Infidel Antichrist. I will
gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle,
and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled,
and the women ravished, and half of the city shall
go forth into captivity, and the residue of the
people shall not be cut off from the city. But
it is not merely Jerusalem; the prediction is also
clear: Yet once more, I shake not the earth only, but
also the heaven; and this word, Yet once more, sig-
nifieth the removal of things that are made, that
those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Such is the greatness of the extremity of danger.
3. THE SUDDENNESS OF THE DELIVERANCE
WILL BE SURPRISING TO ALL. We may see
this in part also in the last siege of Jerusalem;
after its capture, as we have seen; in that ex-
tremity, Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight
against those nations, as when he fought in the
day of battle, and his feet shall stand in that
day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before
Jerusalem. The deliverances of God's children
have often been thus surprisingly sudden and re-
markable. When Abraham's hand was stretched
forth to slay his son, the Lord provided a sacrifice,
and he called the place Jehovah Jireh, as it is said.
advantages which it gives them for glorifying God (Isaiah
xxiv. 15); and in the Divine assurance that it immediately
precedes the coming of the Lord. (Matt. xxiv. 29.)
-
.
110
THE DIVINE WARNING
to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be
seen. When the men of Sodom were ready to
overwhelm Lot, the angels interfered, and he
was delivered from the overthrow of Sodom.
In one night Sennacherib's army was destroyed
and Hezekiah saved. So in the last trials of
Israel it is predicted, Alas! for that day is great,
so that none is like it : it is even the time of
Jacob's trouble ; but he shall be saved out of it.
(Jer. xxx. 7.) The mode and degrees of deliver-
ance during the tribulation are more veiled in
the obscurity of unfulfilled prophecy; but their
full, last, and eternal deliverance is directly and
immediately connected with the appearance of
our Lord, as he himself has expressly predicted,
Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and
they shall see the Son of man coming in the
clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound
of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his
elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven
to the other : and then afterwards, speaking of
the suddenness of this surprising deliverance, he
declares, For as in the days of Noe that were
before the flood, they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, until the day
that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until
the flood came and took them all away; so shall
also the coming of the Son of man be. Then
TO THE CHURCH.
111
1
shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,
and the other left. Two women shall be grinding
at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the
other left. Watch, therefore; for ye know not
what hour your Lord doth come. Oh! long-
expected and much-desired season! when the
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with
the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall
rise first : then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall
we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort
one another with these words. In an earlier part
of the book from which my subject is taken, and
under another series of its wonderful predictions,
this event seems set before us under the figure
of the Son of man on a white cloud, casting
his sickle on the earth, and reaping at once his
harvest (Rev. xiv. 14-16), an event which
precedes the vintage, and the great winepress of
the wrath of God. The suddenness of this
glorious translation is often brought before us.
Thus St. Paul tells the Corinthians, We shall
not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead
shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed. Oh! glorious hope! Oh! joyful and
L 2
112
THE DIVINE WARNING
triumphant day! when we rise up out of all
this scene of trial, and suffering, and conflict,
meet the Lord in the air, and he shall judge the
quick and dead at his appearing and kingdom,
and assign to his servants their glorious reward.
Then shall we see him as he is, and we, and
all his faithful people, be gathered together
in his presence, and be ever with him in his
glory. Oh! count all but loss to win Christ
and be found in him, and to be clothed with his
righteousness, and partake of his sufferings, if
by any means you may attain unto the resurrection
of the dead.
Oh! unhappy Babylon! Mother of Harlots
and abominations of the earth! Equally sudden
is the surprise of her destruction. When they
shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden de-
struction cometh upon them, as travail upon a
woman with child; and they shall not escape.
(1 Thess. iv. 3.) When she saith in her heart, I
sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no
sorrow; then and therefore her plagues shall
come in one day, death, and mourning, and
famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire;
for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
(Rev. xviii. 7, 8.) With what earnestness and
tenderness ought we to urge upon all our fellow-
men, who have been deceived by her sorceries
(Rev. xviii. 23); the voice from heaven, Come
TO THE CHURCH.
113
out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of
her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
4. THE COMPLETENESS OF THE DELIVERANCE
must lastly be noticed. It is the battle of that
great day of God Almighty: the very words
open out the stupendous magnitude of the issue,
and the greatness, fulness, and completeness of
the deliverance. Nothing defective, nothing
incomplete, can come under his direct and
immediate interference. This deliverance is the
subject of the last song of the Church in
Rev. xix.), in which the Jewish Hallelujah joins
in with, and swells the song of the triumphant
Church of the Gentiles. After these things I
heard a great voice of much people in heaven,
saying, Alleluia; salvation and glory, and honour
and power, unto the Lord our God; for true and
righteous are his judgments : for he hath judged
the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with
her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of
his servants at her hands. And again they said,
Alleluia. After the heavenly song, we have
then an invitation, which seems to include mul-
titudes on earth, Jews and Gentiles, not among
the saints translated to glory, nor destroyed in
the judgments of Babylon; it is addressed to all
the servants of God. And a voice came out of
the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his
servants, and ye that fear him, both small and
L
3
114
THE DIVINE WARNING
great. And I heard as it were the voice of a
great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of many thunderings, saying,
Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him.
Thus in this deliverance; Israel is redeemed ;
the dead in Christ are raised; the living saints
are translated ; that great city Babylon is thrown
down with violence, and shall be found no more
at all. But the whole victory is not yet com-
pleted; the last Antichrist, the beast, and the
kings of the earth, and their armies, are yet in
rebellion; and then the Lord returns to our
earth with all his heavenly army. Glorious
and magnificent is the description. I saw heaven
opened, and, behold, a white horse ; and he that sat
upon him was called Faithful and True, and in
righteousness he doth judge and make war. His
eyes are as a flame of fire, and on his head were
many crowns; and he had a name written, that
no man knew, but he himself. And he was
clothed with a vesture dipped in blood : and his
name is called, The Word of God. There can
be no mistake here; this is our blessed Lord
himself, returning from heaven to earth. The
book of Revelation is specially designed to set
before the Church his coming again, and to lead
his people to look for it; and here it is explicitly
and fully set before us, and here only; for there
TO THE CHURCH.
115
is no other statement in the whole book describing
his return from heaven to our earth. True it is
the white horse is a symbol, but perpetually the
literal and the symbolical are joined together.
Though we may doubt about the meaning of
the symbol, as we might doubt about the exact
meaning of the chariot of fire and horses of fire
that carried Elijah to his glory, it was a real
Elijah that ascended; and it is the real WORD
Of God, the KING OF KINGS, and LORD OF
LORDS, that returns according to his promise,
literally and visibly to our earth.
Nor He alone, according to the often-repeated
prediction, the Lord my God shall come, and all
the saints with thee (Zech. xiv. 5); the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints ;
Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his
saints, to execute judgment upon all; so in this
portion of his Word, we read, the armies which
were in heaven followed him upon white horses,
clothed in fine linen white and clean: they are
to be witnesses of his triumphs, and sharers
of his victories. He now takes his true and
proper name and title, King of kings, and
Lord of lords. Still the wicked are hardened
like Pharaoh to their complete destruction ; after
all that is past, the beast and the kings of the
earth, and their armies, gather together to make
war against Him that sat on the horse, and
116 THE DIVINE WARNING
against his army. They are taken, and, with
the false prophet, cast alive into a lake of fire
burning with brimstone. On this Satan himself
is bound for 1,000 years, and the millennial
kingdom and the reign of the saints arrive.
At the close of which, the last rebellion of man
is put down, the rest of the dead are raised;
the final judgment takes place, and the ever-
lasting kingdom is completed in the new heavens
and the new earth, full of righteousness, blessed-
ness, and glory, for ever and ever.
Such, my brethren, is but a rapid glance of
the wonderful events which are so plainly and
clearly revealed in that sure word of prophecy
to which the Lord calls us to attend. He tells
us, we do well to take heed to it as unto a light
shining in a dark place : he promises a special
blessing to him that readeth, and to them that
hear the words of this prophecy, and keep the
things which are written therein, for the time is at
hand. As his minister, I have felt that this
instruction is especially needful, seasonable, and
important at this time, and that it does eminently
furnish the Church with that armour of light
which is now required; that armour of right-
eousness on the right hand and on the left, which
is absolutely needful to protect us from the
assaults of enemies on all sides, in the trying
times through which we are passing.
TO THE CHURCH.
117
CHAPTER VI.
PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THIS SUBJECT.
I WILL take the application from those very
remarkable words of our Redeemer, which
furnish an improvement of the trying days
here predicted, given by our Lord himself,
Behold I come as a thief; blessed is he that
watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk
naked and they see his shame. From hence I
direct your attention to these duties: Watch-
fulness against the spiritual dangers of these
times; Looking for the speedy appearance of
Christ; and, A bold confession now of your
Saviour before men.
1. WATCHFULNESS AGAINST THE SPIRITUAL
DANGERS OF THESE TIMES. You have had
them now distinctly set before you. They are
on every side, on the right hand and on the left.
It is a peculiar season of spiritual temptation.
Look round on this vast metropolis, and see its
myriads, full of energy and labour, and know
that in a population of 2,000,000, whose parish
churches are within eight miles of St. Paul's, at
118
THE DIVINE WARNING
least 1,000,000 of those who ought to join in
public worship do not, and cannot, with the
present means, attend any place of worship.*
* The official returns of the population of London are
not yet published ; but by the kindness of a friend I am
able to state, that the population of all the parishes, whose
churches are within a radius of eight miles of St. Paul's
Cathedral, exceeds TWO MILLIONS. For these there is
accommodation provided, IN ALL PLACES OF WORSHIP,
for about 600,000; while the accommodation occupied
is certainly never above 500,000, and it is feared, does
not amount to 400,000. The Church of God is indebted
to the Bishop of London for his exertions to increase
church accommodation, and humbling is the feeble
support received hitherto from the wealthy part of our
metropolis. May it please God to dispose our merchants
and our bankers to give much more effectual aid than
they have hitherto done! But the evangelical character
of the ministry is an essential element in the real success
of Church extension. In the meanwhile, may a full
blessing rest on that truly Christian Institution, THE
LONDON CITY MISSION, which has already been so largely
blessed in its labours. It sends forth holy, and humble,
and devoted men into the darkest and wretchedest parts
of our metropolis, and has been the honoured instrument
of saving many precious souls.
The "London City Mission Magazine," of January, 1843,
contains minute statistic details of this population. The
exact returns of the above circle for 1841 are, 2,103,279.
The sittings for religious worship are as under :-
Established Church........ 351,290
Independents
93,316
Presbyterians .......
9,369
Baptists ..........
46,334
TO THE CHURCH.
119
Then remember among those who do attend,
how many are followers of the Apostasy ; or hold
not the one Head of the Church, Christ Jesus,
and love him not! I quite allow that really to
Methodists
Friends ..................
Foreign Churches ..........
Romanists ...
Unitarians ................
Miscellaneous ......
Jews ....................
54,478
5,018
3,834
11,320
5,416
16,809
4,840
Total ........ ........ 601,418
Much more is wanted than new churches to meet the
necessities of the case. Some of the new churches in
Bethnal-green are said to be not a third filled. The
remarks on the subject in the Magazine, are exceedingly
striking and worthy of attention. The number of real
attendants at any one time does not appear to be above
350,000.
The following statement of the condition of the lower
classes appeared in the Morning Herald of Oct. 21, 1842 :
_"Chartism is becoming slowly the religion of the working
classes ;-how is that dragon to be overturned ? Hatred
and contempt for existing institutions, and for those above
them, are very general characteristics of the industrial
community. How are they to be removed ? One section
of the labouring population is becoming savage democrats;
another is rearing in Paganism; a third exists in bestial
poverty; a fourth is engrained in filth and dirt; a fifth
passes a long life of disease; a sixth literally lives on
midden-steads. These national sores require Sir Robert
Peel's attention, and have it they must, to save us from
120
THE DIVINE WARNING
remedy the evil we must look at more than the
mere personal accommodation for attendance.
It is yet far more needful to look at the spiritual
provision for the soul. Men will not be attracted
profitably to their spiritual good and their ever-
lasting welfare but by a faithful preaching of the
Gospel of Christ. Our Lord shews us this when
he says, I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men to me.
His cross faithfully exhibited, and the Saviour
thus lifted up on high; here is the grand means
of drawing all men to him, and making all men
his faithful followers. May we in the ministry be
very watchful, and zealous for this great truth,
the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ for our
sins, and be quickened by every hint of reserving
it, to proclaim it the more fully and the more
constantly. Oh, when we consider the present
extreme and ceaseless activity of those who hate
and deny the Lord, and the carelessness and
awful danger of those who neglect his great
salvation, what need there is in this favoured
metropolis of the Christian world to sound in
every ear, Watch and pray, for in such an hour
universal corruption." Oh! that it may please God to
direct all our statesmen more distinctly and nationally to
acknowledge God's righteous hand in all our troubles, to
seek his favour, to invite to national repentance, and to
devise means for bringing the Gospel of Christ home to
every family in this vast metropolis !
TO THE CHURCH.
121
as ye think not the Lord cometh! When we
look, again, at the error that mingles with the
truth, and finds its admission by this union into
unsuspecting minds, what need there is of watch-
fulness!
Perhaps some of you have been astonished
at such a state of things after all the exertions
that the pure Church of Christ has been making
for half a century. This astonishment arises
from your ignorance of the strength and power
of the evil to be subdued, and of the spiritual
foes with whom you contend. But see here
the very temptations which are assailing men
on every side were plainly foretold 1800 years
since, were to be expected at this very time, and
that God has given you clear warnings against
the danger, and that there has been treasured up
in the Word of God for such a lengthened
period this help for you. Let this greatly
increase your sense of the vastness of the
spiritual danger and the unutterable importance
of watchfulness. Be not deluded by the pretence
of liberty from the servants of corruption, nor
by the mockery of scoffers asking, Where is
the promise of his coming? Be not misled by
the pretences of antiquity, apostolicity, unity,
holiness, universality, or any other pretext of
the false prophet, that would lead you from
Christ Jesus, the only true prophet and teacher
122
THE DIVINE WARNING
of his people. Be equally watchful against the
snares of pleasure, of the love of secularity, and
of worldliness : Take heed to yourselves lest at any
time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting
and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so
that day come upon you unawares, for as a snare
shall it come on all them that dwell on the face
of the whole earth. (Luke xxi. 34, 35.) I would
most earnestly, tenderly, and affectionately
beseech the young in these days of special
temptation to them -- Touch not the unclean
thing; hate the very garments spotted with the
flesh; abhor that which is evil, and cleave to that
which is good. Parley not with temptation.
The directions of Scripture are plain to you.
Flee fornication; Wherefore, my dearly beloved,
flee from idolatry; Alee also youthful lusts, but
follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with
them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Especially watch unto prayer. No duty is more
inexpressibly important, more truly seasonable :
Praying always with all prayer and watching
thereunto with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints. God give you all this spirit of
prayer. Watch also to keep your garments;
the fine linen with which the saints are arrayed
is their righteousness; it includes our free justi-
fication by Christ and our sanctification by his
Spirit. Keep them fast, and keep them clean
TO THE CHURCH.
123
from all the pollutions abroad. Beware lest you
be led away with the error of the wicked and fall
from your own stedfastness, but grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.*
* The following extracts, from an able speech by my
friend the Rev. H. Stowell, of Manchester, at Cheltenham,
on Tuesday, Dec, 20, 1842, for that excellent Society, the
Church Pastoral-Aid, are in such full harmony with the
statements of this Treatise that I insert them here:-
“Our efforts and endeavours on behalf of this Society,
and every other effort having the same end, have received
an urgent impulse by recent signs and occurrences in our
own country. Living, as I do, in the centre of the late
scene of agitation, after the most mature consideration,
I tremble for the consequences. Not with regard to its
immediate effects, but with regard to the fearful prin-
ciples which it developed. Medical men account it no
good symptom in their patient if the external disease dis-
appear, and the complaint retire into the vitals. The
thoughtless easy man, who sees the restoration of order,
exclaims, “How powerful the majesty of the law! How
courageous the troops! How combined are the middle
classes! How soon the riot was put down! How safe is
our property! But the man who thinks deeper, and con-
siders the fearful elements of mischief, will be apt to think
that the disease has retired to the vitals. Is it actively at
work there now? As one that has long experience, I
sincerely believe that sullen disaffection, bold sedition, In-
fidelity, heathenism, a dark superstitious regard for Rome,
and a determination to restore her once more to power in
England, at the hazard of blood, rapine, and fire, are all
working a way among our people. Fearful state of things
this. And yet it is no marvel; for where we have one shop
M 2
124
THE DIVINE WARNING
2. LOOKING FOR THE SPEEDY APPEARANCE
OF CHRIST. It will be seen, that in my view the
for the sale of religious tracts and Christian publications,
we have five for the dissemination of such works as the
Oracle of Reason, the Moral World, and the Star in the
East. Works which, in the violence of their language,
were never exceeded even during the worst period of the
French revolution. My Christian friends, with all our
display of religion, we have neglected the spiritual wants
of our own country. We have sown the wind, and shall
we not reap the whirlwind? We have neglected the
masses. Between the towns of Oldham and Stockport, a
population of 150,000 souls has sprung up like weeds on a
hot-bed. This is the district that the Bishop of Chester
has pointed out in his Charge, as the most spiritually
destitute in England; in one part there is a population
of 20,000 without a church or a school. It was here
the late fearful riots originated; they revolved round
that spot, during the whole of the disturbances, as their
common centre. Manchester itself was comparatively
quiet, until the tide of buman beings from this most
ignorant and most spiritually neglected spot rushed
into the town and forced the men from their work.
Ought not this to read a lesson. A diligent inquiry has
been made since the cessation of the disturbances, and,
as far as we have been able to learn, not one single
poor man who attended the service of the Church of
England joined the rioters. Some were forced into their
ranks, but after the most careful investigation, we can-
not find that there was a single volunteer. Not one
National Sunday School teacher--boy or girl-joined
the movement; numbers fled into secret places to hide
themselves from their wicked and turbulent neighbours.
I may be asked, who constituted the mob of rioters ?
TO THE CHURCH.
125
prophecies do not lead us to expect the instant
coming of our Lord, and that there is much to
The poor unlettered many, and the educated, but not
scripturally educated, few. It was not our police, nor our
military that put down the rioters; or could have put
them down. Had it not been for that moral feeling-that
fear of God that sense of uneasiness at doing wrong,
wbich still held sway with the multitude, the consequences
would have been far different. It was not the military nor
the police that put down the mob, it was their own con-
sciences. The English have still sufficient religious feel-
ing to make them hesitate in the work of carnage, unless
called upon by their duty to their Sovereign. Then, as on
the bosom of the water at Trafalgar, or on the plains of
Waterloo, they are ever foremost in the fight, and ever
victorious. The English operatives are cowards when act-
ing against the law, but heroes when fighting for the law.
There were very few Wesleyans mixed up with the dis-
turbances; no orthodox Dissenters. I am sure no right-
minded Dissenter, if he calculated the consequences which
must inevitably follow, would ever wish to do away with
the Protestant Church. When England gives up her
Church Establishment, the death-knell of civil and reli-
gious liberty may be sounded. Rome succeeds. I am no
prophet of evil, but I think no man who attentively con-
siders prophecy, and compares it with the signs of the
times, can fail to be of opinion that we are on the eve of
great and fearful events. The judgments are even now
coming over nominal Christendom. This brings to my
mind the declaration of a great statesman (Mr. Canning)
who said, “ The next war will be a war of opinion, and
produce a scene of desolation which no man can contem-
plate without horror." There is already a mustering of
hosts for the battle. Shall our own favoured land again
M 3
126
THE DIVINE WARNING
be done for the Lord, and much to suffer before
he returns. But we have scriptural reason to
think that the intervening time now will be
very short. Here, as the Lord's watchman, from
the centre of this vast Christian metropolis, I
send forth warning to all who hear me of the
speedy coming of the Lord from heaven. Never
were there such full scriptural indications of the
nearness of this glorious event, and never, there-
fore, such reason to cry out, Behold, the Bride-
groom cometh. Oh! awake, thou that sleepest,
and rise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee
light. See that you have oil in your vessels
with your lamps; even Divine truth, drawn
from the great storehouse of his Word, that will
give light in the midnight darkness. We call
escape unhurt? It has hitherto been free from the
alarms and horrors of war: shall it be so again ? It may
be said we have our wooden walls. Was it that which pre-
vented the daring invader, who had laid waste the Conti-
nent, from landing on the shores of Britain ? No. It was
the unseen hand of God that preserved us. The one ques-
tion now is.--Is England faithful to her God and her reli-
gion ? If so, she will again be preserved. Let us oppose
the domination of the Beast-let us attempt to stem the
deluge of impiety and Romanism, then will England be
safe she will again become the refuge of the exile and
distressed. It is the truth of England's religion that is
the gold and girdle round her loins, giving her strength
and beauty.
TO THE CHURCH.
127
you to daily and diligent preparation for his
coming; it will be the spring of all holiness, use-
fulness, and active exertions for the good of
others. Let all past judgments and present sus.-
pension of them, and threatened renewal of them
under increased wickedness, lead all of us to
attend to the solemn admonition, Prepare to meet
thy God. The part of the Christian till his Lord
returns is that of suffering for the truth, and
patient waiting for the recompence of reward,
with active labours of love, abounding in the
work of the Lord, forasmuch as he knows that
his labour is not in vain in the Lord. He will
be animated and quickened to all this by looking
unto Jesus as a pattern, and looking for his
appearing as a Saviour. How often do the
Scriptures call us to this duty! St. Paul tells
the Corinthians, Ye came behind in no gift,
waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He describes Christians in general as looking
for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.
He assures the Hebrews, For yet a little while
and he that shall come will come. St. Peter bids
us to be looking for and hasting unto the coming
of the day of God. Our Lord himself, while he
was yet upon earth, before his departure, again
and again charges his disciples to be, while he
should be absent, in this waiting state of mind.
TI
128
THE DIVINE WARNING
He says, Let your loins be girded about, and your
lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men
that wait for their Lord, when he will return from
the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh
they may open unto him immcdiately. Blessed
are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh
shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that
he shall gird himself and make them to sit down
to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And
then, as if to preserve us from the temptation
arising from the failure of annunciations, and
earnest expectations, and hopes that have not
been accomplished in past days, our Lord adds,
And if he shall come in the second watch, or come
in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are
those servants. And all these general directions,
which are applicable at all seasons of the Church,
have a more immediate, direct, and special appli-
cation to this particular period, by the solemnly
introduced charge of our Lord, Behold, I come
as a thief. It is your Saviour's command from
heaven itself at this precise time, and he charges
you that you should attend to it. I entreat you
then as his minister, slight not his admonition ;
give heed to it, search the Scriptures for their
testimony, so shall you obtain oil in your vessels
to make your lamps burn bright, so shall you
be prepared and ready to go out with joy into
the midnight darkness and to welcome his return.
TO THE CHURCH,
129
Blessed are all they that wait for him. To them
it is said, Ye, brethren, are not in darkness that
that day should overtake you as a thief; Ye are
all the children of the light and the children of
the day. Let us who are of the day be sober,
putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and
for an helmet the hope of salvation, for God hath
not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that
whether we wake or sleep we should live together
with him.
3. A BOLD CONFESSION OF OUR SAVIOUR
BEFORE MEN. If we can raise your faith and
hope to an expecting state of mind for the return
of our Lord, we give you the most powerful
motive thus to confess his name. If I believe
that he is speedily coming I shall be dead to this
world and its various lusts. I shall not seek the
honour that cometh of man, but that which cometh
from God only ; I shall not fear the frown of
man, but fear him who is able to cast both body
and soul into hell fire. As this hope is lively in
my heart, my one object will be to be accepted
with him and to be approved in his sight. It
will be a small matter with me to be judged in
man's day (av pwmins nuepas) : I shall only think
of his judgment whose favour is better than life,
whose frown is worse than death, and who has
said, Whosoever shall confess me before men,
130
THE DIVINE WARNING
him will I confess also before my Father which is
in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before
men, him will I deny before my Father which is
in heaven.
Whatsoever then might have been the duties
of Christians in common times, now we are
especially called to be bold in our God to speak
the Gospel of God, with much contention
(1 Thess. ii. 2), and to exhort one another
earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered
to the saints. (Jude 3.) The eyes of the
whole world are turned to Christian Britain.
Movements here speedily affect every land. Our
Protestant forefathers gave up their lives to
the flames, that we might possess our present
religious blessings. Let us then now hold fast
the profession of our faith without wavering.
Let us preserve uncorrupt the sacred deposit of
Divine truth, knowing he is faithful that pro-
mised. True it is that we are yet a little flock
in the midst of enemies on every side. But let
us remember who is for us, the Lord of heaven
and earth. Let us remember his sweet promise,
Fear not, little flock : for it is your Father's
good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
In this view I call you, Christian Reader, to
join all the faithful and Evangelical Societies of
this day which speak the truth in love. And in
more direct accordance with my subject, I com-
TO THE CHURCH.
131
mend to you the Protestant Association. It is too
faithful to Christ and his truth to be a popular
Society. It loves our martyred Reformers, and
thus becomes their brethren and companions in
tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of
Jesus Christ. Support it then with all your
heart. We are on the conquering side. Jesus
must reign till he has put all enemies under his
feet. Let us put on that armour which God
has given us in his Word for these days. Let
the Church gird herself in the whole armour of
light. Let the lamp of the prophecy be lifted
up on high, and, though to the world it be
darkness, let it be to her as a glowing light
preceding her march and pointing out her course
and leading her on to her scenes of future
triumph. Carry the war into the enemy's
territories, and go forth, like Jehoshaphat, with
songs of praise to the last battle, and the final
victory, sublimely called in our text, The battle
of the great day of God Almighty. This is
taught us in the very opening of those vials,
one of which I have now sought to explain and
apply, I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled
with fire, and them that had gotten the victory
over the beast, and over his image, and over his
mark, and over the number of his name, stand on
the sea of glass, having the harps of God, and
they sing the song of Moses the servant of God,
132
THE DIVINE WARNING
and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and
marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty,
just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy
name? for thou only art holy, for all nations shall
come and worship before thee, for thy judgments
are made manifest.
TO COME OUT OB ROME.
133
PART II.
THE DUTY OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD TO
COME OUT OF ROME.
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL REMARKS.
We have in the former part considered the
special temptations of Protestants in these days.
But we cannot but be deeply affected by the
thoughts of the many millions of Romanists
exposed to the righteous wrath of God, and
desire in this second part to consider their real
situation, and call upon them, while the day of
grace continues, to seek salvation where only it
can be found.
Ever since the fall of man, the great con-
troversy between light and darkness has been
carrying on in our world. The Divine testimony
against the old serpent, I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and
her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt
134 THE DIVINE WARNING
bruise his heel, contains the history of the world
fulfilling to this day. Before the flood we see it
in individuals and families, from Cain and Abel
to the Deluge. After the food we see this
conflict commencing in its national and political
form, in the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom,
the building of Babel, and the dispersion of the
builders; and in the families of the sons of Noah,
and then in the call of Abraham.
The unity of evil throughout the four great
empires of the earth, is set forth in the
remarkable prediction of the great image given
in the second chapter of Daniel ; where we
have Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome, all
set forth as one image.
The unity of the true Church also, whether
Jewish or Christian, is continually set forth in
the word of God. Christ, we are told, hath
made both one, and hath broken down the
middle wall of partition between us. Christian
believers are come to Mount Zion, the city of the
living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.
Here are the two opposing powers of light
and darkness, truth and error, Christ and Belial.
These two powers are still more plainly con-
trasted in the New Testament. Satan is called
the god of this world, and boasts that the king-
doms of this world and all the glory of them are
given to him. But all power in heaven and
TO COME OUT OF ROME. 135
earth is really given to our Lord Jesus Christ,
and he must reign till he has put all enemies
under his feet. There are also the followers of
each, the children of darkness, and the children of
light; the children of the wicked one, and the
children of God; the world lying in wickedness,
and those chosen out of the world, whose con-
versation is in heaven.
The controversy is still continued the war is
still waging. It is partly an inward war between
truth and falsehood within the visible Church.
The true Church is marked by Divine faith
realizing things unseen and hoped for, by
union to an invisible head, Christ, our Saviour,
and by brotherly communion with all who love
him. The false Church is marked by reposing
on man's traditions, by looking to a visible
head, and by worldly tyranny and fraud. In
these things we may discern on the one hand
the mystic Jerusalem, and on the other hand
the mystic Babylon.
There is an Infidel feeling among professing
Christians, which scoffs at the highest part of
Divine truth, as if it were mere enthusiasm to
attend to it. The enemy of souls having felt
that such truth lays the axe at the root of all his
falsehood, seeks in every way to throw contempt
upon it: he would by all means have men cast
away the shield which God has given them; and
N
2
136
THE DIVINE WARNING
never wield this sword of the Spirit, divinely
prepared for us, to enable us to resist Popery.
God preserve us from the foolish simplicity of
being prevailed upon to neglect any part of our
Divine armour, when fighting with foes within
or without the visible Church.
Much more pleasant would it be to have
been employed in calling your attention to the
heavenly Jerusalem, and its spiritual glories, its
holiness, its perpetuity, and its dominion.* But
we have to fight the good fight of faith, and to
contend earnestly for that faith which was once
delivered to the saints; and called by the progress
of the Apostasy, to assist now in maintaining the
Protestant faith, I dare not shrink from a duty
to which I am bound by all the solemn vows
of baptism, the Lord's table, and the ministry
of the Word.
My object will be to endeavour to explain the
Divine direction given to us by God himself just
previously to the predicted overthrow of Babylon.
I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come
out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of
her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
The Lord mercifully assist us in the considera-
tion of this important subject. May he graciously
apply to each reader the great instruction con-
. * The author hopes to do this in a volume now nearly
ready for the press.
TO COME OUT OF ROME. 137
tained in this passage, for the guidance, safety,
and edification of his own Church. Well may we
lift up our hearts in prayer, when we remember
that we are treating upon that which divides the
whole professing Christian world, and estimating
that system under which above one hundred
millions are now living.
We will consider, in distinct chapters :- The
true meaning of Babylon in this prophecy.-Her
sins before God.-- The plagues to come upon
her. The solemn charge to come out of her.
N 3
138
THE DIVINE WARNING
CHAPTER II.
THE TRUE MEANING OF BABYLON IN THIS
PROPHECY.
It is peculiarly important that this be clearly
ascertained, as the whole scope of the prophecy,
and the whole course of our practical conduct is
affected by it. It is a part of the Divine wisdom
and goodness, that he has here left sufficient
darkness to stumble those willing to remain in
error, and given sufficient light to those really
desiring the truth. He has given us marks and
evidences that cannot easily be mistaken by
candid, truth-loving minds, really, in this matter,
searching to know, that they may do, his will.
I. BABYLON IS A POWER WHOSE SEAT AND
CENTRE IS ROME. There are three clear marks
of this. The seven heads of the Beast are in-
terpreted as seven mountains on which the woman
sitteth. (Rev. xvii. 9.) The common title of
Rome is “ The seven-hilled city, the Queen
and Lady of the world.” “It was not better
known," says Dr. Cressener, " by the letters of its
11
TO COME OUT OF ROME. 139
own name, than by these appellations.* Babylon
is farther described as the great city which
reigneth over the kings of the earth. This de-
scription comes from the angel, for the express
purpose of telling St. John the mystery of the
woman, and of the beast which carrieth her. He
speaks in the present tense, and no other city
had this character in that day but Rome, which
reigned over east, west, south, and some parts of
the north, of the then civilized world.t What
* See the testimonies he gives from Varro, Virgil,
Horace, Ovid, Propertius, Martial, Lucan, in his “ De-
monstration of the Apocalypse," p. 9.
+ The remarks of Mede, on the 17th chapter of Revela-
tion, are very weighty: “This vision concerning the great
whore and the Beast bearing her, is opened to John and
us by the angel (which he is not used to do) by a most
plain interpretation, without doubt to the end that by the
benefit of the intepretation thereof, as being the chief
vision of all the rest, the other mysteries contained in the
Revelation hitherto indeed shut up, but with wonderful
contrivance depending upon it, might be revealed. Here,
therefore, be attentive, and lest the angel shall have taken
this pains in vain, as far as it concerns thee; remember
this well, that the interpretation of the allegory or parable
(such as this of the angel) is not a new allegory or parable
--therefore do not thou look after, I know not what ages
of the world, or such like feigned things--it is thy part to
apply the interpretation already given it to the things
themselves.” Mede has also observed, “ The Roman
empire was believed to be the fourth kingdom of Daniel
by the Church of Israel, both before and in our Saviour's
140
THE DIVINE WARNING
but being misled could be the fruit of such an
explanation, if Rome were not intended! This
fixes its application. Farther, the unity of the
great image, Babylon in its head, Persia in its
silver breast and arms, Greece in its belly and
thighs of brass, and Rome in its feet of iron, and
the toes part of iron and part of clay, leads us to
the same conclusion. We see one combination
of evil seeking to preserve that which, as being
destructive of man's holy happiness, God has
determined to bring to nought. The voice of
prophecy is here so clear, that the Romanist
maintains this truth equally with us Protestants,
only applying the prediction, some to Pagan
Rome, and some to an Antichrist at Rome yet
to come. Alcazar, a learned Spanish Jesuit,
who studied the Apocalypse much, says, “ that
it is plain from the characters of the Beast in the
Revelation, and from its allusion to the ten-
horned beast in Daniel, that this whole Beast is
nothing but the Roman empire." Bellarmine
says, “ John everywhere calls Rome Babylon.
Neither was there any other city in St. John's
time; received by the disciples of the apostles and the
whole Christian Church for the first 400 years, without
any known contradiction. And, I confess, having so good
ground in Scripture, it is with me little less than an article
of faith.” Mede's Works, p. 736. He establishes this
at length, pp. 711-716.
TO COME OUT OF ROME.
141
time that reigned over the kings of the earth ;
and it was everywhere known that Rome was
built on seven hills.” At a later period, Bossuet
maintains the same sentiment, stating that the
city of Rome is manifestly designed by the mark
of the seven hills. So far then Protestants and
Romanists are generally agreed.*
*Those who would see farther how fully the Romanists
prove that Babylon is Rome, may consult Cornelius A
Lapide on the 17th chapter of the Revelation. He
endeavours to escape the Protestant application of it to
Rome Papal by distinguishing between Heathen Rome
and Christian Rome. He says, “ Heathen Rome, under
the emperors to the time of Constantine, was Babylon ;
under Constantine it became Christian and pious, and
ceased to be Babylon, and became the faithful city, the
Zion beloved of God. At the end of the world, forsaking
faith, piety, Christ, and his chief Bishop, it is again made
Babylon. And this the Lord permits that we may discern
the city from the Church, and Rome from the chair of
Peter." There is, doubtless, a measure of truth in this
statement, but it has been exactly met in the prophecies
of the Revelation. The progress of the seals marks the
growing corruption of the Church. As long as the visible
Church was pure, it is represented by the white horse,
then it became red or fire-coloured; then black; and
lastly, pallid, or livid and deadly. (See Woodhouse and
Cuninghame on the Apocalypse.) While the visible Church
of Rome was the means of protecting and extending the
true faith, though with more and more corruption, it was
represented by the four horses of the first four seals.
When it ceased almost altogether as a system to diffuse
Christian truth, and became itself the persecutor of the
142
THE DIVINE WARNING
II. BABYLON IS A POWER YET TO BE
DESTROYED. The various predictions of the
following chapters, connected as they each are
with Old Testament prophecies, abundantly
show this. There have never been any judg-
ments on Rome, Pagan or Christian, at all
true Church, then the cry of the martyrs under the 5th
seal is heard against it, and the Church of Rome appears
next, not as a warlike horse, but as a horrible beast,
(Rev. xiii. 11-18.) The name Babylon is not given to
her in the course of the prophecy, till this second beast
from the earth, with two horns like a lamb, and speaking as
a dragon, had appeared ; nor till after the first angel mes-
sage of the Reformation had exhorted men to fear God
and worship him. (Rev. xiv. 648.) Then first we have
announced this completed character of the Apostasy, as
well as its fall under the name, Babylon. This may ac-
count for what has stumbled some Protestants, that any
should have been living under Babylon and not know it.
It is not till the second angel announces it, that Babylon
is thus called.
We may see God's design of love even in the long-
suffering with which he endured this corruption. It was a
part of that infinite wisdom and goodness which intends
ultimately that his truth should pervade and bless the
whole earth. He allows his most precious gifts to be
abused by human corruption before he redeems them
from the evil of that abuse, that he may bring to pass in
the end the largest and fullest blessings. The chaff shall
remain while it covers and protects the wheat, and shall
only be removed when it is worthless. Joab shall be
spared as long as he assists David, but shall be cut off
when he rebels against Solomon.
TO COME OUT OF ROME. 143
corresponding to the judgments here predicted,
which repeatedly testify a complete and eternal
overthrow, so that it shall be found no more at
all. And it is remarkable that those overthrows
by enemies which have visited Rome, took place
not under its Pagan emperors, but under its
Christian emperors ; after it had become avow-
edly Christian, it was Alaric and Genseric,
with their Goths and Vandals, who took and
plundered Rome. Its burning, in the reign of
Nero, was before the Apocalypse was written.
The things directly connected with the predicted
overthrow of this city are, as we see in the
following chapter, the triumph of the whole
Church, Jew and Gentile, and the marriage of
the Lamb to his bride fully prepared for him.
I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Halle-
lujah, (the only part of the New Testament in
which the word occurs is in this chapter, and it
brings in by implication, in a prophecy where
no word is used without its deep meaning, the
restored Jewish branch as well as the Christian
Church.) Hallelujah; salvation, and glory,
and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God :
for true and righteous are his judgments, for he
hath judged the great whore which doth corrupt
the earth with her fornications. Upon the
Hallelujahs of all the servants of God are
added, Alleluia, for the Lord God Omnipotent
à Gente Fully penis saying tham
144 THE DIVINE WARNING
reigneth: let us be glad and rejoice, and give
honour to him ; for the marriage of the Lamb is
come, and his wife hath made herself ready. On
this immediately follows the appearance of
Christ under the glorious title, The Word of
God, and his open triumph over his remaining
enemies. Babylon is then yet to be destroyed,
and with her destruction is connected the full
triumph of Christ and his glorious kingdom.*
* THE WASTING OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE PRECEDES
THE FALL OF ROME. The drying up of the Euphrates,
in the typical history of the destruction of Babylon of old,
preceded its fall, and the drying up of the mystical
Euphrates, it is clear from the chronological course of the
Apocalyptic prophecy, precedes the fall of the mystical
Babylon. The river Euphrates was one great means of
defending Babylon. It is used in the Old Testament as
the figure of the people, power, and glory of the kingdoms
in which it is situated. Thus Isaiah viii. 7, 8, predicts,
Behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the
river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria and all his
glory; and he shall come up over his channels, and go over all
his banks. Thus according to the general consent of Pro-
testant interpreters, the river Euphrates, which is men-
tioned both in the 6th trumpet and in the 6th vial, refers
now to the Turkish empire, the 6th trumpet pointing out
its commencement, and the 6th vial its overthrow. It
may also have a larger reference to the national defences
and glory which support the Babylonian empire, and
which are now drying up. Great Babylon, it is predicted,
came in remembrance before God under the 7th vial. Under
the 6th vial poured out on the great Euphrates, or the
Turkish Empire, the waters thereof are dried up. The
.
.
2
TO COME OUT OF ROME.
145
In this also we have the concurrence of leading
Romanists. Cornelius A Lapide, answering those
who referred it to the fall of the Jewish common-
wealth, says, “that this of a prophecy makes the
Apocalypse a history, for the Jewish state was put
down before writing these things ;” and Ribera
says, “ He is blind that does not see that the
judging of the dead (ch. xi. 18) cannot be
fulfilled before the time of the last judgment."
So Malvenda on chap. xix, says, “It is manifest
that this denotes the burning of Babylon, that
is of Rome, in the end of the world.” Ribera
symbol of waters is, by the Angel referring to those waters
on which Babylon the Great sits, explained to mean
peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. We
behold this visibly in the wasting of the Turkish empire,
and the same thing is also manifest spiritually in the
wasting of the defences of Popery and her national glories.
The European powers at this moment deeply feel that the
preservation of Turkey is necessary to the prolonged peace
and safety of the European kingdoms, and all their policies
are directed to this end. The fall of Turkey then opens
the way for the fall of the European kingdoms, adhering to
the Papacy. The drying up of the waters of the Euphrates.
not only prepares the way of the kings of the East, but from
the going forth of the unclean spirits noticed under the
same vial, the kings of the earth and of the whole world are
gathered together to the battle of the great day of God Almighty.
We gain then here another mark of the connexion of
Babylon and Rome, and the true character of both as de-
taining in bondage and captivity ; one the literal, and the
other the spiritual Sion, to be delivered on its overthrow.
146
..
THE DIVINE TY
WARNING
says, that “ Rome shall be utterly burned, not
only for its former sins, but also for those which
it shall commit in the last times, is so manifestly
to be known from these words of the Apocalypse
(chap. xiv. 10), that the silliest man in the world
cannot deny it."* Thus far then Protestants
and Romanists are agreed.
III. In Babylon THERE IS AN INTER-
MINGLING OF God's FAITHFUL SERVANTS
WITH HIS ENEMIES. Come out of her, my people,
makes this clear. The people of God, who had
been led captive and detained in Babylon, are
charged, when the fall of Babylon is announced,
to come out of her. There was this intermingling
in Babylon of old. The faithful Daniel was even
in chief authority under its king Nebuchad-
nezzar, who was himself converted to God, and
truly honoured him. After this, when Bel-
shazzar returned to idolatry, and his kingdom
was overthrown, Ezra and his companions, and
afterwards Nehemiah, return from the captivity.
In all we say against the Church of Rome as a
system, let us never be understood as denying
the season of purity and excellence of that
Church, nor the existence of faithful servants of
Christ now amongst them. God honoured
Christian emperors, and while his servants and
* See these quotations in Cressener's “ Demonstration,"
page 26.
TO COME OUT OF ROME.
147
the false prel Lamb, and th of fire
the followers of Babylon remain intermingled
together, Papal kingdoms are spared ; but gene-
rally the governing power, and the avowed
system has in the whole past history of Rome
been antichristian and idolatrous, and judgments
on Popery more and more open the way for the
escape of God's faithful people. Yet as Babylon
wastes, both the Church of Christ and open
Infidelity gather strength. In Popery there is
conjoined together both truth and error. In
Infidelity there is avowed enmity and oppo-
sition to God's truth. Babylon contains then an
intermingling of the people of God and his
enemies; while the beast, the kings of the earth,
and the false prophet, in the last stages make
open war with the Lamb, and then are for ever
put down and cast into the lake of fire.
IV. BABYLON IS ONE IN CHARACTER AND
CRIME WITH PAGAN ROME. As the woman
is that great city which reigneth over the kings of
the earth, so both Pagan and Papal Rome have
been the great persecutors of the Church of
Christ. For the first three centuries, in ten
general persecutions, the power of Pagan Rome
and its vast authority were employed to suppress
and destroy true Christianity ; in her was found
the blood of the prophets, and of saints, and of
all that were slain upon the earth. When the
empire became Christian, for a season its power
02
148
THE DIVINE WARNING
was exerted in favour of the Church of Christ,
as marked in the triumphs of the heavenly host.
(Rev. xii. 10, 11.) Nor in this was it unlike its
type, Babylon of old. The same Nebuchadnez-
zar, king of Babylon, who had required all to
worship the golden image, afterwards required
all to honour the true God, and was himself, in
the end, truly humbled and converted; and yet
his successor Belshazzar returned to idolatry,
and the kingdom was overthrown. We need
not here enter into those steps, of the return of
Rome to idolatry, which are so clearly marked
in the Book of Revelation. It is sufficient to
say that the Church of Rome, by degrees becom-
ing Papal, at length became again idolatrous, si-
milar in character and crime to Pagan Rome, and
justly acquired its proper New Testament desig-
nation of Babylon. Popery, gradually growing
in strength from the time of Justinian, reached
its height under Innocent III., at the close of the
twelfth century, when the horrible Inquisition
was established. The crusade then against the
Albigenses destroyed thousands upon thousands,
who were taken to be heretics, even if a New
Testament in the vulgar tongue was found about
them. In 1215, the Council of Lateran decreed
that all heretics should be delivered over to the
civil power to be burned. From that time Pos
pery has been exerting its power to destroy pure
TO COME OUT OF ROME.
149
Christianity under the fiction of heresy; and
with the Church of Rome every Protestant is a
heretic. Bohemia, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary,
Holland, France, Spain, and Portugal, have
suffered the loss of innumerable precious lives,
sacrificed at the requirement of Popery. In the
forty-three years of the administration of the
first four inquisitors-general which closed the
year 1524, they committed in Spain 18,000
human beings to the flames, and inflicted infe-
rior punishments on 200,000 persons more with
various degrees of severity.* In 1641 above
40,000 Protestants were massacred in Ireland by
the Papists, who practised upon them dreadful
cruelties and barbarities. In our own country
the faithful professors of the Gospel have,
during the time the Church of Rome obtained
power, suffered through its means. The Lol-
lards, before the Reformation, endured cruel
persecution for the truth of Christ. The fiery
trials of Mary's reign are notorious. Four, five,
six, and, in one instance, thirteen human beings,
were seen burning together in one fire. Lord
Burleigh reckons that in that short reign 290
were burned alive, and above 100 suffered death
in prison and from famine. Five bishops, twenty-
one clergymen, eight gentlemen, eighty-four
* Sir J. Mackintosh's “ History of England," vol. ij.
p. 349.
03
150
THE DIVINE WARNING
tradesmen, and one hundred husbandmen, ser-
vants and labourers, fifty-five women, and four
children, suffered thus martyrdom for Christ
from the persecuting Babylon of the New Tes-
tament. Wherever there has been power, the
same spirit has continued since the Reformation;
and it is only the Divine judgments, connected
with the French Revolution, that have effectually
crippled and limited the cruelties of this anti-
christian power.
e. V. BABYLON IS A POWER DISTINCT FROM
The ROMAN EMPIRE. There is a power in the
capital that is distinct from the power of the
empire at large, and governs that empire. Ba-
bylon is the power of Rome, holding the children
of God in bondage, and upholding idolatrous
worship. It is higher, in assumed and professed
rank and authority, than the beast, which is the
secular Roman empire; it is the rider on the
beast, claiming a superior authority. The na-
ture is of a different character. The harlot has
a human nature, one different from and superior
to the bestial nature. Thus the city of Rome
itself was worshipped as a goddess.* The Pon-
tifex Maximus was united to the imperial dignity,
and each citizen had peculiar privileges beyond
what the empire at large had. Papal Rome
gradually assumed the same authority over the
* See Livy, book xliii. ch. 6. Tacitus, book iv. ch. 37.
TO COME OUT OF ROME. 151
Roman Empire-the Pope became the Pontifex
Summus, and continues so to this day, and the
Church of Rome asserts the dominion over all
other Churches. The language of Bellarmine
is, that the pontiff, as pontiff, has not directly
and immediately any temporal power, but only
spiritual; but, by reason of the spiritual, he has
at least indirectly some power, and that supreme,
in temporal matters.* This Church, thus seated
at Rome, also claims all its authority from God
alone; pretends Divine sanction for its most
wicked acts, and, while it draws men to the most
shameless idolatry, it pretends all the time only
to be giving honour to the true God. What a
mystery of iniquity is here! The Holy Ghost,
seeing the whole unity of this evil, uses the
strongest language in describing its abomina-
tions: A woman drunken with the blood of the
saints and of the martyrs of Jesus, and upon her
forehead a name written, Mystery, Babylon the
Great, the mother of harlots, and abominations
of the earth. These abominations have been
fulfilled in the whole history of Rome. The
pretensions of the Church of Rome to be the
Church universal, show how great she is ; the
mother of harlots, corresponds to her claim to be
the holy Mother Church; and abominations of
the earth, corresponds to that image and saint
* See De Summo Pontifice, lib. v. ch. 1.
152 THE DIVINE WARNING
worship which she everywhere through the
earth establishes.* We have the same distinc-
tion in the thirteenth chapter of Revelation,
between the ten-horned beast from the sea,
which corresponds to the secular Roman empire,
and the two-horned beast, which had the horns
of a lamb, from the earth.
VI. BABYLON IS THE CONTRAST OF THE
TRUE Church. We see in the Revelation two
women brought before us; one woman dwelling
in heaven, clothed with the sun, and the inoon
under her feet, and upon her head a crown of
twelve stars, and she sojourns in the wilderness
for a limited season. We see another woman
also distinctly described in contrast. She dwells
in the wilderness, she is seated on a scarlet-
coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy.
The heavenly woman is the true bride, the
Lamb's wife, and is persecuted by the powers of
this world. The earthly woman is the mother of
* There is a striking series of extracts respecting the
Pope taken out of his own decrees, decretals, extrava-
gants, and pontificals, and given by Foxe. (See vol. iii.
pp. 145--164, the new edition by Seeley.) But if the
reader wishes for the view given by a Romanist, he will
find abundance of these false claims in the “Third General
Controversy of Bellarmine, De Summo Pontifice,” in-
cluding the vain attempts to throw all the prophecies of
Antichrist exclusively to a future Antichrist, and in Bar-
row's “Treatise on the Supremacy of the Pope."
TO COME OUT OF ROME.
153
harlots and abominations of the earth, and is
confederate with the powers of the world. One
is clothed with pure and heavenly light, and the
other with scarlet, pointing out at once luxury
and bloodshed. One passes through travail and
suffering to her fruitfulness and blessedness; the
other from age to age, in worldly pomp and
power, says in her heart, I sit as a Queen and
am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Papal
Rome claims to this day, as in the days of
Paganism, the title of “the Eternal City," and
glories in one of those very marks which identify
it with the prophecy.
We come then irresistibly to the conclusion
VII. BABYLON IS THE ROMAN CHURCH.
And in this description is included all who have
yielded themselves to the see of Rome and
received her mark on their foreheads. Other
nations and people have grievously fallen; the
corruptions of the false Church have also infected
many a Church not actually united with her, for
she is the mother of harlots ; but that which
distinguishes Babylon from all others is its con-
nexion with Rome, and its claim to supreme
dominion.*
* The testimony of all ages of the Church regarding
this truth has been noticed by many Protestants. See
Bishop Jewell, and Dr. Bernard's “Remarks on Usher's
Discourses.” That the Church of Rome was Babylon was
the general testimony of the Reformed Churches, so that
154
THE DIVINE WARNING
We know how offensive, how insulting, how
hateful this application is to the Romanists.
What! with all their apostolical descent, anti-
quity, treasures of learning, holy men who have
adorned Christianity by godly lives, researches
into the Scriptures, deep expositions of Divine
truth, missions to the heathen, enlarged diffusion
of Christianity among the nations, to be as a
body nothing better than Babylon in God's
sight! We deny not that all these good things
were to be found in Rome. There would be no
mystery of iniquity, no wonderful deceivableness
of unrighteousness, if much that is true as well
as plausible could not be urged in her favour.
We would ever maintain the saving piety of
many of her members. But our hopes are
grounded on their being inconsistent members of
this Church; the truly pious are not those in
it has been observed, however they differed in other mat-
ters, yet in this there was a wonderful unity. Dr. Ber-
nard gives a list of the Fathers and their successors, who
have in various degrees concurred in this. Of our own
earlier writers he gives the testimony of Bishops Jewell,
Abbott, Whitgift, Andrews, Usher, Bilson, Hall, Downham,
Davenant, and Prideaux. He adds the venerable name of
Hooker, who applies Babylon to the Church of Rome.
Our Homilies distinctly maintain this, and the Irish
Church has an express Article upon it. The reader may
find full evidence of this in the Author's “Practical Guide
to the Prophecies," 6th edition, pp. 171-176, and “Tes-
timony of the Reformers," p. XX., and pp. xlüi.xlvii.
TO COME OUT OF ROME. 155
favour at Rome. The Jansenists of the Roman
Church are the condemned of that Church.
Even so late as the Lent of 1840, the Cardinal
Bishop of Arras, in France, addressed a circular,
in which he views the party of Jansenius as the
party of a man rebelling against the Church,
and positively and absolutely forbids the reading
of the translation of the Bible by De Sacy,
attached to the Jansenists, as not exempt from
reproach. In short, her very name is Mystery.
The ruling power, with its avowed creed, on its
becoming corrupt, while pretending to be the
Church of Rome, and assuming to be the only
true and Catholic Church, is NO CHURCH AT
ALL, BUT ANTICHRIST; yet THE PEOPLE OF
CHRIST, IN CAPTIVITY UNDER IT,* groaning
* That this is the doctrine of our Church, is clear from
various statements made by her. One in the Homily on
Whit-Sunday, in the second book of Homilies, published
in 1562, gives the seventh century as the period when this
Church fully apostatized. “ The true Church is an uni-
versal congregation or fellowship of God's faithful and
elect people, built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the head corner-
stone. And it hath always three notes or marks whereby
it is known ; pure and sound doctrine, the sacraments
ministered according to Christ's holy institution, and the
right use of ecclesiastical discipline. This description of
the Church is agreeable both to the Scriptures of God and
also to the doctrine of the ancient Fathers, so that none
may justly find fault therewith. Now, if you will compare
OF
156
THE DIVINE WARNING
1
under the corruptions they witness, and longing
for deliverance from her sins, ARE A TRUE
CHURCH, though in Rome, but defiled and
weakened, and greatly endangered by their
contact with Rome, for indeed, not only they,
but all nations have drunk of the wine of the
wrath of her fornications. (Rev. xviii. 3.)
The constituent principle of the true Church
is, union with Christ by faith; the constituent
principle of the Romish Church is, union with
the See of Rome by blind submission as needful
to salvation.* The form of sound doctrine is
indeed retained in the great essentials of Chris-
tianity, but in the Roman system, this is only
the show that obscures and covers over the cor-
rupt human doctrines which have been added to
the Word by the Creed of Pius IV. The pro-
fession of these Articles by every Popish priest
this with the Church of Rome, not as it was in the
beginning, but as it is at present, and hath been for the
space of NINE HUNDRED YEARS AND ODD, you shall well
perceive the state thereof to be so far wide from the nature
of the true Church, that nothing can be more. ..
We may well conclude that the Bishops of Rome and their
adherents are not the true Church of Christ." Bishop
Davenant justly observes, “ Manis est omnis jactantia de
locali successione, nisi doctrinæ veræ successio simul com-
probetur." _Expos. Coloss. i. 2.
.: * On this, see Barrow's “ Discourse on the Unity of the
Church."
to come out OF ROME. 157
is required to be made in these words :—“ This
true Catholic faith, out of which none can be
saved, which I now freely profess and truly hold,
I promise, vow, and swear most constantly to
hold and profess the same whole and entire,
with God's assistance, to the end of my life, and
to procure, as far as lies in my power, that the
same shall be held, taught, and preached by all
who are under me, or are intrusted to my care
by virtue of my office."*
Such, then, is the Babylon of the New Testa-
ment. Scripture marks and evidences fix it on
the Church of Rome.
* This last clause is suppressed in several instances
where the Creed is quoted by the Romanists. See many
instances of a similar kind in Mr. Pope's “ Roman Mis-
quotation.” This book shows that to the present day
there is a similar want of uprightness in Romanist quota-
tions to that which James and Comber had proved in
former days.
158
THE DIVINE WARNING
CHAPTER II.
HER SINS BEFORE GOD.
It is no grateful subject to dwell on the sins of
our fellow-men. We have need, too, remem-
bering our own sinfulness in the sight of God,
and his awful judgments against those that sin,
especially to take heed, to judge not, that we be
not judged. Our severest indignation, if it be
like our Saviour's, will be joined to deep grief.
Yet open sin is to meet with open rebuke. We
dare not call evil good, and good evil, and put
darkness for light, and light for darkness.
(Isa. v. 20.) As we are charged in our text
not to be partakers of her sins, it becomes
needful to separate the precious from the vile
(Jer. xv. 19), and to point out the special sins
of the Roman Church. They are, alas 1 very
grievous and awful, and it is but some leading
heads that we can enumerate.
HER SINS DIRECTLY AGAINST GOD ARE NOT
FEW. The worship of the Host by the priest
TO COME OUT OF ROME.
159
and people, we believe to be idolatrous. They
pray to saints, teaching that it is a good and
useful thing suppliantly to invoke them. Thus
there is a special office to the Virgin, with many
blasphemous addresses to her; and in their ordi-
nary worship they intermingle devotions between
God, the Virgin, and the saints.* On the elec.
* The words of the Roman Missal are, “ After pro-
nouncing the words of consecration kneeling, the priest
adores and elevates the sacred Host;" “ kneeling, he
adores and elevates the chalice.”
Usher, in his “ Answer to a Jesuit,” shows that Papist
writers, in reply to the question, “ Who breaks the first
commandment of God by unreverence of God ?" give this
answer,—“They that do not give due reverence to God
and his saints, or to their relics and images.” Thus
making God himself the author and commander of Idol-
atry, even in the very place where he forbids it. With
horrible blasphemy in the Psalter, ascribed by many to
their celebrated Cardinal Bonaventura, the Psalms are
turned into a book of prayers to the Virgin. This is still
in use among the Romanists, for it was reprinted at Rouen
in 1823, and is a shocking specimen of this making other
gods besides the true. This book is in such esteem as to
have an exposition upon it. One is in my possession, in
4to., published in 1606, by Giovan Battista Pinello, at
Genoa. The way in which different parts of Liturgical
services are parodied, is most awfully blasphemous. Thus
the Benedicite is perverted, “Benedicite Omnia opera Dei
Mariam ; confitemini laudes ejus in congregatione jus-
torum.” The Athanasian Creed, thus, -" Quicunque vult
animam salvam facere, necesse est propitiam habeat Vir-
ginem." The Magnificat, thus,~“Magnificat anima mea,
*
12
1991
KI
P 2
160
THE DIVINE WARNING
tion of the Pope there is a service at Rome, as
if contrived on purpose to illustrate prophecy.
Though avowed, and I believe intended only for
respect and veneration, it is called the adoration
of the Pope. He is placed on the altar of the
Sixtine Chapel, and there receives the homage
of the Cardinals, and this ceremony is again
repeated on the high altar of St. Peter's; fulfilling
the Apostle Paul's description, He, as God, sitteth
in the temple of God, showing himself that
he is God. Thus is the first commandment
broken. The Roman Church teaches also that
the images of Christ, of the Virgin-Mother
of God, and of other saints, are to be had and
retained, especially in churches; and due honour
and veneration rendered to them; hence in Papal
countries these images everywhere abound and
are worshipped, and Papists regularly bow before
them. Whatever pretences there may be of
different kinds of worship, which have been
sufficiently answered by Protestants,* the fact of
Mariam, quæ attulit vitam universo orbi.” The Psalter
itself applies the book of Psalms, wherever it can be done
without manifest absurdity, to the Virgin. Thus the first
is made to begin,-“ Beatus vir qui diligit nomen tuum,
virgo Maria, gratia tua ejus animam confortabit.”
* See Bishop Stillingfleet's “Treatise," and his defences
of it at length. For a plain, scriptural, modern, and solid
answer to the peculiarities of Popery, see the “Essays on
Romanism," published at Seeleys. Many truly valuable
TO COME OUT OF ROME. 161
bowing down is explicitly forbidden in the second
commandment.
Mr. Hartwell Horne shows, in the notes to a
Sermon printed in the “Christian Observer” of
January, 1843, from editions of the Roman
Missal printed at Rome in 1826, and in London
in 1840, that idolatrous adoration is given to
the material cross by the Romish Church. The
Rubric in the Roman Pontifical for the order of
procession for receiving an Emperor, orders that
the cross of the Pope's Legate shall be carried on
the right hand, quia debetur ei latria, BECAUSE
LATRIA (which is the homage rendered to the
Deity by Papists) IS DUE TO IT. (Pontificale
Romanum, p. 468. Romæ, 1818. 8vo.) The
same Pontifical (pp. 335-340) contains an office
for blessing a new cross, at the end of which is
the following Rubric, which directs the priest to
ADORE it:-“ Tum pontifex flexis ante crucem
genibus eam devote adorat et osculat; idem
faciunt quicunque alii voluerint."-" Then the
priest, kneeling down before the cross, devoutly
adores and kisses it; the same is done by as
many persons as choose." By this abominable,
open and avowed idolatry, is God's plainest
command set aside by the Pope of Rome to this
day.
courses of Sermons have been published at Liverpool,
Glasgow, Bilston, and elsewhere.
P 3
162
THE DIVINE WARNING
The idolatrous character of the Roman Mass
cannot be mistaken. The first canon on the
Eucharist is, “ Whosoever shall deny that in the
most holy sacrament of the Eucharist there are
truly, really, and substantially contained the
body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ,
together with his soul and divinity, and conse-
quently Christ entire, but shall affirm that he is
present therein only in a sign or figure, or by his
power, let him be accursed."* For refusing
this idolatry our martyrs were burned in Mary's
days.
Thus they break the second commandment,
and accurse all who teach otherwise. Indeed,
in many of their summaries of the command-
ments the second is wholly omitted.
· Popery is full of means of evading solemn
oaths; the greatest skill of subtle lawyers has
not been able to word oaths so to bind them,
that their casuists have not, by artful and wicked
distinctions, set them aside. The Council of
Constance determined that no faith was to be
kept with heretics, and thus, notwithstanding
the safe-conduct granted by the Emperor Sigis,
mund, though he blushed when it was pleaded,
* The reader will find full answers to the whole pro-
ceedings of the Council of Trent, in “ Chemnicii Examen
Concilii Tridentini.” Several useful modern works on
this Council have also been published.
TO COME OUT OF Rome. 163
still Huss was burned at the stake. But indeed
nothing is more characteristic of Popery than
cursing. Her canons conclude with curses;
thus to explain her false doctrine on justification
there are thirty-three canons, each concluding,
as it regards those holding opposite doctrines,
Let them be accursed! Thirty-three curses on
one doctrinel Nor are they unaware of the
meaning of anathema; it is explained in the
Douay Bible to mean a thing devoted to utter
destruction.* The mouth of the Man of Sin is
full of cursing, bringing himself under that awful
prediction, he clothed himself with cursing, like
as with a garment, and it shall come into his
bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.
Thus the Bull in Conâ Domini, published at
Rome every Maunday Thursday, has the fol-
lowing section:-“We do, in behalf of Almighty
God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Ghost, and with the authority of the blessed
Apostles Peter and Paul, and with our own,
excommunicate and anathematize all Hussites,
Wickliffites, Lutherans, Zuinglians, Calvinists,
Huguenots, Anabaptists, Trinitarians, and apos-
tates from the faith of Christ, and all and sundry
other heretics by whatsoever name they may be
reckoned and of whatever sect they may be,
* See Notes on Numbers xxi. 3.
164
THE DIVINE WARNING
and those who believe in them, and their
receivers, abettors, and, generally speaking, all
their defenders whatsoever, and those who without
authority of us and of the Apostolic See, know-
ingly read, or retain, or imprint, or in any way
defend books containing their heresy or treating
of religion, let it be from what cause it may,
publicly or privately, under any pretence or
colour whatsoever, as also the schismatics and
those who pertinaciously withdraw themselves or
recede from obedience to us, and the Roman
Pontiff for the time being." Thus is the third
commandment broken by the Church of Rome.
Again, the fourth commandment is buried in
the festivals of the Church. In a catechism,
printed at Rome so late as 1836, it is thus
described, “Remember to keep holy the fes-
tivals,"* and it is thus explained. “ It com-
mands the observance of festivals, which consists
in abstaining from servile works in order to have
time for considering the Divine blessings, for
visiting the churches, reading spiritual books,
hearing Divine service and sermons, and per-
forming other holy and spiritual works of like
nature." The festivals come almost daily. Thus
* Recordati de Sanctificari la feste. The Catechism
has been reprinted by that true champion of Protestantism,
the Rev. R. J. M'Ghee.
TO COME OUT OF ROME.
165
by adding to one commandment as by diminish-
ing from another, the Word of God is made void
by their traditions.
The consummating sin of Rome against God
is the sacrilegious use of holy things in the
Church of Rome; she repeats Belshazzar's sin,
They have brought the vessels of his house before
thee ; and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy
concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou .
hast praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass,
iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor
know : and the God in whose hand thy breath is,
and whose are all thy ways, thou hast not glori-
fied. (Dan. v. 23.) Divine truths, and ordi.
nances, and sacraments, are all perverted for the
maintenance of the pomp and pleasure, ambition
and supremacy of Rome, and God is mocked,
insulted, and dishonoured : this is the character
of the peculiarities of Roman worship.
Her SINS AGAINST CHRIST are equally
manifest. Christ is our only, our complete
Saviour. Rome would join others to him. All
his offices she disannuls by her traditions. Christ
is the true PROPHET and instructor of his
Church, teaching us by his Word, his Spirit,
and his ministers. The Church of Rome adds
to the Word of God the Apocrypha, though it
be the writing of fallible men, and unwritten
traditions, and forbids translations of the Bible
166
THE DIVINE WARNING
to be circulated in general, as causing more evil
than good, * and limits its interpretation in any
other manner than according “to the unanimous
consent of the Fathers."| Instead of the true
Prophet and his Word, she sets up a claim of
infallibility for the Pope and his Councils,
stamping the seal of heaven on the foulest error.
According to the Council of Florence, the Pope
is the head of the whole Church, and the father
and teacher of all Christians, and to him in St.
Peter, was delegated by our Lord Jesus Christ
full power to feed, rule, and govern the universal
Church. Thus his prophetical office has been
supplanted. Christ is the true High PRIEST of
his people. He has once in the end of the world
appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. We are sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all; for by
one offering he hath perfected for ever them that
TO
* The various ways in which Romanists have opposed
the circulation of the Bible, from 1816 to the present
time, are noticed in a sermon by the Rev. D. James, of
Liverpool, on the conduct of the Romish Church with
regard to the Bible.
+ See the Creed of Pius IV. for this solemn mockery ;
for where is this unanimous consent to be found? The
contradictory sentiments of the Papists may be abundantly
seen in Bishop Hall's “Peace of Rome," and Edgar's
“ Variations of Popery." See also Basnage's “ Histoire
d'Eglise."
TO COME OUT OF ROME. 167
ri
are sanctified; thus specially careful is the Holy
Spirit, by repeated assertions, to show the com-
pleteness of the one offering of Christ. Sup-
planting these, the Church of Rome teaches
that a fresh sacrifice is made continually in the
mass, and that power is given to the priesthood
to consecrate, offer, and minister his body and
blood, and also to remit and retain sins.* The
Roman Catechism says, “ The Church recog-
nises in the Roman Pontiff the most exalted
degree of dignity and the full amplitude of
jurisdiction. He is the true and legitimate Vicar
of Jesus Christ; he therefore presides over the
universal Church, is the father and governor of
all the faithful, of bishops also, and of all other
prelates, be their station, rank, and power what
they may.” Thus his priesthood is really nul-
lified. Christ also is The King of his Church
and of all the earth. By him kings reign. But
the Pope has abrogated his laws, and counter-
feited his royalty, and standing in his place
claims, as St. Peter's successor, to be prince
over all people, and all kingdoms, to pluck up,
to destroy, scatter, consume, plant, and build.
In discharge of this assumed function, our own
#17
* See Session 23, ch. i. Trent. Thus the Romanist
really denies that the Lord bought us, and with feigned
words makes merchandise of Christians. (2 Pet. ii. 1-3.)
-See Mr. M'Neile's Sermon on Antichrist.
168
THE DIVINE WARNING
Queen Elizabeth was deprived of her title by
the Bull of Pope Pius V., and all her subjects
were absolved from their allegiance.* Thus
high does the wickedness of Popery lift itself
against the supreme King of kings, to dethrone
those whom he has placed over kingdoms. The
sins of this Church against Christ are endless.
Instead of the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and in him our God and our
Father, the Father of mercies and the God of
all comfort, they hide him from us, or present a
God of terror. Instead of redemption by Christ,
and the appointed signs of his body and blood,
they give us wafer masses as fresh sacrifices for
sin, and thus in effect deny that the Lord has
bought them (2 Pet. ii. 1); instead of a Divine
and sympathizing Saviour, they tell us of a
severe judge, and transfer all his sympathies to
the Virgin, who, though truly blessed, is still a
mere human being; thus in works (Titus i. 16)
denying that the Lord has come in the flesh;
instead of setting forth the good Shepherd as
walking with us through the valley of the shadow
of death, they delude the soul with a feigned
sacrament of extreme unction. Thus does
* See the Bull of Pius V. against Queen Elizabeth.
+ The Romanists ground their sacrament of extreme
unction on Mark vi. 13 and James v. 16, which are
wholly insufficient on their own definition of a sacrament.
TO COME OUT OF ROME. 169
Popery throughout show itself to be the true
Antichrist, though still partly in a mystery, *
In Mark vi. 13, there is no direction of our Lord, but a
relation of a fact. Anointing by oil was appointed by St.
James for the recovery of health, apparently as the usual
remedy in the East for diseases. (Mark vi. 13; Luke
X. 34.) The essential points in St. James's directions are,
then, to use the accustomed means, joining faith and
prayer, in hope of recovery. But it is appointed by the
Papists to be administered only in the prospect of dis..
solution.
* Many striking specimens might be given to show how
completely the Church of Rome has those marks of Anti-
christ. He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the
Son; every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh is not of God. I will select one by Cardinal
Bona, whom Bossuet calls “the learned and holy Cardinal
Bona, whose memory shall be for ever blessed in the
Church.” In his Treatise on Divine Psalmody, chap.
xvi. p. 868 (4to. 1677), he thus states the reason for
bringing in the name of the Virgin. “Because the blessed
Virgin, the first preserver after God of the human race,
always protects mortals with motherly affection, therefore
we are accustomed at the end of each office to pour out
some salutation and prayer to the same blessed Virgin,
that, IF by human frailty, we have in anything erred, IN
THE DREADFUL WORSHIP OF GOD, OUR LORD, MADE
PROPITIOUS BY THE INTERVENTION OF HIS MOTHER,
MAY NOT IMPUTE SIN TO US. She nourishes in her
munificent embrace all who, driven by the storms of life,
confide in her. She stretches out her saving right hand
to all those who, in this perishing world, are in danger.”
Much of a similar kind is added. The same Cardinal, in
his last will, after commending himself to Christ, then
170
THE DIVINE WARNING
and still waiting a more full revelation of its
lawless iniquity, in times now at hand; for we
have many reasons to expect that Antichrist will
at last assume an open and Infidel form, and we
already see instances that the Romanists are
more and more making their stand on Infidel
principles.
HER SINS AGAINST THE SPIRIT OF GOD
are very serious. If any man defile the temple
of God, him will God destroy; and Christians are
the temples of the Holy Ghost. What can be
more defiling than the Roman Confessional ?
comes to commend himself in clause after clause to the
Virgin, calling her the comfort of the afflicted, the refuge
of sinners, and the salvation of those that perish. He
next applies to angels and saints to assist and save him,
See also the “ Office of the Virgin” and the “ Glories of
Mary,” for evidence here. Mary is exalted above Christ.
The whole spirit of this system is a rejection of the me-
diation of Christ, while it is carefully nominally retained.
We will not be so robbed of our Saviour. The Bishop of
Calcutta has noticed, in his letters, giving an account of
the Continent in 1823, that in Papal countries “ THE
VIRGIN MARY is beyond all comparison more adored than
the ever-blessed God the worship paid to her is universal
in all places and by all people. After the Virgin, some of
the principal SAINTS seem to be most worshipped, then
our SAVIOUR; and lastly, God our HEAVENLY FATHER."
What a commentary on He is Antichrist that denieth the
Father and the Son. Brightman, in his “ Revelation of
St. John illustrated,” has a full answer to Bellarmine's
“ Book of Antichrist."
TO COME OUT OF ROME.
171
Their whole doctrinal system tends to supersede
and overthrow the grace of the Holy Spirit, and
to bring in man's free-will as disposing and pre-
paring him to obtain the Divine favour. It
degrades the true miracles of the Holy Ghost,
by feigning absurd and false ones, wrought by
deceivers. It forbids or limits the circulation of
the Word of God.* It annuls the inspired
Volume by the traditions of men. The sins
of the Roman Church against the Holy Spirit
are seen also in their condemning as false,
shocking, impious, and blasphemous, by the
Constitution Unigenitus of Pope Clement XI.,
in 1713, scriptural propositions taken from
Quesnel's Reflections, such as these, “When
God does not soften the heart by the unction of
his grace, exhortations and external graces serve
* Thus in the “ Index of Prohibited Books," by
Sixtus V., 1590, we have the following Rules:-VI. " Ver-
siones Bibliorum ab hæresiarchis, vel etiam ab hæreticis
quocunque sermoni editæ damnantur et interdicuntur."
VII. “ Biblia Sacra, aut earum partes etiam a Catholico
viro, vulgariter quocunque sermone redditæ, sine nova et
speciali sedis Apostolicæ licentia nusquam permittuntur:
vulgares vero paraphrases omnino interdicuntur.” So an
“ Encyclical Letter of Pope Leo XII.,” in 1825, requires
a permission in writing for liberty to read Catholic Bibles.
| What little evidence can be produced from early
antiquity in favour of Rome, may be seen by Jewell's
famous “ Challenge," and his “ Defence of his Apology."
See also “ Faber's Difficulties of Romanism."
Q 2
172
THE DIVINE WARNING
only to harden it the more. When God accom-
panies his command and his external word with
the unction of his Spirit, and the internal power
of his grace, it then works in the heart that
obedience which it requires. The reading of
the Holy Scriptures is for all men.”* One
hundred and one such truths of God's Word
were, after vehement struggles in this Church,
condemned by this Man of Sin, blasphemously
claiming our Saviour's authority for contradicting
his Word. It furnished a remarkable proof that
the Church of Rome is wholly incurable, and
corrupt beyond remedy, when the revival of
grace in its own bosom by the Jansenists, not-
withstanding all their submission and adherence
to the supremacy of the Pope, was thus disowned
and suppressed.
HER SINS AGAINST MORALS ARE NOTO-
RIOUS. Her pretences indeed are to the heights
of holiness, nor would I deny that eminent holi-
ness has distinguished inany who have wor-
shipped in her communion; but these have not
been those who have been zealous for those
things which the Church of Rome has added to
the Word, but for those things which she holds
* The Decree is given at large in Bishop Wilson's
Edition of “Quesnel's Reflections on the Four Gospels,"
and in Finch's “Supplement to the Sketch of the Roman
Catholic Controversy."
TO COME OUT OF ROME.
173
truly, and which have the form of godliness, and
without which there would not be the deceivable-
ness of unrighteousness and the mystery of ini-
quity. The Scripture, furnishing us with a so-
lemn warning against final apostasy, distinguishes
between the sin unto death, which is open and
wilful apostasy from the truth, and sin not unto
death, which is consistent with spiritual life; for
there is not a just man' upon earth, that doeth
good, and sinneth not. Perverting this clear
distinction, the Church of Rome has taken occa-
sion to erect a system of venial and mortal sins,
by which all kinds of moral evil are introduced.
By their lying legends and feigned miracles. *
they have verified the Scripture prophecy,
speaking lies in hypocrisy. By their doctrines
of indulgences and absolutions; by the constitu-
tions of the Jesuits, and especially by the writings
of their casuists, they have established a wide
wasting scheme of immorality, by which God
may be made, and is made, the patron of sin ;
every vice may be practised with impunity from
man; and all religious services be performed
* See Stillingfleet's “Second Discourse in Vindication
of the Protestant Grounds of Faith," chap. iii., in proof of
the multitude of these false miracles.
See this remarkably manifested in the “Principles of
the Jesuits,” published by Rivingtons, with verified quota-
tions.
Q 3
174
THE DIVINE WARNING
without spiritual life or inward devotion. What
our Saviour said of the Pharisees is true of the
Romanists. Ye make clean the outside of the
cup, and of the platter, but within they are full of
extortion and excess. Ye are like unto whited
sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward,
but are within full of dead men's bones and of all
uncleanness. I have no wish to open before you
this mass of corruption, hidden under a system
of outside show of morality and sanctity.*
HER SINS AGAINST MAGISTRATES AND
KINGS are those of direct usurpation of their
rights; and with a pretence of having God's
Word for this usurpation. St. Peter charges us
from God himself,+ Submit yourselves to every
ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. In a note
on this passage, by an interpolation early foisted
into St. Ignatius's Epistles, they bring out this
false doctrine, that “he exhorts them, first, to
honour God; next, the bishop; and then, the
King."I Their practical instruction has been
* See Clarkson's “ Practical Divinity of the Papists,"
4to., 1676.
† See Archbishop Usher's “ Power of the Prince” on
this text; a book full of learning and instruction in these
days of casting off lawful authority. See also M'Ghee's
useful “ Republication of the Notes to the Roman Catholic
Bibles.”
# The genuine Epistle merely states, It is a good thing
to have a due regard both to God and the bishop. See
TO COME OUT OF ROME.
175
according to this false doctrine, teaching the
people, though God's directions were given
under the worst Roman Emperor, that they
owe no subjection to wicked kings, albeit they
have given an oath of fidelity to them, nor are
to be accounted perjured though they hold
against the King. “It is absurd,” says Bellar-
mine, “ that the sheep should judge the shep-
herd, and the apostle wills all men to obey their
bishops and overseers." Under this doctrine
several of our own monarchs have from time to
time, as far as the power of the Pope allowed,
and his interest prompted, been deprived of
their thrones, and their subjects released by his
Bulls from their allegiance.* To this we owe
the Epistles in the interpolated and the original state, as
both are given in Ittigius “ Bibliotheca Patrum."
* In the time of Bellarmine, Popery had not become
so weakened and exhausted by Infidelity as it is now. It
contained then much of the strength and power of the
better elements out of which it originally fell away. Bel-
larmine raises long and subtle distinctions to bring out the
supreme power of the Pope, as may be seen in his “ Trea-
tise de Summo Pontifice," but all is gained in the assertion,
“ The Pope, although as Pope he has not any merely
temporal power, yet has the supreme power of disposing
of the temporal things of Christians, for their spiritual
benefit." He compares it to the power of the Spirit in
man over the flesh, as two republics which may be found
separate and conjoined. He asserts, " that the Pope may
change kingdoms, and take away from one and bestow
upon another, as supreme spiritual prince, if the same
S
176 THE DIVINE WARNING
the Gunpowder Treason. The Spanish Armada
was fitted out for the purpose of dethroning
shall be needful to the salvation of souls.” On the same
ground he puts the Pope's making civil laws, and abro-
gating the civil laws of princes. (See “Bellarmine de
Sum. Pont.," 1. v. ch. 6.) Thus Antichrist changes times
and laws. (Dan. vü. 25.) Much might be learned, how-
ever, by some modern statesmen, of the difficulties of this
subject, and the real danger of giving power to Rome,
from this treatise. Barrow's “ Treatise on the Pope's
Supremacy” furnishes a full answer to the Romanist on
that point, as well as details of the sins of the Church of
Rome against kings and magistrates. He gives the oath
made by the Roman Bishops at their consecration. He
also answers the tendency to similar excessive views of
Church authority in Thorndike's “ Epilogue,” and is thus
useful in meeting reviving errors of this day. Chamier,
Amesius, Whitaker, and many others, have fully answered
Bellarmine's elaborate “ Defence of Popery."
The revival of the more powerful works in favour of
Popery is another sign of the revival of Romish principles
noticed in the first part of this treatise. I have before
me, lately published, a Prospectus, “ Præstantissimorum
Doctorum qui in Ecclesia Catholica floruerunt Bellarmini,
Estii, Liebermanni, Maldonati, Editiones novissimæ op-
timæ omnibus numeris absolutæ ejus pretii ut ab omnibus
comparari queant, venerent Londini," &c. The giants of
former days are coming forth in the cheapest way, for wide
circulation. The reader may therefore see how timely is
the service rendered by republications of Foxe, and of the
Parker Society, and one now forming, called the Calvin
Translation Society, to bring forth the works of our own
Reformers, and supply the Church with some of the wea-
pons which God honoured with success in past days.
TO COME OUT OF ROME. 177
Queen Elizabeth, placing a Papist on the throne,
and re-establishing Popery.*
HER SINS AGAINST SOCIETY AT LARGE ARE
VERY GRIEVOUS. Popery, while it dishonours
God, debases and enslaves men. The miseries
everywhere endured under the fatal domination
of the Church of Rome, blighting the sweetest
affections of social life, would fill volumes! She
is the enemy of that knowledge which refines
and blesses man. An excellent library might be
collected only from the lists of books prohibited
by her.t She has ever been the enemy of the
Jewish nation; to this day they are confined to
the Guetto at Rome, and shut up at night
within its walls and gates, and to this day they
suffer most in Papal and Mahomedan lands.
The Pope annulled the Magna Charta in the
time of King John. She hinders all freedom
wherever she can, that would interfere with
every man being subject to her alone. Though
now occasionally in alliance with Republicanism,
as she gains her ends, we may see by her former
acts, and her present course, where she has
power, that nothing like scriptural liberty of
* See Mr. Lathbury's useful little works, “ The State
of Popery and Jesuitism in England,” and his “ Guy
Faux; or, Gunpowder Treason and Spanish Armada."
. † See Mendham's “Literary Policy of the Church of
Rome," and "Popery as opposed to Knowledge."
178
THE DIVINE WARNING
speaking, or writing, or labouring for God, would
be left for society. What frauds upon all the
relations of human society are the confessional,
and the systems of nunnery and monkery ! *
Men have from age to age groaned under her
oppressive yoke without remedy! What na-
tional cruelties and atrocities have for centuries
been inflicted through her instigation! To what
a miserable state of social relationship are towns,
and cities, and kingdoms reduced where she has
full sway. Who can tell the millions of broken
and ruined families, of sorrowing hearts, of
parents deprived of children, and children of
parents, husbands of wives, and wives of hus-
bands, occasioned by that tribunal which Rome
* The Scripture gives it as the character of the Beast
which had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon,
that he caused all to receive a mark in their forehead,
and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the
mark of the Beast. The Roman Church has fulfilled this
to the letter: in the Third Lateran Council, after anathe-
matizing the Cathari, Patarini, Publicani, it decrees that no
one should presume to have them in their houses, or on
their land, or carry on business with them. See Binnius,
vol. vii. p. 602, ed. 1636. A similar decree of the Florence
Council was issued against the Wickliffites and Hussites.
I add the very words,-"Nec eosdem in suis districtibus,
prædicare, domicilia tenere, larinis fovere, contractus inire,
negotiationes et mercantias quaslibet exercere, aut huma-
nitatis solatia, cum Christi fidelibus habere, permittant." -
See Binnius, as above, p. 1121.
TO COME OUT OF ROME. 179
invented, and in which it gloried for 600 years
--the horrible Inquisition ! But there is an
inquisition for blood coming on, in which God
remembers the whole. (Psalm ix. 12.) Rome
has robbed all nations, not only of enormous
sums of money, but of what is far more precious,
the bright light of Divine truth, and, wherever
she had power, she has taken from them its best
defenders. Her traffic has been with the souls
of men (Rev. xviii. 13); and deceiving her
buyers, she has lived in splendour, luxury, and
excess, on the sacrilegious spoil of her adherents.
To this day masses are multiplied for the pre-
tended repose of the soul, according to the price
paid for them. Thus through covetousness with
feigned words they make merchandise of you.
Rome is rich in pomp and luxury, in splendid
dresses and palaces ; they have heaped treasure
together for the last days. But, while it retains
its false doctrines, and adheres to all its idola-
tries; its riches, its precious stones, its marbles,
its magnificent buildings, and its frankincense,
do but fix its name as Babylon the great.
· Her SINS AGAINST THE CHURCH OF GOD are
the last which I have to notice. By dishonour-
ing the Church through her own wickedness,
and by her injuries inflicted from age to age on
God's true children, and latterly, when she had
full power, by her murders of his most faithful
180
THE DIVINE WARNING
servants, the Romish Church has for centuries
shown herself the implacable enemy of the true
Church of Christ. What can the world think
of that which assumes to be the Holy Catholic
and Apostolic Church of Christ, but which is in
reality full of worse than heathenish abomina-
tions! If anything could excuse the world in
its Infidelity and worldliness, it is the foul abo-
minations which, under the mask of the Chris-
tian religion, Popery has practised. When, also,
God's faithful witnesses have openly testified
against these abominations, and the Roman
Church had the power, she has persecuted, im-
prisoned, tormented, and finally put them, in
innumerable instances, to cruel deaths, and even
rejoiced over their slaughter. Thus the Pope of
Rome ordered a “ Te Deum” to be şung over
the slaughtered Protestants in France on the
massacre of 30,000 of our fellow-men, which
was commenced at Paris on St. Bartholomew's
day. He also ordered a medal to be struck in
commemoration of that dark tragedy, and a
painting of it is still placed at Rome, in triumph,
as it were, of the deed. She is, in the strong
language of the Bible, drunken with the blood of
the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of
Jesus. (Rev. xvii. 6.)
This is but a slight sketch of the enormities
of that predicted wickedness, which the Scrip-
TO COME OUT OF ROME. 181
tures concentre in the emphatic terms, the Man
of Sin, and the Mystery of Iniquity.
But, Christian reader, while we enumerate the
sins of the Church of Rome, let us never be
unmindful of the sins of the Reformed Churches.
We, too, are guilty before God, and that under
superior spiritual light and unequalled advan-
tages. And the fearful progress of return, by
one class among us, towards the abominations of
Popery, after our having been once delivered
from it, must be especially guilty in the sight of
Him who so graciously delivered us. (2 Pet.
ii. 22.) I would apply to the respective Churches
what Jeremiah said of Israel and Judah. Israel
fell off to open idolatry, and was righteously
punished, yet Judah feared not, and in her way
went and played the harlot. Now hear God's
judgment upon them, and let it for ever silence
any boasting or harsh judgment on our part :
Yet for all this, her treacherous sister Judah hath
not turned unto me with her whole heart, but
feignedly, saith the Lord. And the Lord said
unlo me, The backsliding Israel hath justified
herself more than treacherous Judah. Our
hypocritical profession of Protestant doctrines,
as a nation, seems also to be rapidly bringing on
us, as well as on Rome, the last judgments to
come upon the nations of the earth. God
Almighty give us national repentance, that our
182
THE DIVINE WARNING
hypocrisy may not be our ruin. Yet there is a
material distinction to be noticed. The sins of
the Protestant Churches are contrary to their
religion and their profession; they are not
according to, but in spite of, their Creeds and
their confessions ; but the sins of Rome are
open, professed, and systematic. They are their
very religion. They are in full accordance with
her avowed and established doctrines. There
will then be a righteous discrimination in God's
dealings with his Churches.
Yet in the end grace will abound over sin, and
mercy rejoice against judgment; for God hath
concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have
snercy upon all.
TO COME OUT OF ROME.
183
CHAPTER IV.
THE PLAGUES TO COME UPON BABYLON.
1
What Man's exthe nations ou learn the
The warning, to come out of her, is grounded on
the threatening, that ye receive not of her plagues.
What, then, are her plagues ?
1. Man's EXECRATIONS SHALL COME UPON
ROME. Even the nations of the earth, many of
whom have been so slow to learn the necessary
truth of her Apostasy, shall at length be fully
awakened to a conviction of the enormous evils
that have come upon the earth, through this
spiritual tyranny and bondage. Hence the feel-
ings of the European kingdoms of the Roman
empire towards this apostate Church are thus
clearly foretold: The ten horns which thou
sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore,
and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall
eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God
hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to
agree and give their kingdom unto the beast, until
the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Something of this has begun to be accom-
R2
184
THE DIVINE WARNING
plished in the last half century, and in the vast
spoliations the Roman Church has already en-
dured without showing any signs of repentance.
And if even the nations at large thus manifest
their hatred, the saints of God also are called to
join in holy joy over the destruction of this
destroyer, Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye
holy apostles and prophels; for God hath
avenged you of her. And in pursuance of this
invitation, we hear the whole heavenly company
described as rejoicing in her fall: I heard a
voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia ;
Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power,
unto the Lord our God : for true and righteous
are his judgments: for he hath judged the great
whore, which did corrupt the earth with her
fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his
servants at her hand. And again they said,
Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and
ever. Nor need we wonder at this joy on her
fall, when we think of the dishonour she had
brought on the name of Christ, and the impedi-
ments she has everywhere raised to the triumph
of the Gospel of the grace of God.
| 2. God's REMEMBRANCE OF HER INIQUITIES
SHALL BE MANIFEST. In the words following
my text we read, For her sins have reached
unto heaven, and God hath remembered her
iniquities.
TO COME OUT OF ROME. 185
In the holy Scriptures we frequently find it
stated, that the time of judgment takes place on
nations when their iniquities are full. Thus,
just before the destruction of the cities of the
plain, it is said, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah
is great, and their sin is grievous. Thus the
possession of Canaan by Abraham was delayed,
because the iniquity of the Amorites was not full.
Thus the Jews filled up the measure of their
fathers' sins, before Jerusalem was destroyed.
So there has been a gradual filling up of the
sins of the Roman Church, and God has already
shown that he is beginning to remember her
iniquities. See the situation of those countries
that have most supported Popery, and been the
strength of that Apostasy. The vials of God's
wrath largely and especially descended on them
and on those countries that had departed from
the purity of Protestantism in the first French
Revolution. Men were scorched with great heat,
but they blasphemed the name of God which had
power over these plagues, and repented not to
give him glory. Again, they have returned
to Popery, with all its debasing idolatries and
slavery, or to avowed Infidelity. The present
head of this corrupt Church, Gregory XVI.,
mourns over what he calls “the tempest of evils
and disasters;" and then avows that a human
being, the Virgin, is “ his greatest confidence,
R3
186 THE DIVINE WARNING
even the whole foundation of his hope."* So
far from repenting, his followers are full of
increased energy and activity, compassing sea
and land to make one proselyte, t building
the tombs of the prophets, and garnishing the
sepulchres of the righteous, and filling up, as the
Scribes and Pharisees did, the measure of their
fathers. How nearly then must the dreadful
cup of the iniquity of the Church of Rome be
full! In the present disturbed state of Europe,
notwithstanding the outward preservation of
* See his “Encyclical Letter,” in 1832.
† The energy with which Rome is thus exerting itself
is now seen in all parts of the world. Even the remotest
Protestant missions have not escaped these noxious visita-
tions. O that all this zeal, like that of Saul's, were turned
from an evil and destructive, to a holy and heavenly
course! May it also raise us Protestants from our luke-
warmness! The following account of their exertions in
New Zealand, dated August 28, 1839, has been received
by that truly Christian, faithfully Protestant, and largely
blessed Society, the Church Missionary Society :-" The
Papists are on the alert. Their establishment now is,
one bishop, eight priests, and two catechists; and a
French ship-of-war is expected to bring, it is said, ten
more......... But they have not, as yet, done much mis-
chief. The natives who have received instruction from
us remain stedfast; and many who hitherto have kept
aloof, seeming now to think that they must join one or
the other, have declared themselves in favour of us. The
Testaments and Prayer-books are eagerly sought after,
and the truth will be rooted deeply,"
TO COME OUT OF ROME. 187
peace, in the disquietude of the European king-
doms of Italy, Germany, France, Spain, and
Portugal, we have farther tokens of God's mind-
fulness of their iniquities, and persevering call
of grace and mercy to the nations to repent, his
much long-suffering yet affording the season of
salvation, as well as a solemn warning to our
own long and highly-favoured land.
3. God's VISIBLE JUDGMENTS WILL AT
LENGTH DESCEND TO DESTROY BABYLON.
There will be no reform of Popery. She has
bound herself in the immutable chain of her
own sins. Her claim to infallibility has made
her rejection of her falsehoods impossible. The
whole system will perish at once, and that with
desolating judgments. Even now, more and
more, Popery is grinding and crushing between
the upper millstone of Divine truth, and the
lower millstone of Infidelity. Nor will its vain
pretences and assumptions, its tricks, disguises,
and absurd miracles, long be able to withstand
its righteous doom. Many of its adherents will
come to the Lord truly; or fall, as Balaam did,
into the ranks of Infidelity, and perish with the
last foes of Christ. (Compare Numbers xxxi. 8,
and Rev. xix. 20.) Those kings who, like our
James II. of England, and Charles X. of France,
adhere to it, will mourn its fall. (Rev. xviii. 9.)
Those kings who, like Napoleon, are really-
188
THE DIVINE WARNING
Infidel, will hate it and burn its flesh. Thus
they are described in one place as hating the
whore, and making her desolate (chap. xvii. 16);
and they are described in another place, as
bewailing and lamenting for her (chap. xviii. 9):
but it is the property of God's wonderful provi-
dence to bring out, in clear fulfilment, the most
apparently contradictory prophecies. He thus
calls our attention more distinctly to them, and
illustrates the more his own foreknowledge of
everything. The testimony of Scripture on
this sudden and visible fall of Babylon is express.
Her plagues shall come in one day; death, and
mourning, and famine ; and she shall be burned
wilh fire: for strong is the Lord that judgeth her.
A mighty angel took up a stone, like a great mill-
stone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with
violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown
down, AND SHALL BE FOUND NO MORE AT
ALL: this last expression is made four times, and
thus proves most conclusively that the prediction
applies not to a past, but to a future destruction.
In addition therefore to the wasting of the power
and resources of Popery as a system, which has
begun to take place, we have reason to expect
peculiarly desolating judgments on the Papal
state, and especially on the city of Rome itself,
The kings of the earth . . . shall see the smoke
of her burning ; standing afar off for fear of
TO COME OUT OF ROME.
189
her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city
Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is
thy judgment come.
The deluge was not more clearly announced
to the world before the flood, by Noah, than
this judgment is announced by the Word of God
to the Christian world. This is the dreadful end
of a lengthened course of horrible profanation
of sacred things, and daring iniquity, blasphemy,
and idolatry.
What a solemn warning will the Lord thus
give to all other nations and kingdoms! a warn-
ing effectual, we may hope, to the salvation of
an innumerable niultitude, while it hardens the
wicked to the last form of Antichrist and the
open war against Christ, before his millennial
kingdom. Under the last vial, the cities of the
nations fell, as well as great Babylon came in
remembrance before God, which seems to include
the falling of the politics of professing Christian
nations in general, and the time of the restora-
tion of the kingdom to Israel; as well as the
destruction of Babylon.
4. THE PERIOD OF THESE JUDGMENTS IS
THE PERSONAL RETURN OF OUR LORD JESUS
CHRIST. This is made clear by the testiinony
of St. Paul respecting that Man of Sin who
precedes the coming of Christ; and who, in
190
THE DIVINE WARNING
his whole course, is identified with Popery.
(2 Thess. ii.)* It was a mystery of iniquity,
which began to work even in the apostolic age,
and was to be more and more revealed to its
very last stage of the lawless one, and only to
be destroyed at the coming of our Lord. It is
clear that the coming of our Lord is a visible
coming, for it is said, He shall be revealed from
heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire. It
is clear the Man of Sin is to be destroyed by the
bright appearing of our Lord, at the full revela-
tion of this lawless one, for it is predicted, Then
shall that wicked, or lawless one, be revealed,
whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of
his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his
coming. (2 Thess. ii. 8.) Thus in the xviiith
chapter of Revelation, we have the fall of
Babylon, and in the xixth chapter, the song of
the Church upon it, and the return of the Word
of God and his armies in triumph and glory. I
cannot then but give my testimony before the
Church very distinctly, that I firmly believe
these judgments to be near, and that they will
be executed at the period of the personal return
of our Lord.
* See the author's illustration of this passage in his
“ Practical Guide to the Prophecies." Sixth Edition,
pp. 163, 164,
TO COME OUT OF ROME.
191
But even here the woe of the inhabitants of
Babylon does not end. We must yet go farther,
and add,
ETERNAL JUDGMENTS ARE PREPARED FOR
THE OBSTINATE AND PERSEVERING ADHER-
ENTS OF POPERY. It is much to be observed,
my dear brethren, that the strongest statements
of the eternity of future judgments are those
made by our compassionate Lord, when he tells
us to part with things nearest and dearest to us
rather than be cast into hell fire, where the worm
dieth not, and the fire is not quenched : and
those made by his own beloved disciple John
(who presses love so much upon us), warning us
against the danger of adhering to the Beast and
his image, or to Popery, having horns as a lamb,
and speaking as a dragon, and claiming authority
over all kingdoms. Thus the third Angel says
with a loud voice, If any man worship the
Beast and his image, and receive his mark in his
forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of
the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured
out without mixture into the cup of his indigna-
tion; and he shall be tormented with fire and
brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and
in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of
their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever ;
and they have no rest day nor night, who
worship the Beast and his image, and whoso-
192
THE DIVINE WARNING
ever receiveth the mark of his name so they are
afterwards described as being tormented day and
night for ever and ever. The mind shrinks with
horror from such an awful dooin so distinctly
announced by the God of light, of truth, of
holiness, and of love. This doom is thus clearly
revealed on purpose that, seeing there is an evil
in persevering in sin, and especially in this
mystery of iniquity, far beyond our present
comprehension, we may escape for our life, as
Lot did out of Sodom, flying from the impend-
ing destruction ourselves, and warning all whom
our voice can reach, to flee from the wrath to
come. Say, brethren, in this view, which we
firmly hold to be God's own truth, O say if we
are too earnest in our most stirring appeals,
exhorting men against Popery. Say if it be not
the greatest cruelty and the very mockery of all
true love, for men to lower and excuse the evils
of the Church of Rome, and to talk of it with
a smooth and bland expression, as one among
the many forms of Christianity, with some lesser
errors belonging to it. I must say, true, deep,
and real love, calls Christians to far more urgent,
vehement, loud, and strenuous efforts than have
ever yet been made to rescue the servants of God
yet in the midst of this Babylon; and for this
love we wait, in full hope that it will yet be given
to the true Church of Christ.
TO COME OUT OF ROME.
193
CHAPTER V.
THE SOLEMN CHARGE TO COME OUT OF
BABYLON.
The Apostle John testifies to us-
I heard a voice from Heaven, saying, Come out
of her. Let us consider,
1. THE PEOPLE WHO ARE CALLED TO COME
FORTH. There are to this day a people of God
in the midst of Babylon. Thanks be to God
for this assured implication from the words of
the text. For the sake of this people she has
so long been spared. As the angel said to Lot,
I cannot do anything till thou be come forth, so
does God here speak to these his faithful
servants. Many Papists have been trammelled
so completely by their education, country, occul-
pation, and circumstances in Babylon, that they
have had no opportunity to escape ; they mourn
over the evils they see, and they suffer from the
true faith they profess; the gates of brass will
more and more be opened for their escape.
Many a Papist is unacquainted with the horrible
194 THE DIVINE WARNING:
diator Speen ip of Pa
delusions by which he has been deceived. The
vain pretences of unity, sanctity, catholicity,
and apostolicity, have deceived them. Antiquity
and the name of the true Church have covered,
as with a mask, the frauds by which idolatry,
indulgences of sin, substitution of human me-
diators, feigned purgatory, and persecutions,
have been iinposed upon the true followers of
Christ. Men of Pascal's, Fénélon's, Nicole's,
Quesnel's spirit are still doubtless to be found in
the Papal Churches. They are children of the
living God, as Lot was in Sodom. Nor let us
be turned from the hope by the hard things even
such have said of us Protestants, calling us
by opprobrious names of heresy and schism; let
us still maintain our charity towards them, and
remembering what occasion of offence our formal
and powerless profession, our mere party and
political enmity against Popery, our divisions
and disputes, and the real heresies of men
calling themselves Protestants have given ; let us
be humbled and still view such servants of Christ
in Babylon as beloved brethren, in the spirit of
that Apostle who said, I will very gladly spend
and be spent for you, though the more abundantly
I love you, the less I be loved. There is a true
Church in the midst of Babylon, as were Nehe-
miah, Ezra, Esther, Mordecai, and Ezra of old,
left in the land of their captivity. It is our great
TO COME OUT OF ROME.
195
comfort to believe this. It gives great encou-
ragement to us in our testimony to the truth.
Would they were all such. Would to God all
the professors of Christ's holy religion were spi-
ritual, self-sacrificing, heavenly-minded followers
of the Lamb, giving all glory only to his name;
but through the hardness and impenitent heart of
sinners, unsoftened by all God's long-suffering
and goodness, it will not be so till the day of
wrath has visited our earth, and under the fiery
trial of judgments, men at length learn righteous-
ness. But why should God's people come out?
The REASON FOR THIS COMING OUT of Babylon
is because of the judgments impending over it;
that ye receive not of her plagues : for her sins
have reached unto heaven, and God hath remem-
bered her iniquities. The proclamation goes forth
to ALL NATIONS to come out of Babylon. Thus
on this ground, no sooner is Babylon completely
developed to the spiritual Church by idolatrous
worship and persecution, than an angel flies in
the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel
to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to
every nation, and kindred, and people, and tongue,
saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory
to him ; for the hour of his judgment is come. He
is succeeded by another angel giving this solemn
warning, which contains the first mention of the
name of Babylon in the book of Revelation, Baby-
s 2
196
THE DIVINE WARNING
lon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she
made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of
her fornications. If anything be clear respecting
the future, it is, that nations adhering to Popery
shall partake of her woe. Between two and three
thousand years since Daniel foretold of the stone
smiting the image at his feet, the last stage of the
Roman empire, so that all parts were broken lo
pieces together, and became like the chaff of the
summer threshing-floors, and the wind carried them
away, that no place was found for them. (Dan.
ii. 35.) Providence, even in the past, by the
first vials of wrath, here confirms prophecy. As
nations have really separated from Popery, and
held the pure truth, they have been blessed of
God. Our own country has prospered just as it
has from time to time nationally and in its Go-
vernment separated from Babylon. The vivid
sketch of our history in this respect by Dr. Croly*
has sufficiently proved this.
INDIVIDUALS as well as nations are required
to separate from Rome for the same reason. The
third angel has this commission, If any man wor-
ship the beast, the same shall drink of the wine of
the wrath of God, which is poured out without
mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he
shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the
* See “ England, the Fortress of Christianity."-No.8
of the publications of the Protestant Association.
TO COME OUT OF ROME. 197
presence of the holy angels and in the presence
of the Lamb. (Rev. xiv. 9–11.) The safety
and honour of each Christian is in fleeing from
Rome. Individuals are honoured of God as
they have testified against Popery. In our own
country, the seven bishops, resisting the arbitrary
proceedings of the Papal King James the Second,
were honoured and blessed. But the same bishops
did not see fully the enormous spiritual evils of
Popery, and the first duty of a Christian, to keep
his vows unto God; and appear to have been
under the prejudiced feeling of attachment rather
to a king than to God's ordinance of Govern-
ment; and hence they overlooked all the won-
derful providences of God marking his will; and
then, when they adhered to James, they sank
into a mere schism. While those who supported
the Protestant Government which God in his
providence had so peacefully, clearly, and gra.
ciously given to our land, were honoured as means
of upholding and continuing a Church and Con-
stitution, under which we have enjoyed a century
and a-half of blessing.
All nations, then, and all persons in those na-
tions, are to come forth out of Babylon and join
the children of the living God, faithfully pro-
testing against her abominations, if they would
escape ber plagues. For the coming plagues in
the approaching judgments are far more terrible
s 3
198
THE DIVINE WARNING
and destructive than any that have yet visited
our earth. The desolation of the deluge was by
water, this will be by fire. The destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah was of a small portion of
our earth, this has an extension, affecting all the
peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues,
on whom Babylon sits. (Rev. xvii. 15.) Nay,
as we have seen, reaches all impenitent and un-
believing sinners through eternity.
THE WAY IN WHICH THE PEOPLE OF GOD
SHOULD COME OUT, must also be explained.
What are men called to come from, when they
are bid to come out of her ? They are called to
come out from
1. THE PRINCIPLES OF ROME. To separate
from and protest against all their false doctrines :
their thirteen anti-scriptural, human, and earthly
additions to the Nicene Creed; their trust in the
traditions of men apart from the Scriptures; their
vain assertions of infallibility; their idolizing the
Church of Rome; their invocation of saints; their
transubstantiation and the pretended sacrifice of
the mass ; their priestly absolution ; their worship
in an unknown tongue; their adorations of images
and relics ; and those fond things, vainly invented,
of indulgences and purgatory; not one, my bre-
thren of the Church of Rome, must be kept if
you would escape these plagues. You must give
up the lordly supremacy of the Pope, self-inflicted
TO COME OUT OF ROME.
199
penances, worship of crucifixes, and all self-
righteous doctrines of human merit, as utterly
worthless, and keeping you far from the holy
light and full love of the children of God, received
by a simple faith in the dying and risen Saviour.
To the law and to the testimony bring everything.
If men speak not according to this, it is because
there is no light in them. It is a cause with us of
vast thankfulness to God, that the Church of
England has, by its various testimonies, multi-
plied its protests, and manifested its separation
from the corruptions of Rome ; and that these
realms were enabled nearly 300 years since, and
continue to this day in so many important respects,
to obey God's direction. In the Articles and
Homilies of our Church we have clear and dis-
tinct testimonies, and in the worship, suited to
its character, a meek and silent, but constant
witness against the errors of Popery. In the
Homilies the Bishop of Rome is called “at once
both the spoiler and destroyer of the Church and
of the Christian empire, and the Babylonian
Beast of Rome."* In the Coronation oath our
* See Homily against Wilful Rebellion. The First
Book of Homilies was published in 1547, the Second in
1562; the Articles by Cranmer, in 1552 ; and, lastly, the
Articles and Homilies were completed and published in
1563, the year in which the Council of Trent closed its
sittings.
200
THE DIVINE WARNING:
Queen, as the head of the Government, solemnly
professed and testified, in the presence of God,
against transubstantiation and the invocation and
adoration of saints, and the sacrifice of the mass,
as superstitious and idolatrous.* May we as a
nation be watchful, and strengthen the things
which remain and are ready to die.
And here, I renew my protest against what I
cannot but call modified Papal doctrines, which
some, after unhappy examples in former days,
have attempted to revive in a Church, the glory
of which is, that it is a firm and decided witness
against Rome. However they may suppose they
only wisely and effectually guard against Popery,
and however those who profess them may be men
of self-sacrifice, devotion, and piety, let us be
assured, nothing but God's own armour, provided
in his Word, will really do this. We cannot
play with this Leviathan, or win him over by
soft words and flattery: nor make a covenant
with him. God with his own sore and great and
strong smord shall punish the piercing serpent.
(Isa. xxvii, 1.) But modern Infidelity and anar-
chy have had a tendency to drive men to the
opposite extremes of superstition and bondage,
and the antichristian principles of Rome. It
: * This declaration was made by our Queen Victoria,
on Monday, the 20th Nov. 1837, in the presence of the
two Houses of Parliament.
TO COME OUT OF ROME. 201
has become needful for the spiritual watchman
once more to testify very distinctly against the
ensnaring, fascinating seductions of the Apostasy
presented on every side. I do, then, in the
name of my heavenly Master, warn my fellow-
Christians against departing from the Protestant
ground of faith, the sufficiency of the Holy Scrip-
tures. By joining the traditions of men with the
Word of God, that clear light of Divine truth
which He, in his infinite wisdom, has given to
make us wise unto salvation, is disparaged, dis-
honoured, and accounted insufficient, obscure,
doubtful, and uncertain. I warn them against
setting up any human beings, whether Fathers
or Reformers, as your Master or Father; one is
your master, even Christ. I warn them against
idolizing ordinances and apostolic succession,
however valuable in their place, as if they were
to operate any good of themselves without faith,
or exclude real good with faith: or were the end
of religion instead of the means. I warn them
against that spirit of bondage which would make
repentance after Baptism next to impossible, give
men only the terrors of the judgment to come,
shut out the grace and loving-kindness of the
Gospel, and deprive us of the spirit of adoption,
enabling us to say, Abba, Father. I warn
them against tithing mint, anise, and cummin, in
Christianity, and neglecting the weightier matters,
202
THE DIVINE WARNING
judgment, mercy, and faith. I warn them against
any modern union of Pelagianism and Romanism,
that would make the will of man the turning
point of salvation, instead of the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Well has the present Pope
of Rome characterized the system, “they wish
for Popery, without the Pope."* Whoever holds
and maintains these things is under the seducing
power of Romish principles, and the voice from
heaven calls him aloud, Come out of her, my
people, that ye be not partakers of her sins.
2. The people of God are also called to COME
OUT FROM THE COMMUNION OF Rome; and to
disown its supremacy and refuse obedience to its
unscriptural decrees. So far from there being
only salvation in the Church of Rome, it is the
Church which the Holy Ghost has most explicitly
pointed out of all the Churches as doomed to
receive the plagues of God's judgments; it is
the Church, in which, refusing to hear the voice
of Christ when he calls them to come out, if men
* The following statement appeared in L'Espérance
of Dec. 23, 1842, in an article dated from Rome:--"La
grande masse des ecclésiastiques romains nourrit l'attente
la plus illusoire d'un retour de l'Eglise anglicane à Rome,
retour préparé par les puséistes.
“Voici, au reste, une parole authentique du pape au
sujet de ce rapprochement anglican, rapprochement qu'on
ne peut nier : Il a dit : "Vogliono il papismo senza il
papa.' (Ils veulent le papisme sans le pape.).”
TO COME OUT OF ROME.
203
wilfully remain, they are certain of partaking of
her plagues. As Lot, if he had refused to listen
to the warning voice, and had remained in Sodom,
would have partaken of its destruction, so most
assuredly will all who wilfully reinain in com-
munion with modern Babylon be partakers of
the judgments with which she shall be visited.
Blessed be our God, that at the Reformation so
many Protestant nations in Europe obeyed the
Divine directions, and for three centuries the
millions of their population have been separated
from this Apostasy. In the words of the Martyr
Latimer they determined “What fellowship hath
Christ with Antichrist? Therefore it is not
lawful to bear the yoke with Papists. Come
forth from among them, saith the Lord."* The
testimony of the Church of England in Jewell's
“ Apology," is repeatedly given. He asserts,
6: We have departed from them, and we bless
the great and Holy God for it, and please
ourselves mightily in it; but then we have
not departed from the Primitive Church, from
the Apostles, from Christ. ... We have
forsaken a Church in which we could neither
hear the pure word of God, nor administer the
sacraments, nor invoke the name of God as we
ought. .We have only departed from
* See Richmond's “Fathers," vol. iv. p. 103.
204
THE DIVINE WARNING
that Church which may err, which Christ, who
cannot err, so long since foretold, should err,
and which we see clearly with our eyes has
departed from the holy Fathers, the Apostles,
Christ himself, and the Primitive and Catholic
Church. ... We have only left him whom
we saw had for many ages blinded the nations
of the earth. . . . We have departed from
that Church which they have made a den of
thieves--not out of contention but out of obe-
dience to God, ... and have returned to
the Primitive Church of the ancient Fathers and
Apostles.” The government of our country bas,
thanks be to our God for our Protestant Consti-
tution, in its highest authority, separated from
this communion in these strong words, “Every
person that shall be reconciled to or shall hold
communion with the See or Church of Rome, or
shall profess the Popish religion, or shall marry
a Papist, shall be excluded, and be for ever inca-
pable to inherit, possess, or enjoy the Crown and
Government of this realm, and in such case the
people shall be absolved of their allegiance."*
Here is the reason why it has pleased God,
notwithstanding all our national sinfulness, to
honour and bless, as he has done, this favoured
land. We have nationally come out of Popery,
* See the Act of Settlement, William III.
TO COME OUT OF ROME. 205
by protesting against its principles and separating
from its communion. God, in his infinite mercy,
forbid, that our Rulers, either in Church or
State, should ever lose what remains of this
national and ecclesiastical testimony against
Babylon!
Let us further notice, THE VOICE WHICH
CALLS MEN TO THIS SEPARATION. It is a
voice heard from heaven. We shall gain a
clearer view of this by seeing that whenever
God stirs up his faithful servants to give a strong
testimony to his truth, it is brought before us in
this form. Thus the angels which follow the
Reformation in the xivth chapter, announce their
messages with a loud voice. It may be thus
illustrated : as John received the little book, or
Word of God, and ate it up, and then prophesied
again before many peoples, and nations, and
tongues, and kings, so the teachers which the
Lord raises up receive his truth from him, and
then boldly and widely proclaim it among their
fellow-men. Then is the voice heard from heaven.
The period at which this particular voice in
our text is heard is the beginning of the 7th
vial, of which vial chapters xvii., xviii., xix., are
the fuller exposition. First, an angel comes
down from heaven, having great power; and the
earth was lightened with his glory: and he cried
mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon
206
THE DIVINE WARNING
the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become thë
habitation of devils. We may expect, therefore,
that on the opening of the 7th vial, the Spirit of
God, in the remarkable judgments which will
then be taking place on the Church of Rome,
will enable his ministers to proclaim, with a
clearness and strength far beyond what we have
yet seen, the destruction of Babylon. Thus the
doctrine of the fall of Babylon is first announced,
and then we have in our text an exhortation
proceeding equally from the same divine and
heavenly source; the Spirit of God giving the
truth to the Church, and the ministers of Christ
proclaiming far and wide, to those still in the
Apostasy, Come out of her, my people.
But though we may justly expect a far more
earnest and urgent message from Christ by his
faithful ministers, thus to go forth through all
the Churches now in the toils and snares of
Babylon, the duty has ever been the same. Since
Babylon has been completed in its decreeing
the errors of Popery, and in its rejection of the
truths of the Reformation, by the wicked canons
and anathemas of the Council of Trent, the angel
from heaven has been charging the Church to
fear God, and give glory to him, and worship
him only. Yes, by all the majesty and glory, by
all the authority and plain command of the
Most High, every Romanist is bound to come
2
to come out OF ROME. 207
out of this Apostasy. We can here make no
reserves. We dare not resist the voice from
heaven ourselves, nor cover the message with
anything that would hide its solemn and plain
meaning. God here does most distinctly testify
the plagues coming on Babylon, and that those
who wilfully remain in her while he calls them
to come will justly receive of those plagues.
Nor let any one say, in the fond indulgence
of flesh and blood, there are those in Babylon
who may be saved, notwithstanding its Apostasy,
and as you admit this, and the Church of Rome
denies any can be saved out of its pale, it is
safest to remain where we are. To do the will
of God is the only safety. The sheep who will
never perish are those who hear the voice of
Christ, and follow him. Remember who it was
said, Ye shall not surely die. This is the
language of the old serpent. Follow God's direc-
tions, and you are safe. Beware of holding the
truth in unrighteousness. To sin against God
should be an evil dreaded by us even more than
any sufferings. Duty, not safety, is our path.
There is no safety in disobedience to God.
But WHERE ARE THEY TO GO? If they
leave Babylon, who will be their leader? What
city will receive them ? Blessed be God, the
answer is made clear in his Word. He did not tell
his people of old, Go ye forth of Babylon, till he
T 2
208
THE DIVINE WARNING
could say, The Lord hath redeemed his servant
Jacob. (Isa. xlviii. 20.) He did not bid them
remove out of the midst of Babylon till he had
predicted, They shall ask the way to Zion with
their faces thitherward. (Jer. 1. 5, 8.) When
he charged them, Go ye out of the midst of her,
he also charged them, Let Jerusalem come into
your mind. (Jer. li. 45, 50.) And he spreads
before them the measure, and defence, and glory
of Jerusalem, before he tells his captives in
Babylon, Ho, ho! come forth, and flee from the
land of the north. (Zech. ii. 6.) We have, in pure
Protestant Churches, faithfully holding the doc-
trines which God gave with such revived light
and glory at the Reformation, the substance and
reality of all that of which Rome has but the
empty show. The 144,000 sealed servants of our
God are seen standing with the Lamb on Mount
Zion, in their spiritual glory and blessedness,
before men are told of the fall and torment of
Babylon. (Rev. xiv. 1–8.) There is a city on
a heavenly mountain, in contrast to the city on
the seven hills. There is a true Christ, far
above Antichrist; there is a real Head and
High Priest, instead of a fictitious Vicar of
Christ; there is one holy Apostolic Catholic
Church, instead of a Roman Apostasy. There
is the truth itself, instead of lies spoken in
hypocrisy. There is free, perfect, and everlast-
TO COME OUT OF ROMÉ. 209
ing absolution in the blood of Jesus: by his
stupendous and all-atoning sacrifice once offered
for all. There is present and immediate justifi-
cation by grace, giving perfect peace with God,
through faith; there is reception at once, and
adoption into his family, through the wonderful
love of our God, made known in his Gospel.
There are with us the really cleansing waters of
his Spirit, and the resurrection to come, and all
trials working for our good, and the everlasting
glory to be revealed at the appearing of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and acceptance of him and
reward by him in that day; we, believing in
Jesus, and loving him and his, and all men, view
that day not as the day of terror, but as the
blessed hope of his people. Yes, my brethren,
we can say to all who truly believe in the Lord
Jesus, and are faithfully serving him, Ye are come
unto mount Zion, and the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable
company of angels, to the general assembly and
Church of the first-born, which are written in
heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the
spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the
Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of
sprinkling that speaketh better things than that
of Abel. We are already at the foot of the
mount; we see the glorious company who have
gone before; we apticipate the speedy admission.
T 3
210
THE DIVINE WARNING
into their blessed society, and we will by God's
grace be followers of them who through faith
and patience inherit the promises.
And, O people of God, now in Babylon, would
that the voice of the Most High, here sounding
in his Word, could reach your ears; and his own
Spirit then lead you to come and join us in our
spiritual liberty, love, and blessedness. You are
in bondage, when God calls you to freedom ;
you are in fear, when he calls you to confidence;
you are in danger, when he calls you to safety.
Refuse not this last voice given by his Spirit
in our text, before the final and everlasting
destruction of that which, however surrounded
by impregnable walls and gates of brass, will be
found in the day of wrath to be a vain confidence,
and ensnaring you to receive of its final plagues.
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh : for if
they escaped not who refused him that spake on
earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn
away from him that speaketh from heaven.
Having thus brought before you the great
truths contained in this part of my subjcct, I
again call my fellow-Christians to support all.
our Protestant and faithful Religious Societies.
To preserve to our country the inestimable
blessings which God has given to us in our
Protestant Constitution, and to avert from us
those judgments so distinctly threatened in God's
earth, from things brou
TO COME OUT OF ROME. 211
Word upon all adhering to Popery, and to
proclaim far and wide, for the benefit of our
fellow-men, those great truths with the cordial
reception of which their present, their national,
their social, and their everlasting happiness is
so closely connected - these are unspeakably
important objects. We are sure that we shall
be blessed as a nation, as we adhere to God's
truth, and walk according to its holy light and
enlarged love. In nothing are you more truly
patriotic as well as more truly Christian, than
in scriptural efforts to promote these ends.
Protestant Churches like Sardis have too much
fallen into only a name to live while they are
really dead; we would follow the Lord's direction,
and strengthen the things which remain, and are
ready to die. The opening that the Roman
Catholic Relief Bill gave to places of power and
trust, and the actual appointment of Romanists
seeking the overthrow of our Church to such
places; the remarkable growth of Papal exertion
and Papal influence; the multiplication of
Roman chapels, now exceeding 500 in Great
Britain; the increased favour shown by those
in authority to those ministering in this Apostasy,
by the support now given to them in our Colo-
nies; and the false principles of liberality abroad
among Protestants, respecting this great anti-
christian system, make it absolutely necessary for
212
THE DIVINE WARNING"
the faithful servants of Christ to contend earnestly
for the faith once delivered to the saints.* And
let us remember that our Government yet main-
tains the Protestant religion. The following
solemn oath is taken by Roman Catholic Men-
bers of Parliament:
“ I do swear, that I will defend to the utmost of
my power the settlement of property within this
realm, as established by the laws; and I do hereby
disclaim, disavow, and solemnly, abjure, any
intention to subvert the present Church Establish-
ment, as settled by law within this realm; and I
do solemnly swear, that I never will exercise any
privilege to which I am, or may become entitled,
to disturb or weaken the Protestant religion, or
Protestant Government in this kingdom; and I
do solemnly in the presence of God profess, testify,
and declare, that I do make this declaration,
and every part thereof, in the plain and ordinary
sense of the words of this oath, without any
* The Reformation seems equally offensive, as might be
expected, to opposite classes of anthors : Cobbet and other
recent writers respecting those times, on the one hand, and
the Tractarians on the other. This was to be expected;
the cause of Christ has ever had enemies opposite to each
other, but united in war against Him. I have been
struck with this in the many attempts to disparage
Edward and Elizabeth, and to exonerate and exeuse Queen
Mary. Facts are too stubborn to be easily explained
away, but many an effort is made to accomplish this objecte
TO C
OME OUT O!
ROME.
TO COME out or rome. 213
evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation what-
ever."
Much remains in our noble Constitution ; let
us hold it fast. Our Church retains all that the
Reformers gave us in our beloved Liturgy; and,
though many of its ordinances have been falling
away in disuse, yet the trying times through
which we are passing are recalling us to the
standards of our forefathers, and the recovered
use of almost lost ordinances and services, and
leading us to see their value. Let us keep our
garments undefiled, even in the midst of our
Sardis, and we shall be owned by our Redeemer,
and honoured with him. Rally then around
each Protestant standard, in these days of in-
difference and Infidelity, and help to maintain
unadulterated our national profession of the pure
doctrines of the Word of God, handed down to
us by our Protestant forefathers, and sealed with
their blood.
Help us, Christian reader, to convey this
voice of God, thus uttered of old by St. John,
amongst our perishing fellow-creatures. Be the
heralds of this proclamation of our God. By
acquiring full scriptural information on the
Apostasy-by circulating our religious publica-
tions--by being ready always to give an answer
to every man that äsketh you a reason of the
hope that is in you with meekness and fearby
214
THE DIVINE WARNING
exhorting them to search the Word of God, like
the Bereans of old, to see if these things are not
80-by warning them of the accumulated danger
of bringing upon themselves all the guilt of
former ages in the idolatries, and massacres, and
burnings at the stake, torments in prisons, tor-
tures, and bloodshed, which the Apostasy has
occasioned, and which will all be justly required
in the day of wrath of impenitent Rome, when
her sins at length have reached to heaven : thus
plead with your perishing brethren, that they
may be plucked as brands from the burning.
Above all, let us, like Abraham, abound in
intercession for that which is called in the Reven
lation, Sodom (Rev. xi. 8), as well as Babylon.
With patient intercession he persevered, and at
length God remembered Abraham, and Lot and
his family were delivered from destruction.
With patient perseverance let us pray for
Babylon; and who can enumerate the countless
multitudes that may yet escape, and be partakers
with us of all the glories of the heavenly Jeru-
salem, I would conclude with the touching
prayer of our Liturgy, especially suited to those
in Rome-THAT IT MAY PLEASE THEE TO
BRING INTO THE WAY OF TRUTH ALL SUCH
AS HAVE ERRED AND ARE DECEIVED: WE
BESEECH THEE TO HEAR US, GOOD LORD.
.
OF THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY.
21.5
PART III.
THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE MYSTERY
OF GODLINESS AND THE MYSTERY
OF INIQUITY.
The Holy Spirit has, in the divinely inspired
Word, furnished the Church of Christ with mul-
tiplied warnings against the corruptions of Rome.
Seeing then the present danger of the Church,
I will bring another testiniony from that sacred
treasury, that may help to guard the people of
Christ against this fearful delusion. It is given
in the 1st Epistle to Timothy, written for the
special instruction of ministers. After describing
the office and order of ministers, the apostle
sets before them, in immediate and solemn
contrast, the true faith of Christ, and the awful
departure from it, which has so largely prevailed
over Christendom. And, without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness; God was mani-
fest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of
#
216 THE DIVINE WARNING
angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in
the world, received up into glory. Now the Spirit
speaketh expressly, that in the latter times, some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing
spirits and doctrines of devils ; speaking lies in
hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with
a hot iron ; forbidding to marry, and commanding
to abstain from meats which God hath created to
be received with thanksgiving of them which be-
lieve and know the truth.
Our Lord Christ, received up into glory, is the
connecting link which the apostle presents to us
between two great subjects; true Christian faith
and its grievous corruption: true faith, the
ground of all our hopes, duties, and privileges, as
Christians; and its corruption in the latter times,
which claims, this day, our special attention. We
have on one side the house of God, the Church
of the Living God, and the truths which that
Church maintains; and we have on the other
side the Apostasy, or unfaithful Church, with its
errors; the mystery of godliness, and the mystery
of iniquity.
· The Ascension of our Lord is thus brought
before us in a double light as the crown of our
Christian faith, and the test to discover to us
antichristian corruptions; and in a simple ex-
position of this subject, we shall be led, I trust,
through the teaching of the Divine Spirit, to the
OF THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 217
mind of God on that which so largely divides the
Christian world at this time. Let us consider,
then, both the niystery of godliness, and the
mystery of iniquity.
1. THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS.
The apostle has been calling the Church of
Christ the house of God, the Church of the
Living God, and then refers to Timothy * as a
* I doubt not that this is the true meaning of this
passage; my convictions have been strengthened by the
following remarks of Bishop Stillingfleet, which I quote
from Goode's “Divine Rule of Faith and Practice.” “How
was it possible the Church at that time should be the
foundation and pillar of truth when the apostles had the
infallible Spirit, and were to guide and direct the whole
Church. It seems, therefore, far more probable to me, that
these words relate to Timothy, and not to the Church, by
very common ellipsis, viz., how he ought to behave himself
in the Church of God, which is the house of the living God,
as a pillar and ground of truth; and to that purpose this
epistle was written to him; as appears by the beginning
of it, wherein he is charged not to give heed to fables, and
to take care that no false doctrines were taught at Ephesus.
Now, says the apostle, if I come not shortly, yet I have
written this epistle that thou mayest know how to behave
thyself in the Church which is the house of God, as a
pillar and support of truth. What can be more natural
and easy than this sense ?" He shows that there is no
novelty in it by quoting Gregory Nyssen, who delivers
this expressly as the meaning, while many others of the
Fathers whose names he mentions, apply the same phrase
to great men in the Church.
218
THE DIVINE WARNING
pillar and ground, or stay of truth in that
Church. The Church of God is that glorious
household of God, built upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief corner-stone, in whom all the build-
ing, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy
temple in the Lord; in whom all Christians are
builded together for an habitation of God through
the Spirit. Each faithful minister of Christ is a
pillar and stay of the truth: just as he upholds,
maintains, and manifests that truth in the midst
of all the tempests and storms that continually
assail the Church of God. God make all his
ministers such pillars! This truth is the mystery
of godliness, a mystery without controversy great,
the sum of our faith, the ground of our hopes,
the inspiring motive of Christian love. It is
the doctrine of Christ, from his incarnation to his
assumption into glory. The feasts of the
Church of England follow this Divine order of
truth. Let us trace it as the apostle does
here.
God was manifest in the flesh. We have
here the all-important and glorious truth, that
Cbrist Jesus is God and man, our one Mediator.
He is truly and properly God over all, blessed
for ever, and truly man in our nature. We
have thus the true divinity of our Lord, and
his real humanity. And hence we assuredly
OF THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY.
219
gather his all-sufficient atonement for our sins;
God in Christ reconciling the world unto him-
self, not imputing their trespasses unto them.
We assuredly gather also his tender compassion
and love towards man, having full sympathy
with us, being touched with a feeling of our
infirmities. How blessed are these truths !
How hateful must sin be to God when this
incarnation was requisite! What unspeakable
kindness and condescension is in God! What
pity towards man! What an inexpressible mag-
nitude and glory is there in our salvation !
Justified in the Spirit, is the next stage of
this mystery: vindicated to be what he claimed
to be, the true Messiah by his life, bis miracles,
all that he was, and all that he did: sealed
and stamped by the Spirit of God, which was
given to him openly, and without measure,
Having fulfilled all righteousness, and by him-
self purged our sins, by one offering having
perfected for ever them that are sanctified, he
rose from the dead, and was accepted as the
head of a redeemed race. . Thus death was
abolished, life and immortality were brought
to light, the atonement for sin was finished, God
was reconciled to sinful man, an intercessor
ever lives to plead for us, a Prince and a
Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sins,
was provided, the Holy Ghost in all his gifts
.
.
U
2
220
THE DIVINE WARNING
was imparted by him to his Church, and he was
declared to be the Son of God with power accord-
ing to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead. Blessed Jesus, we adore thee in
the completeness of thy salvation wrought out
for us, without any supplements of human
merits! We are complete in him in whom dwell-
eth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Seen of angels is a farther stage of this mys-
tery. We have here the Divine testimony of
the Heavenly Host. At his birth they an-
nounced him; in his temptation they attended on
him, in his agony and at his resurrection they
ministered to him. All the angels of God worship
him. The mystery of love in our redemption is
so great as to attract the gaze and the wonder of
angels. These things they are represented as
,desiring to look into. Far from claiming worship
from the Church, they learn by the Church the
manifold wisdom of God. O how great then
that salvation which has thus been obtained for
us! Never let any of us slight or neglect the
salvation of Christ Jesus.
Preached to the Gentiles; we are permitted
also to know and rejoice in this Saviour. So
great a work of love was not wrought in vain.
It was from the beginning designed for a world's
redemption. Hence before his ascension our
Lord Christ gave the charge to his disciples,
OF THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY.
221
Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost. This was wonderful to
the Jews, who thought God's favour was limited
to themselves, and viewed us as sinners of the
Gentiles, dogs and outcasts. Hence there is a
great emphasis in the word Gentiles. It teaches
us that the worst, the vilest, and the guiltiest
have the freest invitations of Divine grace, and
are to be called to come to him and share the
glory of Christ, and to be heirs of his kingdom.
Here, indeed, is a wonderful part of the mystery
of godliness!
Believed on in the world. The proclamation
of grace is never made in vain. When Christ
came, the whole world lay in wickedness and
idolatry, having no hope and without God.
How different now! How widely has the Gospel
spread; how mighty have been its triumphs !
The Gospel of Christ Jesus, the Lord of glory
crucified for sin, is believed on by countless
multitudes all over the earth ; in a rebellious,
dark, unbelieving, perverse, and blinded world,
Christ has his myriads of faithful followers; and
his Gospel brings obedience, light, hope, purity,
peace, joy, and love, wherever it comes. This
is a glorious mystery of Divine grace triumphant
over evil and producing godliness among men.
O may all of us, Christian reader, be ourselves
JE
.
U 3
222
THE DIVINE WARNING
living witnesses of this truth; and manifest its
blessedness to all around us.
Received up into glory closes this stupendous
mystery. He begins with the humiliation, he
ends with the high exaltation of our Redeemer.
Our Lord's ascension is here set before us.
This, indeed, in the order of time, was before the
two last events. It is placed last by the apostle
from its connexion with the following verse :-
St. Paul, amidst the triumphs of the Gospel,
begins with Christ and ends with Christ.
Christ is the Alpha and Omega of our faith ;
and forsaking him is the source of all corrup-
tion. Well did the Church of England feel
and express this when, at every coronation, our
Monarch is bid to remember “ that the whole
world is subject to the power and empire of
Christ our Redeemer. For he is the Prince
of the kings of the earth, King of kings, and
Lord of lords, so that no man can reign happily
who derives not his authority from him, and
directs not all his actions according to his
laws."
But who can comprehend the fulness of that
glory into which Christ was received ! He
entered into the immediate and full presence of
God in our nature, and wearing our very form.
He sat down on God's throne, at his right hand,
sharing in Divine, unshared, incommunicable
OF THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY.
223
worship and adoration. He entered into that
glory which he has as the one Mediator between
God and man, the one unchangeable High Priest,
who ever liveth to make intercession for us. May
we be led from gazing on his ascension to his
glory, to look for his return, directing our minds
to that promise made through the angelic mes-
sengers at the time of his ascension: This same
Jesus shall so come in like manner as ye have seen
him go into heaven! May we, and all his people
everywhere, be in the true posture of a Christian
waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
from heaven!
O that all Christians may have given to them
understanding to know him that is true, and may
be able to say with the apostle, We are in him that
is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the
true God and eternal life! Little children, keep
yourselves from idols. (1 John v. 20, 21.):
Nor think that these are merely theoretic
doctrines--they are the very source and only
true spring of godliness and holy living. Never
can you rise to a life of true holiness and devoted-
ness to God, but in the cordial belief of these
chief and saving doctrines. This passage of
God's Word may show us that any community is
only a branch of that Church, as it preserves the
truth, and each minister is only a pillar and
ground of truth, so far and so long as he pro-
224
THE DIVINE WARNING
minently maintains and upholds not the mere
circumstances of outward forms, but these pri-
mary and all essential truths of God's Word.
Our first question, as to proving a true Church,
should be, Is it built on, and does it maintain the
great mystery of godliness here set before us ?
Saving truth confessed and faithfully upheld is
the test of the true Church, which is such while
its ministers are the pillar and ground of the truth,
And in this respect the Church of England
claims our scriptural and affectionate support,
clearly and fully confessing, and by its ministers
maintaining, these great truths of the Gospel in
Articles which all its faithful ministers preach.
It distinctly affirms that the Holy Scripture con-
taineth all things necessary to salvation ; so that
whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved
thereby, is not to be required of any man that
it should be believed as an article of the faith, or
be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.
But the view of these vital truths leads the
apostle to a solemn warning of corruption and
Apostasy. Let us then next consider,
II.-THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY.
It is truly remarkable to observe, how side by
side the apostle has placed the great truths of
the Gospel and the corruption of those truths
the faithful ministry as the pilar and ground of
OF THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY.
225
truth, and the Apostasy in its false doctrines
departing from faith in those truths. The
stupendous and glorious grace of God on the
one hand, and the wretched bondage of human
inventions on the other. We are thus shown in
the strongest and plainest manner the vanity of
those claims and self-righteous observances by
which the Church of Rome assumes herself to be
the only true Church of Christ, and lords it over
God's heritage-and we have thus fastened upon
it the character of the Apostasy; or, as the same
corruption is elsewhere called, the mystery of
iniquity. (2 Thess. ii. 7.) We shall here simply
follow the order of the text of the inspired apostle:
The Spirit saith. That we might see the Divine
authority for this solemn warning, that we might
regard it with more especial attention, the apostle
brings before us more explicitly than usual, his
inspiration of God in what he was asserting.
The Holy Spirit, jealous of the glory of Christ,
and the safety of true Christians from prevailing
evils, calls him to state what he was about to
mention. The Holy Spirit does not merely state
the truths of the Gospel, he plainly warns Chris-
tians against the perversions of the truth. This
too is, my brethren, our duty this day. The
spirit of meekness and truth itself denounces
Papal corruptions. It is no departure from the
humility, gentleness, and love of Christ Jesus to
226
THE DIVINE WARNING
contend earnestly against error. It is indeed the
highest degree of love. We as followers of the
meek and lowly Saviour must denounce all corrup-
tions of the Word of God, only taking heed that
we do it in the Spirit of truth and meekness.
The word expressly seems added to meet all
those Infidel statements, so common in our day,
of the uncertainty of truth, and all seeking to
throw doubts upon it, as if nothing were sure.
God's Word is plain to the simple-minded. It is
not vague, uncertain, and useless, but specific
and pointed, a light to our feet, and a lamp to
our paths.
The apostle next directs our attention to the
period when the Apostasy should take place,
asserting that it should be in latter times. You
may observe in the first and the second epistles
to Timothy, two great warnings of evil. That in
the second epistle of Timothy, chap. iii., relates
to the last days, with all the features of lawless-
ness and Infidelity, days which we see to be now
rapidly approaching. The warning in the first
epistle relates not to the last period of the Church,
but the latter; it is therefore earlier in its ap-
pearance. The warning in this epistle relates
not to days, but to times, and thus is manifestly
of longer continuance, as those who know
the form of prophetical expressions will more
distinctly see. Hence the period is doubly
OF THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 227
fixed to the time of Papal dominion and dark-
ness.
Some shall depart from the faith. But if only
some, how can this characterize Popery, when
mighty kingdoms and generations of men from
age to age have been Papists? The word some,
is not in the Scriptures always confined to a few.
In Rom. xi. 17, the apostle says of the Jews,
some of the branches were broken off; which he
afterwards applies to the nation, ver. 32. In
1 Corinthians, x. 10, we are told of the Israelites,
Some of them also murmured; but we read in
Numbers xiv. 2, All the children of Israel mur-
mured against Moses and against Aaron: and
the whole congregation said unto them, Would
God that we had died in the land of Egypt. See
also, Numb. xvi. 41. The word some is used
for two reasons; First, to show us that the cor-
ruption should never be total, tbat there should
always be a faithful remnant. When Elijah
thought that he was left alone, God answered
him, I have reserved to myself seven thousand
men who have not bowed the knee to the image of
Baal. So, in the darkest ages, there were ever
faithful and suffering Protesters against the errors
of Rome. Another reason why the Holy Spirit
uses the word some, seems to be the very love
and eternity of that Spirit. He does not delight
in evil, however large and lengthened in our eyes ;
228
THE DIVINE WARNING
he views it as a shadow soon to pass away, and
uses the lightest term consistent with truth, to
describe its extent, and especially speaking as he
does here, long before its full unveiling.'
This departure shall be from the faith: a
serious declension from the true doctrines of the
Gospel will mark the Apostasy. The Romanists
depart from the faith of the Incarnation; God
manifest in the flesh. How is this? does not
Popery retain it? Yes; it retains it in words;
but here is the mystery of iniquity,-it denies it
in its essence and reality; it makes Jesus a
Saviour devoid of sympathy, and not touched by
the feeling of our infirmities; a hard and severe
Judge, not a compassionate, tender, and pitiful
High Priest, touched by the feeling of our infir-
mities, but one who needs the mediation of his
mother to appease him. Nothing tends more
effectually to destroy all faith in the sympathy of
Jesus as a partaker of our flesh and blood, than
the use made of the Virgin Mary by the Roman-
ists. The Papists have departed from the faith
of his completed atonement, or being justified
in spirit; but are they not making the cross
prominent in everything? Yes; but here is the
mystery of iniquity,—they deny it by making
necessary fresh atonements continually, in their
masses for the quick and the dead. They have
departed from the faith of angelic submission to
OF THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY.
229
Christ; but are they not full of festivals and
angelic ministrations? Yes; but here is also the
mystery of iniquity, they offer to them joint
worship with the Lord from heaven. They have
departed from the faith of a free Gospel to be
preached to the Gentiles, but do they not glory
in their missions to the Heathen? Yes; and
here is the mystery of iniquity,--they withhold
the Scriptures from the nations, and the doctrine
of our free and full salvation in Christ only, and
lay a yoke of grievous bondage on the conscience,
enjoining things as necessary to salvation which
Christ has not enjoined. They have departed
from the faith of God's purposes in love to every
believer in Christ in all the world; but are they
not here also full of professions that theirs is the
universal Church for all the world? Here, again,
is the mystery of iniquity,-- they excommunicate
and exterminate, as far as is in their power, all
those who reject their human traditions, and yield
not themselves in entire bondage to Rome. There
is hardly one article of the Christian faith which
Popery does not profess in terms, and yet depart
from, and take away, by its corruptions.
Thus the Papists depart from the faith, giving
heed to seducing spirits ; both to false teachers
and erroneous doctrines. And more especially
to Satan and evil spirits, who, by suggesting to
our minds false principles, lead us captive at their
230
THE DIVINE WARNING
will. In no way does Satan more triumph over
us than by such seductive errors, which are by
many thought to be so unimportant and harm-
less.
Their departure from the faith is then marked,
not only in leaving true doctrine, but also in
setting forth false doctrine; and here
First of all by doctrines of devils, or demons,
as the original words may be more exactly ren-
dered.
The Gentiles considered demons to be an
inferior sort of deified powers; a middle sort of
Divine power between the sovereign gods and
mortal men, and mediators between the two.
Thus Plato says, “God is not approached by
men, but all the commerce between gods and
men is performed by mediations of demons."
You have thus clearly laid before you all the
saint worship of the Papists, and its really dia-
bolical character. O how painfully to a Christian
mind do the Romanists, especially in Papal
countries, neglect Christ and give heed to wor-
shipping the Virgin Mary and their multiplied
saints! Here is the grand condemnation of
Popery, justifying fully all those protests against
it as IDOLATROUS, which have ever marked the
true followiers of Christ Jesus. The hardness of
heart with which Romanists adhere to the wor-
ship of the Virgin is only to be paralleled by the
OF THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY231
1
.
similar hardness with which the Jews adhered
to the worship of the Queen of Heaven, and
perverted all God's providence into arguments
for it (see Jer. xl.), till they brought down
his wrath to the uttermost, as the Romanists
are now doing by their still more aggravated
idolatries.*
The source of this corruption is described as
speaking lies in hypocrisy; or, as it may be ren-
dered, through the hypocrisy of liars. We have
here another distinctive feature of Popery in its
innumerable legends, feigned miracles, Lorettos,
relics, and their imaginary power. What a mass
of falsehood and hypocrisy this whole system is !
Men under a strong delusion indeed can believe
Papal legends; but the hypocrisy and the lie are
glaring where the eyes are open to God's truth.
But how is this delusion possible as it regards
mighty kingdoms and nations ? We have seen
it before in the Paganism of Assyria and Chaldea,
Greece and Rome. We see it now in that of
Hindostan and China ; and the true reason is
given by the apostle, having their conscience
seared with a hot iron; nothing more hardens and
sears the conscience than deceit and wickedness
in religious things.
* Further evidence of this idolatry is given in the
Appendix.
x 2
232 THE DIVINE WARNING
A farther feature is forbidding to marry. At
the very time that they exalt marriage into a
sacrament, justifying the title of the mystery of
iniquity, in order to gain entire power over the
priests they are forbidden to marry; and not only
bishops, priests, and deacons, and all that enter
into their holy orders, are forbidden, but nuns
and monks. It is clear that the Holy Spirit
chiefly refers to the marriage of ministers here.
(See ver. 2-12.) The Council of Trent accurses
those who say that the clergy having professed
chastity may marry. Thus has this false religion
the solitary pre-eminence in wickedness, of deny-
ing to one class systematically the first ordinance
of God in Paradise.
Commanding to abstain from meats. The Holy
Spirit does not here condemn abstinence simply;
occasional fasting is in other parts enjoined. But
it is that yoke of bondage as to particular meats,
set in the room of vital religion, which so emi.
nently marks the Papal system, and which has
been so widely fulfilled in the Romish Church.
The rule of the Benedictine monks commands
perpetual abstinence from flesh meat, not only of
four-footed animals, but also of fowls; and this
law having been relaxed, Mr. Alban Butler says,
it is restored in the reformed congregation of
St. Maur and others.
OF THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY.
233
How fully, then, have you in this description
all the chief features of Popery 1*
The practical lessons of such a subject are
clear and all-important.
LET US HOLD FAST The Faith Of The
Gospel.—God has intrusted us, as a Protestant
nation, the chief Protestant kingdom on the
earth, with his pure Gospel. It is, while faith-
fully held and professed, the charter of our peace
and the anchor of our hopes. It is, while received
and maintained in purity and integrity, the
pledge of national blessings and of personal sal-
vation and glory. Let us then attend to the
* I need not here enter into an examination of either
Dr. O'Sullivan's view of this text, or of Mr. Govett's reply
to him in his “Revelation, Literal and Future.” The
reader will find in the “Churchman's Monthly Review”
for March, 1842, an able review, answering fully the critical
objections either to particular interpretations of Protestant
interpreters, or to the direct application of this prophecy
to Popery. For the fuller and closer exposition of the
prophecy, the reader is referred to Mede's Works : whose
exposition in its great outlines, we are persuaded, never
can be overturned.
The reader will find in “Rogers’ Anti-Popery,” a keen,
original, and comprehensive exposure of the many absur-
dities and falsehoods of Papal doctrines, in a quaint and
peculiar style, which, however, seems natural to the author,
and which enables him to give briefly many weighty and
conclusive arguments. In few works will there be found
a more general and accurate reply to the whole of the Papal
system.
X
3
234
THE DIVINE WARNING
OLD FAST THAT WHICH
WE HAVE RECEIVED.
LET US PRIZE THE WARNING HERE GIVEN
BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.-No warning is needless.
Error is plausible and subtle. It is very insinu-
ating, and will creep upon us step by step, unless
we arm ourselves with the defences which Divine
truth has furnished. One grand weapon by which
Protestants overthrew Popery in the Reformation
was the application of these plain Scripture
prophecies to Popery. By the same weapon we
must now resist it again. We must not cast
away such a weapon in any fancied vagueness
and uncertainty ; but duly prize the testimony of
God, and search the Scriptures till our minds be
fully established in the truth.
Let us BE FAITHFUL TO OUR PROTESTANT
PROFESSION.We have, it is to be feared, lost
something of what we once had as a Protestant
nation; let us be watchful, and strengthen the
things that remain, and are ready to die. Great
was God's goodness in rescuing us from the
corruptions of Popery. Let us never go back.
Let us be thankful for the light which we enjoy!
Let us hold the truth in love, love even to those
in error, but the full, the entire truth of our
complete salvation in Christ alone!
Let us be also careful to have no fellowship,
no truce whatsoever, with corruptions and apos-
OF THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. 235
tate doctrines, that dishonour Christ and ruin
souls, while we have full, true, unfeigned, deep,
constant, and patient love to those whom error
still deceives and leads astray! Thus shall we
best meet all the modern attempts to revive and
restore Popery in this land.
And lastly, let the ascension of our Lord Jesus
Christ LEAD US TO FOLLOW CHRIST BY FAITH.
He is received into glory. Let us rise out of the
murky atmosphere of human politics, strife, and
divisions, into the heavenly regions of peace and
blessedness, where he reigns in glory, and whence
he will speedily come to receive his people into
mansions of eternal rest. Set your affections on
things above, and not on things on the earth; for
ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in
God. And so, When Christ who is our life shall
appear, then shall ye also appear with him in
glory.
236
THE DIVINE WARNING.
CLOSING ADDRESS TO CHRISTIANS.
In closing this subject, I would bring a few
practical remarks before my fellow-Christians.
Is there now such a revival of Popery, such
an extent of Infidelity, such an energy of law-
lessness in our country? Is God's testimony
against Popery, as Babylon and the Mother of
Abominations, and the great departure from the
faith, so explicit ? Are there so many marks of
the perilous times of the last days apparent on
the whole face of Christendom? Are we go
far advanced in the fulfilled course of prophecy,
and is what is yet to come so momentous, so all-
important ? Then let us awaken to our real situa-
tion; let us be dead to the world ; let us walk
closely with God; let us be diligent, while there
is time, in seeking to be large blessings to our
fellow-men. Let us, who are of the day, be
sober, putting on the breast-plate of faith and love,
and for an helmet the hope of salvation; for God
hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain
salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us AWAKEN TO THE REAL DANGERS of
our country. It is not so much foreign enemies we
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.
237
have to dread, though the nations of the earth be
exceedingly jealous and hostile. If we were faith-
ful to God, an armed world against us could not
harm us. It is inward national evils that are the
true sources of our present dangers. The dan-
gers are not merely from those making a corrupt
profession of religion ; the most urgent, perhaps,
are from the practical Infidelity of the vast masses
throughout our country, which make them an
easy prey to seducers and false teachers. Think,
in a population of 2,103,279, of only 601,413
sittings for religious worship; or 350,000 attend-
ants, at any one time, upon any place of public
worship: and hence, at least, of 1,000,000 of
continual Sabbath-breakers and practical Infidels
within a circumference of eight miles round St.
Paul's Cathedral. Think of the statement given
respecting the situation of the large manufactur-
ing towns, as detailed pp. 123--126. Think of
these masses of Infidels in classes ; one smaller,
but specially dangerous, consists of intellectual,
educated, cultivated men; many well skilled in
science and literature, and full of confidence in
their own wisdom, and knowledge, and ability,
and capable of exhibiting Christianity in most
distorted but plausible and artful forms, as the
great enemy of God and man. Of another class,
the vast majority are totally neglected, no man
caring for their souls; and because of this neglect,
238
THE DIVINE WARNING.
sunk in ignorance and vice, a prey to every
deceiver: fretting against their superiors, because
they are taught to consider them as the whole
cause of their misery, and sinking more and more
into poverty, wretchedness, and crime. There
is another class of practical Infidels, wholly
worldly, bent on being rich at all hazards and
costs; giving the Sabbath to business or to plea-
sure only ; or at the best a formal and self-
righteous attendance, perhaps once in the day,
at the house of God. Here are the real dangers
of England; and it is amongst this crooked and
perverse generation that Christians have to shine
as lights holding forth the Word of life. Let us
do everything we can to remedy the dangers,
and to relieve the evils of our country; let us be
ready to every good work. The issue of these
evils, if unchecked, must be terrible. There seems
now little general apprehension of them, or of
the true remedy for them, in a full and faithful
bringing home of the Gospel of Christ to every
man's family and every man's mind and heart;
but still, let us do what we can to diffuse scrip-
tural light, and to tread in the steps of our
Redeemer, in his persevering efforts for the sal-
vation of his people, at the time he knew their
danger, and was assured that the great mass
would reject all his love, and bring those judge
ments upon them, which for 1800 years have
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.
239
made them a proverb and a by-word among
men. Very much may yet be done among the
hitherto neglected classes. Our Lord shows us
what hope there may be even of the vilest sinners
to whom the kingdom of God is preached. (Matt.
xxi. 31.) Heartily, then, should we encourage
all Church Building, Additional Curate, Church
Pastoral-Aid, District Visiting, City Missions,
and similar Societies, which seem to be filling up
the last mission of the Gospel (Lukexiv, 21-23),
and which we may hope will have a most blessed
issue in completing the number who shall eat bread
in the kingdom of God. Nor must we be deterred,
by even important differences on lesser parts of
Divine truth, from approving such truly Christian
labours. We may be far too scrupulous, if we
are thereby made opposers of what it may
yet please the Lord largely to bless. Oh that it
might please God to give us such oneness of
mind, that Government might be enabled to take
measures for imparting enlarged, sound, religious
instruction to the neglected masses of the people!
The Christian principles of the Toleration Act,
showing favour to all holding the doctrinal
Articles of the Church of England--that is, to all,
excepting Papists and Socinians -may possibly
furnish help in framing such measures : and may
the hearts of Christians be so united, that, laying
aside all minor differences, they may combine
*
TI
240
THE DIVINE WARNING.
together for the remedying of our worst evil;
the evil of millions living in a totally neglected
state, and continually increasing, notwithstanding
all that has hitherto been done.
Let us not be discouraged by THE APPARENT
FEWNESS OF THE NUMBER OF THOSE WHO ARE
FAITHFUL TO CHRIST. We are everywhere,
in the explicit testimony of Scripture and of
prophecy, led to consider that they would be
few, though constantly increasing. Our Saviour's
words are plain, few there be that find the strait
gate. But when, on another occasion, he alludes
to this painful fact, he gives a suitable encourage-
ment, Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's
good pleasure to give you the kingdom. The
very design of this dispensation, in which God
has visited the Gentiles, is, to take out of them a
people for his name : the character of that people
is plainly set in the very beginning of our Lord's
sermon on the mount, as poor in spirit, mourn-
ing, meek, hungering and thirsting after righteous-
ness, merciful, pure in heart, peace-makers, and
persecuted for righteousness' sake. It is the
declaration of St. John, We know that we are of
God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
His prophecies in Revelation correspond to this.
Soon the purity of the primitive Church becomes
corrupt; the two witnesses prophesy in sack-
cloth; the woman flies to the wilderness, and the
s, meeks, pure in het hy sale
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.
241
dragon makes war with the remnant of her seed;
while the harlot sits upon many waters, and
makes the inhabitants of the earth drunk, and
deceives all nations. Yet, in the midst of all
this general departure from God, the kingdom
of Christ, now exactly numbered, is always
increasing, (Isa. ix. 7, xlii. 4 ; Matt. xiii. 31, 32;
John iii. 30; Rev. vii.,) and in the great tribula-
tion will be found to be a great multitude, which
no man could number, of all nations, and kindred,
and people, and tongues. We shall find the
number vastly exceed our largest thoughts, I
doubt not, when the Lord, in the day of trial,
begins to discriminate and separate his own
from the world. Elijah, to his joy, learned there
were 7,000 faithful in Israel, and with what
joyful surprise shall we find true servants of
Christ where, perhaps, we thought there were
only formalists, or schismatics, or the worldly.
The gold, the silver, and the precious stones,
will all then be manifested. All who love our
Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity will then stand
distinct, and be drawn together in the bonds of
real love, notwithstanding mere outward distinc-
tions. Be faithful to Christ, serve him at all
hazards and at all costs, make sacrifices for him ;
though you stand alone, stand firm for him; and
you will find how richly he will fulfil his own
promise, Every one that hath forsaken houses, or
DE
242
THE DIVINE WARNING.
brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or
children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive
an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
The time of diffusiveness, in the last fifty years,
has made the mark of the cross, which so gene-
rally distinguishes the true Church, less obvious.
That token by which, as Milner notices, he
generally found the Church in the dark ages,
will most likely soon again be much more
obviously the token for good, pointing out the
suffering as the real people of Christ.
THE UNITY OF THE TRUE CHURCH, in hold-
ing the mystery of godliness, seems more and
more manifesting itself. There is an unity of
tyranny, such as mighty conquerors have had,
who had armies at their will, and subdued
all under their power. There is an ecclesiastical
uniformity in outward form, such as Rome has
established, changing the body of Christ into
the image of a worldly kingdom; transforming
ministers of Christ from stewards of his mysteries
into lords of his heritage, and vesting them with
absolute power to bind and loose the consciences
of men; and then claiming for St. Peter and his
pretended successors a primacy, subjecting all to
one visible head on earth, and setting him up as
the rival of Christ. In contrast with all these
worldly unions, all hollow and deceitful, the
result of violence and compulsion, is that unity
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.
243
of faith, hope, and love, which marks the true
Church. To use the words of a friend, “ It
springs from understandings filled with light, and
hearts overflowing with love. It neither contents
itself with a bodily service, nor enslaves the con-
science to the authority of corrupt and fallen man.
It consists in the blessed concord of myriads of
souls, whom the truth has made free, and tuned
their every thought and desire into harmony with
the will of God and the glory of the Saviour.
The Divine wisdom towards St. Paul, the Apostle
of the Gentiles, in separating him from inter-
course with the Church at Jerusalem (Gal. i.
17), may teach the Church of Christ, by clear
and evident facts, that her true unity was not to
be found in outward forms, but in faith and holi-
ness. It was to be an unity, not in the details
of ecclesiastical order, but in obedience to the
same Lord, the profession of the same truth, and
in the prosecution of the same blessed work, the
salvation of immortal souls. The due order and
succession of Christ's ministry are, indeed, to be
highly valued when they do not hide from our
thoughts those weightier matters of the Gospel,
purity of doctrine and holiness of life. But as
soon as we turn them into essentials of the
Church, the mark of Apostasy begins to be written
on our foreheads; for when the apostles them-
selves began to dispute on questions of mere
i
Y 2
244
THE DIVINE WARNING.
precedence, our Lord gave them the solemn
warning, Except ye be converted, and become as
little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom
of heaven."
The spirit of union and love among real
Christians is, amidst all impediments, now grow-
ing; the sanctuary is now beginning to be
cleansed from its corruptions. (Dan. viii. 13, 14.)
“ The world and the Church," to use the words
of a beloved father in our Church, in a letter
dated 24th of November, 1842, “ are beginning
to stand out more distinct and separate from
each other than they have been in time past.
If it pleases God to permit to the world its
course and way, the members of the spiritual
Church will be hunted out and driven into
corners, but this will only be to render their
triumph more evidently the work of God. In
the meantime, [speaking to Christians of all
denominations, my venerable friend continues, ]
let us acknowledge and cherish in one another,
wherever we see it, the truth of God in its vital
influence. I am very desirous in this view that
[other bodies of Christians] should separate in
their minds the true and real Churchmen from
those who depart from the Church's spirit and
doctrines, while they make high pretensions
exclusively to represent her. I make this remark,
because I see the party which is troubling our
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.
245
Israel spoken of as the Church.' The Church,
in her authentic documents, and by all her true
members, repudiates and abhors the Popish errors
and heresies of that party, and we pray herein to
be supported and upheld by true Christians."*
Christians will find that they need each other's
help more and more, and thus become more and
more united in the midst of their respective
troubles ; and their troubles will work their
highest good. The separating time is manifestly
coming; we see it in the National Church of
Scotland, in the Scotch Episcopal Church, and
in our own Church. And may God give grace
to all his people to adhere to his Word, and to
confess his truth, to glorify his name, and to
love with a pure heart fervently all those who
love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity: so shall
we realize the sweet promise, He that loveth his
brother abideth in the light, and there is none
occasion of stumbling in him. (1 John ii. 10.)
The upper and nether millstone of Infidelity
and Popery are grinding to pieces between them
everything which has not the reality of truth
and consistency. The time for neutrality is
* Bishop O'Brien, of Ossory, and Bishop Wilson, of
Calcutta, in their late Charges, have incontrovertibly
established the anti-scriptural and anti-Church character
of the Tractarian movement. They are eminently useful
Charges in this controversy.
1
Y 3
246
THE DIVINE WARNING.
rapidly passing away. Every one will be com-
pelled to choose his side. Oh that we, my
Christian readers, may be decided for God, that
we may choose heartily and fully the Lord's ser-
vice; that we may take his Word as a light to
our feet, and a lamp to our paths, and follow him
fully, and maintain his truth with real, fervent,
unfeigned love to all our fellow-men, even those
who most oppose and revile us !
Let us seek to be welL FURNISHED WITH
SCRIPTURAL TRUTH. Never was it more needful
that the word of Christ should dwell in us richly
in all wisdom, that we should thoroughly know
the Holy Scriptures, able to make us wise unto
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus,
and that all Scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness: that
the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly fur-
nished unto all good works. Nothing will super-
sede a daily, devout, patient, and enlarged study
of God's Word, from beginning to end, com-
paring spiritual things with spiritual. We shall
be moved to and fro with every wind of doctrine,
without the personal, diligent, patient investi.
gation of Divine truth, not partially in favourite
portions, but going through the whole volume, in
its own proper field, the Holy Scriptures. To
compare our Creeds, Articles, Homilies, and
PRACTICAL ADDRESS. 247
Liturgy, with the sacred fountain of truth, and
so to arrive at an entire conviction of the truly
scriptural character of our formularies, will also
tend to preserve us from error on the right
hand, and on the left. To proceed, then, to the
writings of our Reformers (so happily re-pub-
lishing to meet our exigencies), will yet farther
tend to confirm and strengthen our assurance
of the great realities of God's Word ; nor should
the early Fathers be neglected. But we need,
for these times, yet deeper and fuller truths than
what may be sufficient for our personal salvation;
truths which are treasured up in God's Word.*
We want an enlarged, comprehensive view of all
parts of Divine truth, not neglecting and de-
spising the word of prophecy, but like those of
old, searching what or what manner of time the
Spirit of Christ, which was in them, when it
testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and
the glory which should follow. We cannot stand
against our enemies but as clothed with all the
armour with which God has furnished us, and in
the spirit of prayer and watchfulness to which
he has called us.
. I would recommend Christians, who have time
and opportunity, and while young, in addition
to the daily, patient, and devout study of the
* See the Author's Discourse on the “ Permanence
and Progress of Divine Truth.”
248
THE DIVINE WARNING.
Scriptures to CULTIVATE THEIR INTELLECT,
and to be diligent in the pursuit of knowledge
in general. Many of those who oppose the
doctrines of the Gospel are men of great learning
and enlarged scientific knowledge. The Gospel
is no enemy to learning, but, as we see at the time
of the Reformation, the very reverse. All sound
and deep knowledge of theology, of the Fathers,
of classics, of the Hebrew language, of science,
of literature, of history, and the like, will give us
very powerful weapons in defence of Evangelical
religion, and the Church, in its extended war-
fare, needs this service as well as other gifts
from her children. Oh, what time do many
waste in light and vain reading, in romances and
the most frivolous of works, that might be thus re-
deemed, and render them overflowing fountains of
useful light and knowledge to their fellow-men!
LET NOTHING KEEP US FROM MUCH PRAYER
To GOD; much private and secret communion in
large portions of time redeemed for this end, and
frequent social meetings for prayer; not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together, nor neglect-
ing the gift of prayer; remember the solemn
and plain direction, I will that men pray every-
where, lifting up holy hands without wrath and
doubting. While some would confine us to
forms of prayer on every occasion, let us realize
the scriptural direction, Ye people, pour out your
DR
11
AL
1
PRACTICAL ADDRESS. 249
hearts before him; God is a refuge for us.
Great is our advantage in having such a Liturgy
as ours for ordinary public worship, uniting us
with our fellow-worshippers through our land,
and through all lands, in one common and general
service, and with all ages of the Church of God,
concentrating their devotions in one form of
prayer. But never was this meant to deprive
the children of God of the constant privilege of
free social prayer in more limited circles of
worshippers, and with the utmost liberty of
spirit, from a full and devout heart, as we see in
the prayer made for Peter. (Acts xii. 12.)
It is a characteristic feature of Babylon, to com-
bine together (as the presidents and princes of
King Darius did) to stop Daniel's prayers to the
living and the true God. It is the part of the
true shepherds of Christ's flock in every way to
foster and promote the spirit of united prayer,
as we may see in the numerous directions of the
Word of God. Even a real servant of God may
mistake extempore prayer and attribute it to a
wholly wrong cause (1 Sam. i. 12-15); but God
will accept and answer the prayers of his people,
and put his own seal on their petitions.
Let us be encouraged in every exertion by
THE ASSURED AID OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
He is specially promised in these last days.
(Zech. X. 1; Acts ii, 17.) So mighty is his
250 THE DIVINE WARNING.
power, that he will convince the world of sin, and
of righteousness, and of judgment. He is pro-
mised to them that ask. By his aid we shall have
faith, wisdom, and strength, love and holiness,
and every needful help in all our difficulties. He
will shed abroad the love of God in our hearts ;
he will show us the Saviour's grace and love; he
will teach us to love others; he will prosper our
efforts for their good. It is the neglect of his
grace that makes us weak and feeble. We are
insufficient, wholly insufficient, for any good of
ourselves. Our real sufficiency is of Him. Oh,
that there may be a more general spirit of
prayer for his blessed influence; so shall that king-
dom be speedily established which is righteousness,
and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost !
May we keep ever in mind the clear direction
of our Lord, BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS. It
is his solemn caution to us, that they come to us
in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are raven-
ing wolves. Similar directions and cautions are
very numerous. (Deut. xiii, 1--3; Prov. xix. 27;
Isa. viii. 18, 19; Jer. xxiii. 16; Matt. xvi. 6-12,
xxiv. 4, 5, xi. 24 ; Mark xiii. 22 ; Rom. xvi. 17,
· 18; Ephes. v. 6; Col. ii. 8; 2 Peter ii. 1-3;
1 John iv. 1.) The tests which are given us to
know them are exceedingly simple: By their
fruits ye shall know them; to the law and to the
testimony ; if they speak not according to this word,
PRACTICAL ADDRESS
251
it is because there is no light in them. This
clearly throws upon each of our souls the solemn
and personal responsibility of judging the doc-
trines which our teachers bring before us. Our
Lord tells us, If the blind lead the blind, both shall
fall into the ditch. The Holy Spirit commends
the Bereans, because they tried the apostle's doc-
trine by the Word of God. (Acts xvii. 11.) The
blessed martyr, Bishop Hooper, well observes,
“ If they say unto thee that thou must not take
the text after thine own mind, but after the mind
of the holy doctors who have written on the
Holy Scriptures, think with thyself that God
nath given thee the Scripture, to read therein to
thy salvation as well as unto the doctor. Far-
ther, that thy doctor preach not a lie for truth,
God hath given thee the Scripture to judge thy
bishop, doctor, preacher, and curate, whether he
preach gall or honey, his own laws or God's
laws. It is a very carnal, flesh-pleasing, and
ease-loving plan to private Christians, and a
very ensnaring, self-exalting, and self-complacent
course for the minister, to cast all care and
responsibility on him ; but we, too, shall perish
with our teacher, if he deceive us by our neglect-
ing of that perfect light which God has given 118
to walk by, his own pure and holy Word.*
* The reader is referred to an able and powerful
pamphlet on this subject by the Rev. Edward Young,
252
THE DIVINE WARNING.
The Holy Spirit tells us, Cease, my son, to hear
the instruction that causeth to err from the words
of knowledge. (Prov. xix. 27.) And it is the
plain command of our Lord, T'ake heed what ye
entitled, “ Protestantism or Popery." He completely
establishes the Church of England and scriptural testimony
to the sole and exclusive supremacy of God's Word as the
only standard to each one of faith and duty, over the Papal
and Tractarian doctrine of a joint rule of faith, or of abso-
lute unconditional submission to the teaching of the Church.
The vigour and strength of argument in this pamphlet
cannot but be felt. One passage I just quote as referring
to the prophecy of Papal corruption : "The power which
pronounces Holy Scripture only sufficient when lighted up,
not by the Holy Spirit, but by the tradition of the Church,
may be said to have achieved the seeming impossibility of
sitting as God in the temple of God. There is, in the bare
idea, such an aspersion of the Word of God, and an as-
sumption so direct and perfect of the prerogative of the
Holy Ghost, that, amidst a cloud of emotions which sweep
across the soul, one conviction stands out distinct--this
can be no other than the man of sin."
There is a striking review in the January (1843)
“Quarterly Review," on Antichrist, which seems some-
thing like the beginning of the turn of the tide from the
Futurist interpretation, to the Protestant application of
Antichrist. Though the reviewer questions the full
application without deciding it, he gives such an able and
full exposition of the Antichristian character of Popery,
as goes far to establish it. He also gives a very striking
anticipation of the last development of the Antichrist in
the Papal Church, and in the revived constitution of the
Jesuits.--See Appendix.
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.
253
hear. It does, indeed, call for much prayer,
humility, patience, forbearance, and judgment,
in the difficult circumstances of life, in which
Christians are often placed, so to act on these
directions as to give no just occasion of offence,
by following our own self-wisdom and self-will
instead of the Word of God. But in so great a
question as that which directly affects our own
salvation, and that, perhaps, of very many under
our influence, there is a just claim for every
practicable effort to know, to hear, and to follow
God's saving truth, and not mere falsehoods of
human teaching, making the Word of God of none
effect, through their traditions. (Mark vii. 13.)
Do not, Christian reader, be deceived in so vital
a matter, where the Word of God is so plain.
Search the Scriptures for yourselves. Seek the
teaching of the Holy Spirit, and rely on the
plain testimony of the inspired volume ; so will
you be preserved from false teachers, and have
Divine guidance in all your way to your heavenly
home.
We must be careful, however, to DISCERN
THINGS THAT DIFFER. Let us not call that
Infidel, Popish, lawless, or Tractarian, which has,
perhaps, but a very small portion of the taint of
evil, and has much real good. We only strengthen
the evil by really and unconsciously giving to it all
the credit of the good which may thus largely
254
THE DIVINE WARNING.
be connected and associated with a partial evil.
We also confound the simple-minded in their
views. Which of us is free froin all taint of
error ? Surely we have to bear one another's
burdens day by day, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Oh that we may have, not a spurious candour,
but that real love, that charity which suffereth
long, and is kind; envieth not; vaunteth not itself,
is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly,
seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked,
thinketh no evil! We may expect, also, sudden
and great transitions from one evil to another.
Look only at the last fifteen years. Our dangers
at the beginning of that time seemed all to pro-
ceed from scepticism, democracy, and latitudi-
narianisın; now they seem to come from just the
opposite quarter, a blind submission, degrading
superstition, bondage to forms, and a prostration to
human teaching and man's authority. We may
expect other revulsions, and A VIOLENT REAC-
TION FROM THE PRESENT DOMINANT EVIL.
The opposite unclean spirits gather the kings of
the earth to the battle. Let us be watchful
against them all, and keep our allegiance to the
Lord Jesus Christ and his Word, pure and simple,
perfect and entire: discerning all things, yet dis.
cerned of no man, while we serve our unseen
King, and have our eye and heart single for him.
Let us not be IGNORANT OF THE GREAT
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.
255
SUBTLETY OF POPERY. We should not lose
sight of the peculiarly SEDUCTIVE, ENSNARING,
AND FASCINATING CHARACTER OF POFERY.
We are clearly and fully warned of this. Jezebel
teaches and seduces the servants of God. (Rev.
ii. 20.) The Apostasy arises from giving heeu to
seducing spirits. (1 Tim. iv. 1.) He doeth great
wonders, and deceiveth them that dwell on the
earth by the means of those miracles which he
hath power to do. (Rev. xiii. 14.) When she is
described as a drunken harlot, it is said, The
inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk
with the wine of her fornication. She is arrayed
in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold,
and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden
cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness
of her fornication; and so she became the mother
of harlots and abominations of the earth. And
yet farther, it is added, By thy sorceries were all
nations deceived : and in her was found the blood
of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were
slain upon the earth. Such is the description of
the deceivableness of unrighteousness that marks
the Apostasy. Oh let it not be given in vain ;
let it not be sounded by the Holy Ghost so con-
tinually without benefit to our souls! Rome is
exceedingly deceitful and ensnaring. You see it
fully exemplified in the great bulwark of Rome,
the Society of the Jesuits. You see it in those
z 2
256 THE DIVINE WARNING.
treading in their steps.* No wonder, then, that
apostate Churches multiply under her polluting
seductions and fascinations; no wonder she
enters into every land, pervades the most recent
missions, seeks to corrupt the purest Churches,
and to make those Churches that continue faith-
ful to Christ partakers of her abominations.
* In his “ Arians of the Eleventh Century,” published in
1833, Mr. Newman maintains the principle of representing
religion, for the purpose of conciliating the Heathen, in
the form most attractive to their prejudices, and quotes
Clement with approbation, as saying of the Christian, “ He
both thinks and speaks the truth, except when consideration
is necessary, and then, as a physician, for the good of his
patients, he will be false, or utter falsehood, as the Sophists
say." No wonder one with such a principle should write
Tract No. 90. But English Christians have a distinctive
aversion to all falsehood : learned, I trust, from the Word
of God. See how St. Paul contradicted all this false
wisdom in his own conduct at Corinth. (1 Cor. i. 18-31,
ii. 1-8.) A well-known Oxford Master of Arts, to whose
plain honesty and Christian boldness in this cause the
Church has been deeply indebted, states, in a letter to the
“Morning Herald,” dated January 11, 1843,"It is known
in Oxford, that a proposal has been made to a Tractarian
clergyman in Leicestershire, to join the Church of Rome
and yet retain his living, outwardly conforming to the
Church of England, and that it should never be known,'
The proposal, I am happy to say, was rejected with horror;
but there is no doubt whatever that such a proposal has
been made.” In another letter he mentions ten persons
as having gone over to Popery, from Tractarianism, within
sixteen months.
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.
257
1
“Shun the insidious arts
That Rome provides, less dreading from her frown
Than from her wily praise, her peaceful gown,
Language, and letters; these, though fondly view'd
As humanizing graces, are but parts
And instruments of deadliest servitude."— Wordsworth.
Our safety is in flight from her. The sin that
typifies her character should be our warning.
Flee fornication ; let it not be once named among
you. There must be no mingling in the society
of its abominations. We must shut our ears to
its enchanting music, and close our eyes upon
its gaudy shows, its splendid sights, its theatrical
worship, its lights and processions, and every-
thing by which it captivates the senses ; flee froin
it all, as you would from the degraded society of
those who have cast off modesty, and are living
in open fornication and adultery. And the more
earnestly, because the danger affecting the soul
is infinitely greater than any that can affect the
body; and so many have been fatally seduced.
Let us HUMBLE OURSELVES UNDER THE
MIGHTY HAND OF GOD. We deserved from our
God such a righteous chastisement as the present
trial. If Rome be the centre of the Apostasy and
the Babylon of the Revelation, if Infidelity pro-
ceed from the mouth of the dragon, and lawless-
ness from the mouth of the beast, are there not
also with us, even with us, sins against the Lord
our God? (2 Chron. xxviii. 10.) Truly, whe-
1
2 3
258
THE DIVINE WARNING.
ther men be Protestants or Papists, Infidels or
lawless, if they remain unconverted, they will
never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. xviii.
3); if they repent not, they shall all perish. (Luke
xüi. 3.) May our present difficulties bring each
to personal self-examination and searching the
Scripture, quicken us to retired and constant
prayer, and simple-hearted belief in all the truths
of God's holy Word !
The present controversies, increasing in in-
tensity on every side, are stirring up all the
depths of society, and showing evils of which we
were quite ignorant. Nor is this to be regretted.
The dead calm of a stagnant apathy and world-
liness is yet more full of infection and destruction,
than the most stormy state of controversy for
maintaining the great truths of the Gospel. It
is not to be denied that multitudes of Protestants
had lost all the power of the truths of the Re-
formation, and had only a name to live. The
Reformation Society, formed in 1826, long before
the Tractarian movement began, was founded on
this painful fact, into which the author entered
at length in his sermon preached before that
Society in 1837* The Protestant Churches,
therefore, need the admonition given to Sardis ;
Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
Be watchful, and strengthen the things that
* See his Occasional Works, pp. 404-450.
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.
259
remain, and are ready to die ; for I have not
found thy works perfect before God. Remember,
therefore, how thou hast heard, and hold fast, and
repent.
Let us carefully GUARD AGAINST ANY INCON-
SISTENCIES WITH OUR PROFESSION. Those
who have not seen the full tide of monthly,
weekly, and even daily publication, continually
flowing onward against Evangelical truth, have
little idea of the perils of the Church of Christ
at the present day, and may think we are sound-
ing an undue alarm. But the whole public
mind of Christendom is more and more coming
under the influence of such publications; and if
we would be faithful to Christ and his truth, we
shall have to stand against the stream, and pro-
bably have to endure a great fight of afflictions.
How needful it is, then, that real Christians of
every name should be guarded and circumspect
in all their conduct, and be really consistent;
and should cease also their minor differences,
and unite in the defence of our common salva-
tion. We may be sure that all our defects, and
weaknesses, and inconsistencies, will be searched
out and exposed. If there be any unholy tem-
pers, anything of a mere talk of religion without
the power, any rejoicing in iniquity, every ad-
vantage will be taken of it to overthrow our
principles. Negative Protestantism will do
260
THE DIVINE WARNING.
nothing for our defence. We must have the
full power and inward experience of the vital
principles of Divine truth revived at the Reforma-
tion. Mere political Protestantism will not stand
the battle. It will give way before the energetic
principles of evil now at work. We must have
the real and experimental reception of the truth
which carried Luther through all his daily con-
flicts, and which sustained Bradford and Cran-
mer, Latimer and Ridley, at the stake, if we
would be faithful to Christ, and attain the crown
of life.
In these uncommon times there are dangers on
the right hand and on the left. There are dan-
gers in contending against errors ; of contending
in an unchristian spirit of self-wisdom ; fancied
superiority and high-mindedness : nor must we
judge the motives of others, or speak of them
with bitterness and severity, as if we delighted
in continually assailing them. Nor must we sup-
pose that it is a strong and conclusive mark of
vital religion, vehemently to oppose the errors of
others. We must, indeed, contend earnestly for
the truth, but it is very possible to do this with-
out love; and we may see by the 13th of Ist
Corinthians how little it would then avail us.
There are serious snares and temptations to
which many are unconsciously exposed, and
which they cover from themselves by a zeal for
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.
261
the truth: such as love of money, love of ease,
hard-heartedness to the wants of others, secu-
larity, and worldliness. Oh how justly should we
be condemned if there was in those we are op-
posing a manifest superiority in self-sacrifice,
which far outwent those who had more scriptural
knowledge. If they have more zeal, and bounty,
and energy for their objects, let it lead us to
self-suspicion as to our own real faith. Let it
stir us up. In vain shall we seek to make known
Divine truth, if we commend it not by superior
light and love to all around us. Intensely quick-
sighted to our personal faults, every advantage
will be taken of them by our enemies to damage,
if possible, that cause of truth and righteousness
which we profess and desire to uphold. Let us
so act as to cut off occasion from them which
desire occasion of offence.
Very important is the scriptural duty of no-
NOURING AUTHORITIES, as one which we are
greatly tempted, in these days, to disregard. St.
Peter's statements are remarkably full and com-
prehensive: Submit yourselves to every ordinance
of man for the Lord's sake. Honour all men.
Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the
king. While the world around us is speaking
evil of dignities, and urging all kinds of changes
in society, and everything is in a state of move-
ment and transition, let us remember the direc-
262
THE DIVINE WARNING.
tions, Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither
be thou envious at the wicked; for there shall be
no reward to the evil man; the candle of the
wicked shall be put out. My son, fear thou the
Lord and the king, and meddle not with them
that are given to change, for their calamity shall
rise suddenly, and who knoweth the ruin of them
both; that is, both of those given to change, and
of those who join them. There are many symp-
toms of violent changes being at hand, as we
have seen.* May we Christians keep wholly
separate from such troublers of our land; and
if our trials come from those in authority, though
we may, like the early Christian Church and the
blessed Reformers, have openly and directly to
withstand both the civil and ecclesiastical au-
thorities,t and to testify to the truth against their
most direct commands and most violent opposi-
* See note, pp. 123–126.
of It was very painful and humbling to British Chris-
tians that the Governor-General, after God had so gra-
ciously prospered our arms and extricated us from the
difficulties which we had brought upon ourselves, gave
Government honours to the idolatries of India, by direct-
ing the gates of a Heathen temple to be restored from
Affghaunistan in triumph, and to the honour of its original
Idol temple, and to be replaced there. Oh, surely we
have all need to pray more for those in authority, that
they may be preserved from a course so dishonourable to
the one living and true God, and so calculated to bring
down the Divine judgments upon us !
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.
263
tion, still let us honour and reverence their office.
Our withstanding them must be simply in the
way of testimony and of suffering ; not in the way
of reviling, nor of taking the sword. They over-
came him (the accuser of the brethren) by the
blood of the Lamb, and by the Word of their
testimony; and they loved not their lives unto
death. We have all very much to learn yet in
the great duties of trying and suffering times.
I cannot but decidedly express my strong protest
against judging the motives, or harshly condemn-
ing the conduct of those in authority, by any one,
and especially by any of those who have substan-
tially the truth. It is a part of the lawlessness
of the times, as offensive to God as the contrast
spirit of the Apostasy. I have seen statements of
this kind from all sides towards those who differ
from them, to which I wholly object, however I
may concur, or not concur, in their general sen-
timents on doctrines. It must tend to shut the
ears, to fix to a one-sidedness, and to harden the
consciences, as well as to provoke the wrath,
of those who oppose what we conceive to be the
truth. It is losing sight of the great Judge and
the speedy judgment. Let us remember the
instruction brought before us by St. Paul, when
in ignorance and against manifest injustice, he
had spoken against a ruler of the people: I wist
not, brethren, that he was the High Priest, for it
264
THE DIVINE WARNING.
is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler
of thy people. (Acts xxiii. 5.) We have all
great need of watchfulness on this point.
The peculiar TEMPTATIONS OF WEALTH, AND
THE DANGERS OF THE RICH, had need to be
urged, in these days, and in this land, with
special earnestness. Idolatry of wealth is one
great and peculiar snare of Britain in this day,
The situation and danger of the country, in this
respect, is so striking as to call forth the re-
marks of well-informed men. Thus, the follow-
ing quotation from a speech by Mr. Sydney
Herbert, Secretary to the Admiralty, at a recent
meeting of the Salisbury Diocesan Church Build-
ing Society, has been justly approved by both
Government and Opposition journals. After
stating that “they none of them feel sufficiently
the responsibility of wealth and the duties which
the possession of property entails on them;" that
“great changes have taken and are taking place at
the two ends of the social scale-wealth being at
the one end, enormously on the increase, and
poverty as rapidly increasing at the other—the
rich becoming still richer, and the poor becoming
every day more numerous and more poor," he
proceeded to observe, “But, whatever be its
causes or its remedies, depend on it this is a most
dangerous state of society. It may right itself ;
but if it should produce some convulsion or
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.
265
struggle, and that struggle should be marked, as
political struggles have usually been, by crimes,
we shall be deeply responsible for those crimes,
and deeply guilty if we have neglected to afford
the means for the cultivation of a real religious
feeling on the part of our poorer fellow-subjects.
We have too little communication between classes
in this country. We want not the feeling, but
the expression of more sympathy between the
rich and the poor--more personal communica-
tion with them."
Let us compare with these striking remarks
the scriptural instructions given to those in these
circumstances and made characteristic of the last
days, Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for
your miseries that shall come upon you : your riches
are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten ;
your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of
them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat
your flesh as it were a canker. Ye have heaped
treasure together in the last days. Behold, the
hire of the labourers who have reaped down
your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud,
crieth, and the cries of them which have reaped are
entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth and been
wanton ; ye have nourished your hearts as in a
day of slaughter. We see here in God's own
Word, just the counterpart to that which all
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THE DIVINE WARNING:
1
"
parties agree in testifying is the actual state of
our country. But his Word furnishes not only
a most awakening and alarming warning of
coming judgment, but also, a most earnest call
to consideration and repentance. Oh how self
destructive is that total abstinence from aid,
which has characterized the conduct of many
of the wealthy of our land with reference to
the abounding distresses of their fellow-men,
both temporal and spiritual: both at home
and in foreign lands. England is overflowing
with stagnant wealth, unemployed capital, dread-
fully injurious to its possessors, and spreading,
unconsciously to them, all around real infec-
tion and death ; while every religious Society
is left weak and enfeebled for good that might
have been accomplished, and millions and hun-
dreds of millions of immortal beings are un-
blessed that might have been blessed. How
dreadful the responsibility of buried talents !
There are bright names, that like Thornton,
Broadley Wilson, Haldane, and others gone
to their rest, have had, as some now living
have, a truly Christian and princely liberality;
and doubtless many in secret have done to
their power and beyond their power. But the
condemnation of St. James, we cannot but fear,
must apply to a large class of the wealthy of
Britain, and he calls them to see that their
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.
267
riches will be their condemnation, their plague,
and their curse in the day of Christ. Oh that
we might learn the deep national as well as per-
sonal wisdom contained in the Divine assurance,
treasures of wickedness profit nothing : but
righteousness delivereth from death. May the
Saviour's command show all the true use and
full security for wealth before it be too late :
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves break through and steal; but lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth
nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not
brcak through nor steal : for where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also.
TO MAINTAIN THE SPIRIT OF REAL LOVE
TO ALL MEN IS ALL-ESSENTIAL. If there be
one thing more important than another, it is to
take constant heed to the great rule, Be not
overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. All
our contentions for the truth (a clear Christian
duty, Jude 3) should be carried on in the spirit
of deep and full love. How fully was that
exhibited in our blessed Lord! Earnest, sharp
contendings there were with Scribes and Pharisees
(Matt. xxiii.), but it was from him who had in
the same week been weeping over Jerusalem and
expressing his earnest desire to gather them;
and who, after they had crucified him, told his
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THE DIVINE WARNING.
apostles to begin preaching his Gospel to them.
When he reproves any in his epistles to the seven
Churches, what a spirit of love marks all his
censures. St. Paul withstood Peter to the face,
because he was to be blamed, but in the full spirit
of love. Even towards those most malignant
enemies, who only sought his destruction again
and again; while he exposed all their errors, his
feelings of love were ever going forth. (Acts
xxvi. 26, 27; Rom. ix. 1-3.) St. Stephen
disputed so zealously with certain of the syna-
gogue, that they were not able to resist the wisdom
with which he spake, and persecuted him even to
death, yet from him in his worst torture came
the prayer of love for them, Lord, lay not this
sin to their charge! Let us remember also, that
our Lord and his apostles could infallibly dis-
cern and speak the truth; and though, through
their plain word, we are not left in a doubtful
state of mind as to all the great essentials of
Divine truth, yet in points where we differ on
the meaning of that Word from our fellow-
Christians, we have not that infallible inspiration
which the sacred writers had. Though we
believe and therefore speak, yet there should be
that sense of our infirmity and of the responsi-
bility of an ultimate judgment yet to come,
that should check strong and partial statements,
or harsh censure. May God graciously lead us
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.
269
all carefully to regard the Divine admonition ;
speaking the truth in love (ałndevoutes ev ayann),
or rather, not only speaking, but teaching, living,
and maintaining the truth in love. Even derision
and mockery was met by our Lord in silent
meekness, and the bitterest trials of cruel mock-
ings had to be passed through by believers of old.
If we are to triumph it will not be by anger, or
strife, or bitterness, but by patience and meek-
ness in sufferings, and by persevering love.
Should any expression contrary to the spirit of
love have escaped me in this treatise, it was
against my purpose, and I renounce it. If any
will not love us, we will love them, and that,
by God's grace, with a pure heart fervently, and
because we love them and all men, testify plainly
against what we think wrong in them, so mani-
festing the reality of our being born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word
of God, that liveth and abideth for ever. We
must rise, my dear fellow-Christians, to a far
higher standard of love than any of us have yet
attained to meet the peculiar temptations of
these days. The Philadelphian state of the
Church has yet to come, and to it is the special
promise: Because thou hast kept the word of
my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour
of temptation which shall come upon all the world,
to try them that dwell upon the earth,
12
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270
THE DIVINE WARNING.
Let us REALLY DELIGHT IN TRUTII AND
GOODNESS WHEREVER WE SEE IT. We should
gladly discern, commend, and follow that which
is good, both among ourselves and to all men,
whether Churchmen or Dissenters, Romanists or
Tractarians, Wesleyans, Lutherans, or Presby-
terians. Wherever men hold the Head Christ
Jesus, and walk in his ways, let us rejoice. It is
difficult to rise to the comprehensive mind of
St. Paul, who, while strongly protesting against
the fatal error of the Jews, yet still bears them
witness that they have a zeal of God. True love
rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
and the wisdom that is from above is first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full
of mercy and of good fruits, without partiality
and without hypocrisy. Oh how many things
there are which we may all learn from each
other! Graces that are eminent in one class are
deficient in other classes. For my part, objecting
as I have done so strongly to Tractarians, I would
cordially rejoice in any good thing which they
may have pressed, as the importance of regarding
the whole Catholic Church of Christ, the duty
of reverencing authorities, the dangers of self-
complacent satisfaction, or of isolated selfishness,
of hard-hearted neglect of the poor, the value of
a form of godliness and of more frequent public
worship, the improvement of churches, and the
PRACTICAL ADDRESS,
271
need of due provision for the poor in them, as
pressed by St. James, ii. 1--5. Let us beware
of opposing anything really good because it
comes from those whose general principles we
are constrained to condemn. Let us rather
gladly promote that which is really excellent,
whoever suggests it. Thus we shall not only add
strength to our own testimony against their
errors, but take away the strength of error in its
conjunction with important truths, by which
alone the consciences of really good men are
retained in its defence. In short, let us seek to
realize the prayer of St. Paul, That ye may
approve things that are excellent, that ye may be.
sincere and without offence till the day of Christ,
being filled with the fruits of righteousness which
are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of
God.
I fear, also, lest in the eagerness of contending
for the truth, any of us should lose sight of
those self-denying duties of PRACTICAL GOOD
WORKS proceeding from love to Christ, which
will be the chief subject of inquiry at the last
day. The daily workings of a living faith in
fervent prayer to God in secret, in purifying the
heart, in victory over the world, and especially
in self-denying, self-sacrificing love to the
brethren, and the aboundings of love to all
men; how unspeakably important they are !
272
THE DIVINE WARNING.
Christian reader, we have many reasons to
think the wrath to come on the wicked is now
drawing near, and the Word of God leads us to
expect also, that judgment must begin at the
house of God. How should these things quicken
us in the Divine life. Expect that all your
Christian graces will be greatly tried. You
will need every part of Divine truth. You will
need all the help of past experience and present
watchfulness. Every effort will be made to
deceive you. In special allusion to these times,
our Lord says, There shall be false Christs and
false prophets, and shall show great signs and
wonders, insomuch, that if it were possible, they
shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told
you beforehand. The great temptations, and the
great security of God's elect, are here distinctly
set before us. Let us then be quickened and
encouraged to all watchfulness and prayer: and
abounding in all good works. Let us redeem
the time. This is a faithful saying, and these
things I will that thou affirm constantly, that
they which have believed in God might be careful
to maintain good works. These things are good
and profitable unto men.
• We shall now have most likely to bear the
cross in a far more arduous conflict than any
that of recent times Christians have had to pass
throygh. We must expect that the world will
PRACTICAL ADDRESS. 273
more and more show its hostility to those who
will neither yield to the mockery of Infidelity,
nor to the fascinations of Popery, nor to the spirit
of lawlessness, nor to the overvaluing of wealth,
but will, at all costs and sacrifices, adhere to the
Word of God and the doctrine of Christ. Men
of this world will speak all manner of evil against
us falsely for Christ's sake. Blessed shall we be
thus to suffer for righteousness. The Lord only
give us grace to wait on him in prayer and to be
more bold and determined in confessing Christ's
truth, and testifying his grace to all men than
ever. Let us only remember to join the apostolic
prayer, O Lord, grant unto thy servants, that
with all boldness they may speak thy Word
(Acts iv. 29), to the primitive practice, Many of
the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my
bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without
fear (Phil. i. 14), and we shall yet rise above
every storm that Satan or his unclean spirits can
raise against us, and join our Saviour in his last
triumphs over all his enemies.
Most important is DIVINE GUIDANCE! God
give us all grace to contend earnestly, but ever in
the spirit of prayer (Eph. vi. 18), for the com-
mon salvation and for the faith which was once
delivered to the saints, and so to bring many to
the joint participation of his full glory in his
heavenly kingdom. Excellent prayers are to this
274
THE DIVINE WARNING.
day used in both Houses of Parliament, before
business is proceeded with. I give the one that
has a more special reference to heavenly guid-
ance, with the slight alterations (marked by
italics), to adopt it for use in private families ;
hoping it may be used by some in their daily
family prayers during the sitting of Parlia-
ment.*
“ Almighty God, by whom alone kings reign,
and princes decree justice, and from whom alone
cometh all counsel, wisdom, and understanding;
we, thine unworthy servants, here gathered to-
gether in thy name, do most humbly beseech
thee, to send down thy heavenly wisdom from
above, to direct and guide all the consultations
of the High Court of Parliament ; and grant
that they, having thy fear always before their
eyes, and laying aside all private interests, preju-
dices, and partial affections, the result of all
their counsels may be to the glory of thy blessed
name, the maintenance of true religion and
justice, the safety, honour, and happiness of the
Queen, the public wealth, peace, and tranquillity
of the realm, and the uniting and knitting
together the hearts of all persons and estates
within the same, in true Christian love and
* Surely if the important time of the Parliament is most
properly taken up with previous prayer, we may give also
some added words to family prayers in their behalf.
...
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.'
275
charity, one towards another, through Jesus
Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen."*
Let me, lastly, exhort all Christians now to
COUNT THE COST OF BEING DECIDED FOR THE
LORD; and to make up their minds to count all
things but loss, and if need be, to suffer the loss ..
of all things to win Christ and be found in him.
He must be a dull observer of the signs of the
times who does not discern, that everything is
tending to bring out the reality and strength of
men's principles, and to discriminate between
him that serveth God and him that serveth him
not. Whatever of past defects may have helped
to occasion the present trying state of the Scotch
National Church, (and none will be more ready
to confess such than the most faithful of Chris-
tians in that Church,)t who can witness, without
.
* The sermons preached at St. Bride's, Liverpool, on
the first day of the year 1843, by my beloved friend Mr.
Stewart, “ On Prayer for the Outpouring of the Holy
Spirit," bear so directly on the subject of this Treatise,
and are so full of seasonable and edifying truth, that
I gladly commend them to the attention of my readers.
+ This spirit was very remarkable and beautiful in
Bradford. After praying for deliverance from Antichrist,
he goes on, “Oh! that thou wouldest in the meanwhile,
before thou do deliver us, open our eyes to see all these
plagues to come from THEE ; and other that shall come,
whatsoever they shall be, public or private, that they come
not by chance nor by fortune, but that they come even
276
THE DIVINE WARNING.
sympathy and admiration, love and prayer for
them,-I am sure I cannot--the firm standing on
conscience and the devotedness to principle at
great sacrifices, of the half of the national clergy,
many of them distinguished for zeal and piety.
May God give them more and more the spirit
of wisdom, and truth, long-suffering, and love!
from thy hand, and that justly and mercifully ;" and then
he enters into the justice of God on account of their sins,
and the mercy of God in their suffering for righteousness'
sake, in order to reigning with Christ in glory. So,
writing to his mother, he says, “I have always been, and
am so vile a hypocrite, and grievous a sinner, God might
have caused me, long before this time, to have been cast
into prison as a thief, a blasphemer, an unclean liver, and
an heinous offender of the laws of the realm [the world
will be sure to mistake such confessions of the believer];
but, dear mother, HIS MERCY IS SO GREAT upon both you
and all that love me, THAT I SHOULD BE CAST INTO
PRISON as none of these, or for any such vices, but ONLY
FOR CHRIST'S SAKE ; FOR HIS GOSPEL'S SAKE; FOR HIS
CHURCH'S SAKE ; that hereby, as I might learn to lament
and bewail my ingratitude and sins, so might I rejoice
with his mercy ; be thankful, look for eternal joy with
Christ, for whose sake, praised be his name for it, I now
suffer; and therefore should be merry and glad." He
then calls his mother to rejoice in his suffering, and to pray
to God that he might be counted worthy to suffer, “not
only imprisonment, but even death itself for thy truth,
religion, and Gospel's sake.” Here is the all-conquering
spirit of a Christian : mighty in no carnal weapons, but
mighty through God in meekness, patience, and long-
suffering.
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.
277
I fear, lestdemocratic element in the movement
should in any overpower the Evangelical; and the
coldness of the Established Church of England
with the warmth of Dissenters towards the Free
Church, will be peculiarly trying on this very
point to our beloved brethren of the Free Church.
Who can look at this trial without seeing a loud
call on us all, to examine our principles and the
ground on which we stand, and whether we at
such cost will be faithful to Christ. I doubt not
that there will be an enlarged spiritual blessing
to ministers and members of that Church in the
whole course of this severe trial of their principles.
God grant it abundantly !
We may see its beginning in the statements
made by faithful ministers, who are compelled
by their situations to take a public part in these
trying times.* Very striking are those which
* I allude to such as I have seen, and to the able and
full answer of the Committee to Sir James Graham's letter,
which contains the clearest and most comprehensive state-
ment of the civil Government's view of this question. As
the trial increases, I trust that God will give more and
more of the deep humiliation and full joy of Bradford's
letters ; it is the meek who inherit the earth.
No doubt the line of separation between spheres of the
civil and ecclesiastical authorities in their connected opera-
tions for the welfare of the commonwealth, is often difficult
to be defined; but, that there is a distinct authority given
of God to each is clear from his Word, and from the
acknowledged confessions and constitution of our country.
в в
278
THE DIVINE WARNING.
have been made by Dr. Candlish on more than one
occasion. His sermon, Dec. 18, 1842, addressed
May we all bear in mind who is the real source of all
authority, and that we are all responsible to him who is
the King of kings, and the real Sovereign of the earth!
This is distinctly brought out in our national coronation
service, in such plain statements as these :--
" Remember that the whole world is subject to the power
and empire of Christ our Redeemer. For he is the Prince
of the kings of the earth, King of kings, and Lord of
lords : SO THAT NO MAN CAN REIGN HAPPILY WHO
DERIVES NOT HIS AUTHORITY FROM HIM, AND DIRECTS
NOT ALL HIS ACTIONS ACCORDING TO HIS LAW8."
The address of the Archbishop at the enthronization
also shows the concurrence and distinctness of temporal
and spiritual authorities :-"Stand firm, and hold fast from
henceforth the seat and state of Royal and Imperial dig-
nity, which is this day DELIVERED UNTO YOU IN THE
NAME AND BY THE AUTHORITY OF ALMIGHTY GOD, and
by the hands of us the bishops and servants of God,
though unworthy. And, as you see us to approach nearer
to God's altar, so vouchsafe the more graciously to con-
tinue to us your Royal favour and protection. And the
Lord God Almighty, WHOSE MINISTERS WE ARE, AND
THE STEWARDS OF HIS MYSTERIES, establish your throne
in righteousness, that it may stand fast for evermore, like
as the sun before him, and as the faithful witness in
heaven. Amen."
See also the 37th Article of our Church. Apart from the
scriptural and ecclesiastical view of the subject, the legal
difficulties are such in the present Scotch National Church
dispute, that the ablest judges in Scotland have formed
different judgments. It is, however, striking to see that
the most opposite merely political parties unite against the
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.
279
to students and young men, on 1 Thess. v. 21,
is full of awakening thought. Well does he
observe, “ Men will draw off to their respective
sides as the field is clearing for the combat, and
they will shake themselves more and more free
from all engagements and entanglements which
might distract or disconcert them. The merely
secular elements which have hitherto entered
into the discussion or controversies of the Church,
or of the world, will give place to what is spiri-
tual, whether it be spiritual wickedness in high
places, or spiritual faith and patience in those
who wrestle against it."
Very beautiful also is his assured anticipation,
“ The exigencies of the times will bring all who
are like-minded closer together, and compel them
Church, which professes to stand simply on the Word of
God. The subject deserves special attention as one of
those remarkable signs of the times, indicating coming
events,
Mr. Hamilton's “Harp on the Willows," while calcu-
lated to touch the heart by its Christian spirit, gives
useful instruction respecting the present difficulties in the
National Church of Scotland, and points out the sources
of fuller information. I cannot but recommend the mem-
bers of our Established Churches in England and Ireland,
to seek to understand the principles at issue in this con-
troversy, and the really painful position of faithful Scotch
brethren in the ministry, and I feel assured that they
would show sympathy with such conscientious sufferers,
And pour out much prayer for them.
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280
THE DIVINE WARNING.
better to understand one another. The perils of
a common warfare, the pressure of a common
persecution, the calls of a common duty to preach
the word, to preach it freely, widely, everywhere,
and at all seasons as the only antidote to Anti-
christian poison, the only salt that can save the
earth, and, ABOVE ALL, THE LONGINGS OF A
COMMON HOPE, EVEN THE HOPE OF THE
COMING OF THE LORD; for which the souls
under the altar cry, How long, O Lord, holy and
true, dost thou not judge and avenge thy saints ?
these common ties will surely draw nearer to one
another all who hold the Head, which is Christ,
and whom Antichrist would fain destroy !"
The distinct separation from all merely political
parties, and the distinct standing upon the word
of Christ, were remarkable features in the begin-
ning of this movement, and God grant that they
may continue to distinguish it from all mere
worldly measures. Our strength is from above,
and testimony to the truth, and sufferings for it,
are our path till the return of our Lord. May
his people be kept from leaning on any arm of
flesh, and especially from all parties hostile to
the Government of our country!
Thus powerfully, also, does Mr. Wallace, of
Hawick, lay before his parishioners the character
of the approaching conflict.
“God appears to be preparing, by the solemn
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.
281
movements of his providence, for a process of
the sternest sifting, when those of you who are
Christians by mere profession will probably be
separated from those who are Christians in deed
and in truth; and when the main controversy
will be, not between one party and another, in
regard to matters of secondary and subordinate
importance, but between Christ on the one hand,
and the world on the other. If we read the signs
of the present time aright, that is the very trial
that is drawing near to us all; and in the course
of it, we doubt not that the language of Daniel
shall be strikingly fulfilled: Many shall be
purified and made white and tried; but the wicked
shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall
understand; but the wise shall understand.'
“For such a trial there seems to be an urgent
need. In this Christian land, and for a consi-
derable time back, all classes of men have been
very much mingled together. The broad and
characteristic distinctions between the disciples
of Christ and the men of the world have been,
in a great measure, lost sight of. The enmity
which God meant to be eternal and uncompro-
mising between the seed of the woman and the
serpent, has been permitted almost to die away.
The world and the Church have joined hands
together as if they were brethren, and the peace
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282
THE DIVINE WARNING,
which the world loves has been the result. But
God appears to be taking the matter into his
own hands; and we understand nothing, either
of the philosophy of history, or of the principles
of the Bible, if his providential procedure at
the present time do not lead to this result,--that
a line of broad and palpable distinction shall be
drawn between the men of the world and those
whose lives are hid with Christ in God. The
judgment and the trial seem already to be begin-
ning with the house of God, and with God's
ministers; and it is likely to be a strong sifting
for us all, - such a sifting as will put everything
like neutrality out of our power, either con-
straining us by the fear of man, which bringeth
a snare, to make shipwreck of our faith, and to
cast in our lot with the men of the world who have
their portion only in this life; or impelling us, in
the integrity of our spirits, and in the strength
of firm, unshaken, and unalterable principle, to
go beyond the camp, bearing Christ's cross, and
suffering its reproach."
“Nor is it likely the trial will stop with us. In
all likelihood it will also pass into the bosom of
your families, and unto all of you whose hearts
are right in the sight of God, and who are
stedfast in Christ's covenant, it need not be
surprising, though it should be felt, and felt with
PRACTICAL ADDRESS.
283
a bitterness not to be described, that a man's
enemies shall be they of his own household.”
Since these remarks were first written, the
Free Church of Scotland has separated itself
from the Established Church of Scotland. The
hand of God has been manifest in the whole.
Oh, that it may please him to overrule it for the
purifying and reviving, not only of the Scotch,
but of our own and all faithful Protestant
Churches, that it may indeed be the appointed
time for the cleansing of the sanctuary! Dan
viii. 14.
The movement in our own Church, joined to
the unprecedented activity of Popery, and the
immense masses of the population under the
contrast errors of Infidelity and lawlessness, is
exceedingly likely speedily to bring before us
similar exercises of mind and similar trials. Let
us not mistake halting between two opinions for
a peace-making and a peace-loving spirit, but
remember that heavenly wisdom is first pure, and
then peaceable. Let us never think to promote
true peace by clothing unfaithfulness to God
and his truth, with the names of judgment and
discretion. There is no judgment nor discretion
equal to that of being on the Lord's side, and
undergoing suffering for righteousness' sake; and
eternity will make this clear to all creation. Let
us then well count the cost of being a real Chris-
284
THE DIVINE WARNING.
1
tian; all the hazards and dangers; all the shame
and cruel mockings; all the sacrifices and heavy
losses to which we may be soon exposed. But
then let us look at that treasury we have in
Christ Jesus to meet all this cost, and at that
recompence of reward, and that crown of life,
which he will bestow. Let us look also at that
everlasting shame and contempt to which his
faithless followers will hereafter awake. Thus
counting the cost, let us be assured that the
sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us. The suffering time, though very short,
is the time also of cleared up evidences of
interest in him, of nearness to and sweet com-
munion with him, of full measures of spiritual
joy, and of sowing most abundantly the seed to
be reaped in a harvest of eternal glory. Be thou
faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown
of life. I close then with the admonition of our
Redeemer; given to the Church, or rather, singly
to each believer; encompassed with many enemies
at this very time: Behold, I come as a thief!
blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his gar-
ments, lest he walk naked, and they see his
shame.
APPENDIX.
I. ON THE PROTESTANT APPLICATION OF THE MAN OF SIN,
ANTICHRIST, AND OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION
GENERALLY.
It was the general sentiment of the Reformers of the
sixteenth century that Popery was an idolatrous Apostasy,
and that the application of the terms Antichrist, Man of
Sin, and Babylon, to the Roman Church was well founded.
It is therefore here called the Protestant application. We
see this sentiment in the Protestant Confessions of Faith,
as I have, in other publications, shown. Cranmer at the
stake witnessed it. Ridley in his farewell letter fully
asserted it. Our Homilies bear distinct testimony to it
Knox of Scotland, in 1549, had his first sermon in public
in St. Andrew's Church, Edinburgh, when he preached on
the 7th of Daniel, and applied the fourth empire to the
Roman empire, and the Man of Sin, Antichrist, and the
Harlot, to the Popes and their followers. (“Calderwood's
History," vol. i. page 229.) Bishop Cox writes to his
friend Weidner, in May, 1559, “We, that little flock, who,
for these last five years, by the blessing of God, have been
hidden among you in Germany, are thundering forth in
our pulpits, and especially before our Queen Elizabeth,
that the Roman Pontiff is truly Antichrist, and that tra-
ditions are for the most part mere blasphemies." (See
“ Zurich Letters,” page 27.) This Protestant application
of New Testament prophecy was in fact one great and
286
APPENDIX.
Divine weapon, in the faithful use of which God gave
them that complete victory, of which we have been reaping
the religious advantages which we have enjoyed in the
last three centuries. We need this, as well as every other
part of that armour of righteousness, which God has given
us in his Word. No part of our scriptural armour can be
safely slighted.
It may be desirable here to enlarge on this subject; not
only as this treatise is founded upon the Protestant appli-
cation of the Apocalypse, but as the strenuous efforts of so
many, not merely among Papists, but among Protestants,
have been recently directed against this application. The
sophistry has indeed been ably met in various ways. See
the writings of Faber, Cuninghame, Woodhouse, Haber-
shon, and others; and see, especially, Mr. Faber's Pro-
vincial Letters as to the year-day, and my friend Mr.
Birks's “ Elements of Prophecy,” published by Painter.
Mr. Palmer (who has manifestly not studied the subject
deeply, for he makes several palpable mistakes, and his
statements are hesitating, supposititious, and doubtful,
pulling down without building up) has given, in a Supple-
ment to his Treatise on the Church, his answer to
objections from prophecy against his theory, in which he
endeavours to set aside the general Protestant interpre-
tation. The writer has been chiefly indebted to a friend
for the remarks on Mr. Palmer's Supplement.
He misrepresents this interpretation by supposing that
those who hold it consider the visible Churches of Christ
as wholly apostate for 1260 years. Few will deny that
those Churches in the middle ages were in some sense
Churches of Christ, as visible bodies of professors not
formally rejected by God. What is really maintained is,
that the number of true worshippers in them was small
compared with others; that the main body was corrupt
and idolatrous ; that the Papacy and its tyranny was the
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APPENDIX.
287
centre and spring-head of those corruptions; and that
those corruptions and idolatries were formally embodied
in the Papal Church, after the Reformation by the Council
of Trent. Before that time, in the view of prophecy,
they were corrupt visible Churches, with an Apostasy
revealed amidst them. Since that time, they are apostate
Churches, disowned collectively for their corporate and
collective sin. Yet even then not totally apostate, nor
entirely rejected till their last and Infidel stage, when the
last of God's people are brought out of them. They form
the outer court, before profaned, now formally rejected,
yet still having a time of long-suffering, like the Jews
after the day of Pentecost.
Thus the prophecy gives us three views of the Roman
Catholic Communion. First, as a visible Church militant,
an agent of Christ, victorious, and then gradually cor-
rupting. (Rev. vi.) Second, the Papacy, an Apostasy
growing up within it and gaining dominion over it.
(Rev. xiii. 11-18.) And, third, faithful Christians;
true, though weak believers, some of whom remain in it
to the last. (Rev. xviii. 4.)
Mr. Palmer argues that the view, that the true Church
of Christ was for 1260 years to be a little flock, while the
visible Catholic Church was to be given up to Gentile
abominations, rests entirely on the assumption that the
1260 days of the prophecy are to be understood figuratively
as years. The reverse is rather the case, and the inter-
pretation of the times rests on that of the symbols and
context. Many have held the application to the middle
ages and the Papacy, who do not hold the year-day, as
Vitringa, Bengelius, Roos, and others. The view rests on
many classes of arguments; and those drawn from the
mystical meaning of the dates, though strong themselves,
are not the simplest or strongest. The main classes of
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APPENDIX.
argument for this view of the Apocalypse are as follows:
--The application is established-
1. By the date of the Apocalypse, and its continuity
from the Ascension of Christ, chapter v., onward. Our
Lord says, The things must shortly come to pass.
2. By the symbolic character of the whole. How could
the first and second woes be taken literally ? since they
are symbolical, the harmony of interpretation requires
that other parts be thus viewed.
3. By comparison with Daniel vii., each fixes the other
to the times before and following the division of the
Roman empire.
4. From the symbols themselves plainly applying to the
Christian Church.
5. From the related types. The parallel is double ; to
the times of Elias, and to our Lord's own death and
resurrection.
6. From the historical reference of the two first woes,
almost the clearest part of the prophecy.
7. From the mystical dates themselves.
Mr. Palmer says, the weight of authority is altogether
opposed to the figurative interpretation of days for years.
It is important to weigh authorities before we give credit
to their names. In the interpretation of prophecies take
four conditions ; that they be spiritually-minded, dispas-
sionate, and diligentstudents of the prophecy, and have lived
when the facts were before them by which to judge ; and
then there is no balance between them. The Fathers are
here excluded by the last condition; and the mere critics,
as Michaelis, Bertholdt, and Scaliger, by the first. To
allege the Fathers here is a mere blind. On the view
of those who maintain the mystical meaning, one Divine
end in so wording them was, that the delay of his coming
might not be prematurely revealed. How then should the
APPENDIX.
289
Fathers have viewed them, but as literal ! Yet in fact, the
year-day was recognised as early as the sixth century, in
places where it did not interfere with the hope of Christ's
speedy Advent. Bengelius and Roos adopt strongly the
application to the Papacy, and Bengelius views it as strictly
demonstrable. Let it be remembered that all truth re-
quires a fit soil on which to take root : and God will not
throw away his more hidden treasures of truth on frivolous
or sarcastic minds. The meek he will guide in judgment.
Nothing can be well a greater misrepresentation, both of
the prophecy and of the Protestant interpretation, than to
say, that by the application of the ten-horned and two-
horned beasts to the Papacy and the Churches subject to
it the whole of Christendom for many ages is virtually
consigned to damnation. There is a strange omission of
that last part of the verse (Rev. xiii. 8), on which all its
force depends —"All that dwell upon the earth shall worship
him" (the beast): and then St. John adds, “ whose names
were not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world." There is, then, a book of life, and
names written in it, and these do not worship the beast and
do not perish. It is utterly false to say, that if the pro-
phecies are applied to the Papacy for 1260 years, “there-
fore all the members of the Roman communion, all our
own forefathers, all the whole body of western Christendom
for many hundreds of years before the Reformation, are
in a state of damnation.” Surely it would be better first
to inquire what God says, and then to receive his Word
and profit by his lessons, rather than first to inquire what
is pleasant and smooth to believe, and then to set aside
his Word and turn it to our own views. It is not judging
others to accede to God's judgment in his Word. But there
are most important exceptions to the perishing which are
wholly left unnoticed ;-all the saints who keep the Word
of God, all the company who follow the Lamb; all who
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APPENDIX.
worship God in the spirit, and obey God rather than man,
all the woman's seed within those visible Churches, and all
the measured worshippers separated from them.
The other objections are the old ones of Bossuet, and
Jesuit writers, which have been answered by Cressener,
Faber, Cuninghame, and others. Oh ! that this blessed
book, on the study of which God has twice pronounced
his blessing, were indeed more generally considered and
attended to. It is the main guard and Divine preservative
against all the errors of the last days.
I fully admit the real difficulties to the just understand-
ing of this book, and that, increased as they are by the
differences of its expositors, they present formidable
obstacles in the way of Christians in general. This was
to be expected in the last, the most mysterious and the
most heavenly part of Divine truth. Consider what this
book really is, a revelation given to Jesus Christ, to show
unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass, till
the time when he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see
him. (Rev. i. 1-7.) It is that account which God thinks
the most just and accurate relation for our use of the chief
events which take place on our earth, from our Saviour's
ascension to his return; the unveiling of the hidden actings
for his Church, of that Lord to whom all power is given in
heaven and in earth. We have here, then, a Divine guide
to the true meaning of the history of the past 1800 years;
as well as a just and true instruction of what is yet to take
place. How infinitely superior must this be to all the
ideas that unaided man has been able to give of the philo-
sophy of history ! Here is the true key to all history. We
have here, however, not merely a philosophy relating to
temporal and earthly politics; but a philosophy (to use so
feeble a word) relating to all worlds, heavenly and earthly,
and beneath the earth; to all times and through all
eternity; the thoughts of God on what is past, and what is
APPENDIX.
291
to come, as to the spiritual and eternal interests of all
immortal beings. What wonder, then, if such a revelation
rises above the highest thoughts of the wisest and best of
men. We shall all be learners here to the very last, and
perhaps through eternity, learn and teach to others what
we learn. Very much remains yet to be done to enlarge,
and modify, and strengthen, perhaps the best and soundest
interpretation even of any part of this book.
This will not be done by setting aside all that has been
taught hitherto, but by learning, enlarging, and confirming
every just application of each part. The whole of the
history of Christian nations shall pay tribute to a just
interpretation. Volumes may yet be published before that
interpretation becomes the settled possession of the Church,
or before all its rich stores of Divine truth be exhausted.
The real good effected by those who have sought to set
aside past interpretations I would not deny, so far as it has
cleared away much false exposition, and compelled men
to a deeper research, and so is bringing out a fuller
establishment of all just application. It is only by degrees
that any can hope to arrive at full assurance of under-
standing. But if the agreement of interpretations, and the
concurrence of views in interpreters, rather than their
differences, were more sought out, there would still be
found a large amount of truth at which, in the most im-
portant points of the book, a considerable number of the
most able expositors have generally arrived. The analogy
of scriptural prophecies and types furnishes also a material
help. The Revelation is full of references to the great
facts of Old Testament history which furnish assistance to
its meaning, and the whole book is but the larger and
more minute opening out of the prophecies of Daniel and
of the New Testament.
A beginner should commence with carefully studying
the clearer book of Daniel, and then this book itself and
с с 2
292
APPENDIX.
its many references to the Old Testament, and the pro-
phecies of our Lord, and those of his apostles. He might
begin human writings with such solid ground-work as
Davison lays in his " Tenth Discourse of Prophecy," or
with Hurd's “Introduction to the Prophecies," (to a late
edition of which, published by Rickerby, the author pre-
fixed prefatory remarks.) Mr. Cuninghame's “Exposition
of the Apocalypse,” without concurring in all his arrange-
ment or in some of his minor details, would then lead the
way to other works.
The progress of sound interpretation has been encou-
raging. The Reformers recognised, with scarce an excep-
tion, the application of Babylon to Papal Rome. The
English expositors, Brightman and Mede, above two
hundred years since, opened the way to a more correct
exposition, though they discerned not the true symmetry
of arrangement. Cressener's Demonstration and Judgments
have much illustrative learning from the Papists them-
selves. Daubuz is full of learning, abounds in illustration
of symbols, and often well illustrates both the figure and
the prophecy. Vitringa still more fully developed the
scriptural references, and the meaning of the various
symbols, in which he remains pre-eminently useful. He
directed attention to the remarkable type in the siege of
Jericho, a most useful key to the whole book, Bengelius,
though mistaken as to the chronology and later application,
opened out many fields of devout and useful thought, and
has been specially useful on the Continent in keeping
alive attention to the progressive fulfilment of its pro-
phecies. Sir Isaac Newton has useful information. He
and Bishop Newton followed much in the steps of Mede.
Dean Woodhouse, with Vitringa, happily returned to the
earlier view of the sealed book, as relating to the whole
history of the Church from the beginning to the return of
our Saviour. Mr. Faber by his discursive and enlarged
APPENDIX.
293
learning called the general attention of divines in this
country to prophecy, and brought out more distinctly the
fulfilment of the earlier vials in the French Revolution,
and also manifested the Calendar of the Times. Mr. Scott,
Mr. Pearson, and Mr. Gauntlett, trod in the steps of
Bishop Newton; Mr. Gauntlett applying the vials to the
French Revolution. Habershon is useful in chronological
prophecies, and Mr. Brook's “ Elements of Interpretation"
is full of instruction on the general view of prophecy. Mr.
Cuninghame is, on the whole, the most useful in particular
application of the prophecies, and Mr. Frere has most
cleared up the arrangements and divisions of the books. A
recent work, “ Studies of the Apocalypse,” has many just
applications of this prophecy. No interpreter, in short,
seems humbly, devoutly, and diligently to have studied
this book without having had a measure of the promised
blessing. My friend Mr. Elliott's book, in three volumes,
will, I hope, be soon published; and from what I have seen
of it, will, I doubt not, when published, bring out distinctly
to the Church the application of the tenth chapter to the
Reformation, and of the slaying of the witnesses to the
period before the Reformation, and of the vials to the
French Revolution, and will establish the truth of the year-
day, as well as furnish a vast amount of historical illustra-
tion; making it an important farther aid to just interpre-
tation. It offers a new theory of the four first seals,
fortified by many important arguments, though I must say
I have not been convinced by them. Many other valuable
interpreters might be mentioned. Since the second edition
of this Warning, my friend Mr. Birks's “First Elements
of Sacred Prophecy” has been published, and I heartily
recommend it to the reader's attention as a peculiarly
valuable guard against false exposition, and a satisfactory
guide to the true interpretation of prophecy on the various
parts of the subject which the work embraces.
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294
APPENDIX.
I abstain from noticing writers either of older or modern
date, who have sought the fulfilment of this book in the
first history of the Christian Church. A specimen of the
excess to which such an attempt leads may be seen in
Mr. Stuart's “Hints on the Interpretation of Prophecy,"
just published in America. The darkness on this subject
of a mind full of critical talent and learning, and its in-
competence to enter into the deep spiritual truths and
glories of this book, were never more painfully manifested.
Professor Lee, in his Preliminary Dissertation prefixed to
“Eusebius's Theophania,” has attempted to support the
same unsatisfactory scheme of interpretation, and the
reader may there see what can be said for it. His reason-
ing is to me most inconclusive and insufficient. I forbear
to notice also, generally, the opposite errors of those who,
wholly casting away former interpretations, consider the
whole as yet unfulfilled, and so virtually frustrate the
double promise of blessing given to those who have stu-
died this book. They are wholly inconclusive and un-
satisfactory to my mind.
I have read with some attention the most recent work
on this book, “Govett's Revelation, literal and future.” It
follows the unsatisfactory course of the Futurists, which
has been already so fully answered in Letters on Prophecy,
in "the Churchman” for 1841 and 1842. This work
enters into a fuller investigation of the series, parallelisms,
and arrangements of the visions, in which some illustrations
are useful, and others fanciful and vague. The part on
what is generally admitted to be unfulfilled has several
useful thoughts, defending the premillennial advent and
literal resurrection of the saints at that time, in answer to
Mr. Scott, and others. But it is painful to see in this work
the laborious researches of past diligent, deeply learned,
and pious expositors thrown aside, and the real harmony
of wise and good men on leading parts of the prophecy
APPENDIX.
295
disregarded. Those who have long studied this book will not
be tempted to give up that view which they have received,
without much more conclusive proofs of its being erroneous
than any that have yet been advanced.
The plough is indeed now turning up the whole fallow
land of prophetic interpretation, as hitherto generally
received; but it will only lead to closer study, and the
bringing forth of deeper and fuller views of the rich
treasury of wisdom contained in prophecy. It will not,
I feel assured, set aside all past views, but it will modify
and correct them, place them on a firmer basis, and tend
to elucidate, harmonize, strengthen, enlarge, and confirm
every just application. And in these respects, the Futurists
as well as those who have pre-anticipated the fulfilment,
will have rendered real services to the Church of Christ.
The decided scriptural objections which several of them
have to Popery, and their general Protestant principles,
must also be fully recognised. The Papists will not find
in these advocates for their abominations, though they
acknowledge not the scriptural predictions of them in
this book.
They have also done the Church this service,--they have
directed attention to the full manifestation of Antichrist
yet to be exhibited. The open revelation of that wicked, or
the lawless one (2 Thess. ii. 8), has yet to be still more fully
accomplished, as we may see in many parts of the Old
Testament, and in the 19th chapter of the Revelation,
as well as in other parts of the New Testament; and
well it is that Christians should be prepared for standing
against all his deceptions. The sentiments in the last
“Quarterly” (noticed page 252) are so striking that
(without expressing entire concurrence in them) I quote
them :-
“An Antichrist does not mean an enemy, different and
opposed in all outward forms, but a mock and spurious
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APPENDIX.
image of the true Lord, professing to be Christ himself ;
veiled in a garb like his; calling himself Christ, and
surrounded with the attributes of Christ; and in this way
denying Christ, and refusing to acknowledge his history
and his power. And such a power cannot come, except
in the form of Christianity and with the name of a Church;
and such is the exclusive pretence of Popery at the very
time when it is violating, by its exactions, the fundamental
laws both of Christianity and of the Church,
“It is to be a single individual, not an individual apart
from an organized society of men, for such a being must
be powerless, without aid and instruments to magnify the
range of his reason and of his faculties, so as to embrace
an empire; but it must be a society thoroughly absorbed
and concentrated in the hand of some one man, before
whom all resistance is powerless, to whom all wills are
subdued; who can see with a thousand eyes of dependent
spies as clearly and as certainly as with his own; who can
move the arms and limbs of marshalled hosts with the same
precision as his own body; who can hear a whisper at the
extremity of the globe by means of his dispersed reporters; -
whom no tongue dares to malign, no heart to disobey, no
obstacle to impede; who has so organized his ministers
and servants, setting spy against spy, and ruler over ruler,
that no movement of independent power can arise without
its being instantly crushed; who knows the very thoughts
of the hearts of all his followers; who can send them as he
will to the most distant regions, exacting from them an
unmurmuring obedience; fascinating them as by a spell, to
take pride and delight in their chains; and distributing to
them their several functions with an unerring insight into
their peculiarities of character and talent; who, moreover,
can so frame the minds of men to his own standard, and
mould them to his will by the process of education, that
his own image shall be everywhere reflected in them;
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APPENDIX.
297
who stands alone in the plenitude of power, when all other
authorities have been destroyed in the collision of popular
turbulence; and who, when the whole world has bowed
down before him, and he has trampled for a short space on
the necks of kings, and bathed himself in the blood of
saints, shall be cast down suddenly and awfully by the
presence of Christ himself. And if an organization ever
existed, or could ever be imagined by the mind, completely
realizing such a fact, entirely absorbing a whole enormous
community in the person of a single individual, and giving
to him this temporary omnipotence, it is the fearful society
which has arrogated to itself exclusively the name of
Christ; and which having in the nineteenth century
been resuscitated as the express servant and instrument
of Popery, is its true organ and representative,--THE
CONSTITUTION OF THE JESUITS.
“Considerations like these ought to be pressed home to
the minds of those who in their dread and dislike of one
extravagance in religion, are inclined to look too leniently
on its opposite extravagancies; and to forget the sins and
the dangers of Popery in the sins and dangers of Dissent.
But Dissent with all its evils cannot be the enemy which
Christianity has ultimately to fear. It has no organizing
principle to give it permanence of sway. It may have its
outbreak of an hour, startling the world with its explosions;
but the evil power which is to come in the last days, and
which not only Scripture has foreseen, but the deepest of
human philosophers (see Plato de Rep., lib. xii.), while
tracing the progress of society, have almost as minutely
described; this power must be something higher. It may
draw within it the spirit of Democracy, and shape it to its
purpose; but it cannot be itself Democracy, which has no
stability; nor Liberalism, which has no principles; nor
Atheism, which has no foundation in the reason; nor
Blasphemy, which shocks the ear; nor Sensuality, which
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APPENDIX.
disgusts the eye. It must appear in a holy garb under
holy pretences, and with a show of truth and wisdom.
And if with this, in Popery is blended a spirit which really
fraternizes and assimilates itself with all the worst forms
of popular licence, it reconciles the two seemingly contra-
dictory conditions; it solves the problem of the prophecy;
and may, at least, require to be watched with no little
alarm. With jealousy and alarm, let us conclude, against
the system; and not hatred, but pity, toward the individual,
or the Church, in which the system is struggling, with
more or less success, for its final and perfect develop-
ment."
The entire past and early, as well as the entire future,
fulfilment of the Revelation, are far from being modern ideas.
They have been entertained by learned Romanists. Some,
like Alcazar, maintained the past and early fulfilment, and
some, like Ribera, regarded chiefly the future. Grotius
and Hammond, among Protestants, first endeavoured to
set aside the general Protestant application, and confine
the prophecy to the earlier times of Christianity. Cres-
sener, in the preface to his book, on “The Judgments of
God on the Romish Church," answers the Grotian argu-
ments from Romanist writers, and traces it to Porphyry,
Some modern books might have been spared, had older
expositions and answers to their arguments been known.
I am persuaded that the true interpretation takes both
parts, the commencement of the prophecy from the
beginning, and the yet future fulfilment of its later pre-
dictions, and joins the intervening space with the con-
tinued fulfilment of its progressive visions by all the past
history of Christendom, step by step, from the beginning
to the return of our Lord and his millennial and ever-
lasting kingdom.
It was remarkable, considering his position in the
metropolis of the first Protestant nation, that the Bishop
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299
of London (the revered and beloved Porteus), shortly
after the commencement of the French Revolution, seems
to have seen and announced, as bishop, the just applica-
tion of our Lord's prophecy (Matt. xxiv. 29), and, by
consequence of the sixth seal, to that period. In his
charge of 1794, he thus spoke of it:-"The present times,
and the present scene of things in almost every part of
the civilized world, are the most interesting and the most
awful that were ever before presented to the inhabitants of
the earth, and such as must necessarily excite the most
serious reflections in every thinking mind. Perhaps all
those singular events to which we have been witnesses,
unparalleled as they are in the page of history, may be
only the beginning of things,-may be only the first
leading steps to a train of events still more extraordinary;
to the accomplishment, possibly, of some new and unex-
pected, and at present, unfathomable designs, hitherto
reserved and hid in the counsels of the Almighty. Some
we know there are who think that certain prophecies,
both in the New Testament and the Old, are now fulfilling;
that the signs of the times are portentous and alarming;
and that the sudden extinction of a great monarchy, and
of all the splendid ranks and orders of men that supported
it, is only the completion in part of that prediction in the
Gospel, that the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall
not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven,
before the second appearance of the Messiah to judge the
earth; all which expressions are well known to be only
figurative emblems of the great powers and rulers of the
world, whose destruction, it is said, is to precede that
event. As to myself, I pretend not to decide on these
arduous points; I pretend not to prophesy or to interpret
prophecy. Nor shall I take upon myself to pronounce
whether we are now approaching (as some think) to the
millennium, or to the day of judgment, or to any other
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APPENDIX.
great, and tremendous, and universal change, predicted in
the sacred writings. But this I am sure of, that the
present unexampled state of the Christian world is a loud
call upon all men, but upon us above all men, to take
peculiar heed to our ways, and to prepare ourselves, as
well as those committed to our care, for everything that
may befal us, be it ever so novel, ever so calamitous."
All the subsequent events, from 1794 to 1815, tended to
confirm Bishop Porteus' solemn warning, and the pause
in judgments since was clearly predicted in the holding of
the winds described in the continuation of the sixth seal,
in the seventh chapter of Revelation, as well as in the
predicted locality of the sixth vial. It is therefore appli-
cable, with increasing strength, to us at this time.
After weighing, as well as I could, other systems of inter-
pretation, and all that I have seen against it, I adhere to the
distinctive and parallel concurrence of the three first
visions—the seven seals the seven trumpets, and the
Church, with its seven angel messengers ; issuing in-the
seven vials,--the fall of Babylon--the appearing and
kingdom of Christ, and finally--the heavenly Jeru-
salem.*
It is most encouraging to know that a greatly revived
attention is now paying to the whole subject of prophecy.
We may hope much from such fresh studies, if cautiously
conducted with prayer and scriptural knowledge, and full
use of past exposition and experience, and with the advan-
tage that the progress of events has now given to the
student. It will be our light in the darkness through
which the Church has yet to pass.
* Visions parallel in time.-1, The Seals, V.-viii. 1. 2, The
Trumpets, viii. 2-X. 3, The Church, xii.-xiv.
Visions consecutive 4, The Vials, xv. xvi. 5, Fall of Babylon,
xvii. xix. 9. 6, The Judgment, xix. 10,--xxi. 8. 7, The Heavenly
Jerusalem, xxi. 9 ; xxii. 7.
APPENDIX.
301
II. PRESENT STATE OF THE GREEK AND EASTERN
CHURCHES.
The blessedness, duty, and glory of the Protestant
Church is everywhere to testify against error and idolatry,
and everywhere to maintain in the face of the whole
world the Gospel of the grace of God. The distinction
between the Greek and the Roman Churches is clearly
unfolded in the book of Revelation, and the dead state
of the Churches in the third universal empire of Daniel,
under the fiery, destructive, and exterminating doctrines
of Mahomedanism, almost without a name to live, without
spirituality or real life, is expressly predicted: By these
three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by
the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their
mouths.
We need to be preserved from any unholy alliances
with these Churches, and I therefore judge it right to
add extracts from a work of authority now in circulation
in the Greek Church. They have been furnished by
Mr. Gobat, through Dr. Crawford, who has been residing
for some time at Malta. Mr. Gobat says of them :-
“I send you some extracts from the doctrines of the
Greek Church, as contained in a book written by the late
Patriarch of Jerusalem, Anthimos. You will see, as you
already know, that there is very little difference between
the Greek Church and the Church of Rome. It may be
said, that both Churches have kept a shadow, at least, of
almost all the doctrines of Christianity; but first, such
doctrines are weakened and darkened in the way in which
they are set forth; and, secondly, they are, as it were,
buried under the mass of errors and nonsensical cere-
monies. I have translated every passage as literally as
possible; the meaning, I believe, is strictly correct. It
might be said, that the book from which these extracts
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APPENDIX.
are taken, being the production of an individual, cannot
be considered as a standard book of the Greek Church ;
but, first, the author is a Patriarch, and though the Greek
Church have not pushed the doctrine of infallibility so
far as the Roman Church in theory, in practice they
consider their Patriarchs almost as infallible; secondly,
all those who are acquainted with the Greeks are aware
that these doctrines are the doctrines of the Greek Church,
At any rate, this book is a standard book to the mem-
bers of the Greek Church in Syria and Palestine, for they
consider the author as a saint."
“ Extracts from a standard Work of the Patriarch of
Jerusalem.
“When Paul says, it is God who gives to will and to
do (Phil. 2), he only means to say, that God gives to all
men alike the power of willing and of doing, but as for
the particular will or action, whether good or bad, it does
not depend upon God, nor does he give it. The will, in
general, belongs to nature, and is therefore from God, but
to will good or bad is not from nature ; it is the conse-
quence of a free choice. What belongs to nature is from
God; what does not belong to nature is from man. When
man, by his own power, wills or does that which is well-
pleasing unto God, then God helps him to increase and
to perfect his will. [In all these chapters the author
rejects constantly, though indirectly, the influence of the
Holy Spirit upon the will of man.]
"• Miracles continue to be wrought in the orthodox
Church. As the healing of the sick by the prayers of
the priests, and the imposition of their hands; the casting
out devils ; the sprinkling of holy water, preserved, against
its nature, from corruption and bad smell; the keeping of
the bodies of the martyrs for the faith free from dissolu-
tion, and the good smell proceeding from their holy re-
APPENDIX.
303
mains; the miracles wrought by the limbs, the bones, the
sepulcbres, and the images of the saints; the anointing
with the oil of their candles healing diseases, ... all this
proves the truth of our faith.'"
“Our Church takes the greatest care of the dead,
offering up prayers and supplications to God for them, as
she does for the living, and this in the assurance of hope
and faith.'"
“There is no day with us without a name, or a festi-
val, or a remembrance [of some saint or other]. And as
for the holy prophets, and the just who arose formerly
with light among the Hebrews, we know every one of
them, and the day on which he died, better than they do
(the Jews] : this also is a proof of the truth of our
faith.">
“ . It is not lawful for the priests to marry after they
have been ordained."" [Nor can a married priest rise
above the lower rank of the clergy. The very idea of a
married bishop is an abomination to the members of the
Greek and other Eastern Churches.] “The word priest
is taken from the Hebrew mp3, and means sacerdos.'”
«• The Christian sacraments are seven: viz., baptism;
the unction with meron [chrisom); the holy eucharist
[lit. offering]; ordination ; penance; the prayer of holy
oil [extreme unction] ; and matrimony. Why are there
seven sacraments, neither more nor less ? Because God
the Creator and Preserver of all things is known as three
persons; and as for the creatures, he has made them
from four elements, after having brought the elements to
being out of nothing ; now the three and the four make
seven ; for this cause the sacraments are also seven, which
sanctify the two parts of man, the intellectual and the
material. Baptism, chrism, and the eucharist, are abso-
lutely necessary to every one, in order to obtain salvation
and everlasting life, which is impossible without these.'
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APPENDIX.
• Without a priesthood there can be no sacrament. The
two last sentences without restriction.]”
“* Baptism consists necessarily in being immersed in
the water, as many saints have said, and it is called Divine
baptism, regeneration, a new creation, purification, en-
lightening, sonship by adoption, a gift, sanctification.””
6. Those who have not been immersed in the water are
not baptized at all; and those who do not dip three times,
are transgressing the commandment of our Lord.””
«« that we might be made worthy of the kingdom of
Christ, by the mercy of our Lord and God Jesus Christ,
and his love to man, by the means and intercession of his
pure Mother Virgin, and by the prayers of all the saints.””
“The eucharist is a Divine power, acting by means of
orthodox priests, who change, by transubstantiation, the
bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ by
means of holy petition.""
A missionary who has seen much of the Greek and
Eastern Churches in the last ten years, in a personal resi-
dence among them, has given me, as the result of his
experience, the following information :-
“ A late most able Greek writer, who used all his influ-
ence to reform the Greek Church, declared, that the
Greek clergy have only been wanting the power not the
will to run into all the errors and extravagancies of the
Western or Roman Church. The Greeks, with fewer
exceptions than among the Romanists of enlightened and
true piety, may be classed into Infidels, or unbelievers,
formalists, and bigots. The mass of the people among
the Greeks know hardly of any other religion than the
observance of their fasts, which are only a change of
food; their ceremonies, such as making their cross in
their peculiar way, with three fingers, signifying the
Sacred Trinity ; visiting or making pilgrimages to certain
saints or pictures, and places highly reputed for their
APPENDIX.
305
sanctity; offering various articles to these saints, as some-
times a gold or silver head, or the like, or merely some
ornament which is hung around the picture, &c.; praying
to them as their intercessors, invoking them even to save
them, particularly the Virgin Mary, whose name is con-
stantly upon their lips. When they wish to thank you
for any kindness shown to them, they generally say,
• Havaya,' The All Holy save you or bless you.' They
entreat her often to command her Son to do this or an-
other thing for them. They have saints for certain dis-
eases, &c., burn a lamp in their houses before the picture
of the Virgin Mary, make their cross before it, and con-
sider it quite a misfortune should this lamp be extin-
guished by some cause. They lay the Virgin's picture
under or above the head of dying persons, pray to her
that she would receive the soul, &c. In the churches
they cross themselves frequently, and bow their heads at
certain portions of the Liturgy, which is read not only in
an unknown tongue, but in a hurried manner, so that one
who understands even the ancient Greek cannot compre-
hend what the priest utters. Very often you see a per-
son walk round to all the images or pictures, and kiss
every one of them. But that the real picture might not
be soiled, by the many kisses which are lavished upon
them, they have a smaller and less expensive picture
hung underneath the large one of the same saint, which
they kiss instead of the other. And these are often dirty
in the extreme from the kisses. Then, to avoid graven
images, for which they blame the Roman Catholics
severely, they make a cast or mould of some composition,
into which, when become hard, they beat a sheet of silver
or gold, and then put it upon a picture to form the head
or the complete bust; and thus they think they escape
the breaking of the second commandment ! With refer-
ence to reading prayers, I must just add what the author
EN
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APPENDIX.
before alluded to bas said ; he writes, “I know a priest
who had arrived at such a rapidity, or (as he calls it ironi-
cally) high accomplishment in reading prayers, that his
voice resembled more the shaking of a saw upon a hard
block of wood, than that of a human being. They have
prayers for the dead, and a variety of other superstitions,
which it is impossible to describe in a hurried letter.
Now, these kinds of superstition, the more enlightened and
educated despise, and therefore many of them hardly
attend to religion at all, or sometimes, only because they
do not wish to appear altogether downright Infidels. The
tyranny of the priests, particularly the higher order, is
great, and their lives are bad sometimes in the extreme.
The sin which brought down God's vengeance upon the
Heathen of old is, alas ! very prevalent among them.
"It ought to be added, that the above hasty remarks
apply more immediately to the Greek Church as existing
in Turkey, where the priests have very great power over
the minds of the common people, which is not the case in
Greece. A fair beginning had been made towards an
amelioration of the state of things among the Greeks in
Turkey. The Scriptures were widely circulated, and
gladly received and read, and schools established which
gave very general satisfaction, till the jealousy of Russia
being roused by the results of these operations, influenced
the higher clergy of the Greek Church, who rested not
till they had succeeded by all manner of threats in re-
ducing the common people to their former state of blind
submission to them.
“However, though they have succeeded in stopping the
circulation of the Scriptures and closing the schools, the
seed which has been sown has already in various ways
brought forth fruit, and will yet produce fruit to the
honour and glory of God.
“The Armenian Church, though likewise deeply fallen,
APPENDIX.
307
and her clergy in a very low condition, has in several
instances made a noble exception from that of the Greeks;
there is a spirit of inquiry in many of her members; nay,
at Constantinople, Nicomedia, Broosa, &c., goodly num-
bers are hopefully converted. The same may be said of
the Nestorians, on the frontiers of Persia, where the mis-
sionaries are even invited by the clergy to preach in their
churches."
The author has no pleasure in giving this affecting
statement. Much may be said to account for this condi-
tion of Churches so long groaning under Mahometan
despotism. We, in Britain, might have been much worse
under similar temptations. The statement is brought for-
ward, not for their condemnation, but for the awakening
of a deep compassion in their behalf, and that we may
seek their salvation with all earnestness; in the hope,
also, chiefly that the Protestant Church of Britain may
be roused to take effectual measures, by special contribu-
tions, that the Church Missionary Society may not give
up its most important mission for these Churches, the
Mediterranean Mission.
III. THE GROWING KNOWLEDGE OF OUR REFORMERS
IN SCRIPTURAL VIEWS ON THE SACRAMENTS AND
ON REGENERATION.
It is well known that our martyred Reformers were
gradually delivered from the corruptions of the Apostasy
of Popery, and, by degrees, also gained clearer know-
ledge respecting the great truths of the Gospel. We
may see this very distinctly in the growing clearness of
their views on the true character of the sacraments, as
stated in public formularies and in different editions of
our Liturgy, and of Articles our religion. Papal or ques-
tionable doctrines were laid aside more and more; and
TO
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APPENDIX
there was a nearer approach to the simplicity, and yet
fulness of the doctrines, of the Holy Scriptures.
It is a painful part of the present movement, both in
our own Church and in the Scottish Episcopal Church,
that there should be a return to the darker and more
Papal views which our blessed Reformers, in their riper
knowledge, deliberately renounced. We see this in the
Lord's Supper, in the preference given to the first Liturgy
of Edward VI. (see " Tracts for the Times," No. 81), and
in the Scottish Episcopal Church giving a primary autho-
rity to a communion service more seriously still defiled
with Popish leaven. The same return is evident in the
insisting upon the inseparable connexion between the
outward reception of the sacraments, and the communi-
cation of grace, without reference to faith in the receiver.
How careful should the Reformed Churches be, not to be
entangled again in pollutions that may bring upon them
heavier judgments! (2 Pet. ii. 20, 21.)
That our Reformers in their mature judgment did
really object to identify the reception of outward Baptism
with the saving change of real regeneration, may be fully
proved by a comparison of the Articles in the Convoca-
tion of 1536 on Baptism, with the present 27th Article,
our Homilies, our Catechism, and our Liturgy, on the
same subject. In the Articles of 1536, several acknow-
ledged Popish errors, such as reverence to images, and
praying to saints, are retained. It was a struggle between
parties nearly balanced. Bishop Lloyd, the late Bishop
of Oxford, in his preface to the Formularies of Henry
VIII., containing the Articles of 1536, says, “In these
formularies MANY OF THE TENETS OF ROMANISM ARE TO
BE FOUND, WHICH, IN THE SUCCEEDING REIGN, on a closer
examination of Scripture, and under the exercise of an
unfettered liberty of judgment, afforded by the more for-
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309
tunate circumstances of that reign, WERE DISCARDED AS
ERRONEOUS."
In this light, a comparison of the Article on Baptism
in 1536, with our present formularies, will enable us to
ascertain their matured judgment on this subject.
In the Articles of 1536 it is said, “As touching the
holy sacrament of Baptism, we will that all bishops and
preachers shall instruct and teach our people committed
by us unto their spiritual charge ; that they ought, and
must of necessity, believe certainly all things which hath been
always, by the whole consent of the Church, approved, used,
and received in the sacrament of Baptism ; that is to say,
that the sacrament of Baptism was instituted and ordained
in the New Testament by our Saviour Jesus Christ, as a
thing necessary for the attaining of everlasting life, accord-
ing to the saying of Christ, No man can enter into the
kingdom of heaven except he be born of water and of the
Holy Ghost. That it is offered unto all men, as well in-
fants as such as have the use of reason, that by Baptism
they shall have remission of sins, and the grace and favour
of God, according to the saying of Christ, Whosoever be-
lieveth and is baptized, shall be saved. That the promise
of grace and everlasting life (which promise is adjoined
unto this sacrament of Baptism), pertaineth, not only to
such as have the use of reason, but also to infants, innocents,
and children; and that they ought therefore, and must
needs be baptized ; and that by the sacrament of Baptism
they do also obtain remission of their sins, the grace and
favour of God, and be made thereby the very sons and
children of God. Insomuch as infants and children dying
in their infancy shall, undoubtedly, be saved thereby, and
else, not. That infants must needs be christened, because
they be born in original sin, which sin must needs be re-
mitted, which cannot be done but by the sacrament of Bap-
tism, whereby they receive the Holy Ghost, which exerciseth
un
310
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his grace and efficacy in them, and cleanseth and purifieth
them from sin by his most secret virtue and operation.”
None of our opponents could wish for a fuller state-
ment of the necessity of Church teaching, and for the
identifying of Baptism and Regeneration, in plainer terms
than is contained in this semi-Popish Article : but when,
according to Bishop Lloyd's statement, “ the Romanist
tenets were discarded as erroneous,” our Reformers put
forth the simple and scriptural statement of our 27th
Article, in 1552, which was slightly modified and cor-
rected in 1562, and then given as follows :-
“ Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of
difference whereby Christian men are discerned from
others that be not christened, but it is also a sign of Re-
generation, or new birth, whereby, as by an instrument,
they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the
Church; the promises of forgiveness of sin and of our
adoption to be the sons of God, by the Holy Ghost, are
visibly signed and sealed : faith is confirmed, and grace
increased, by virtue of prayer unto God. The Baptism
of young children is, in any wise, to be retained as most
agreeable with the institution of Christ."
In the year 1562, the second book of Homilies was sent
forth, and in the Homily on Whit Sunday, there is a clear
passage explaining Regeneration in its highest meaning,
without any restriction whatever to Baptism, and inap-
plicable to infants.
In the year 1604, the explanation of the sacraments was
added to the Catechism. In that explanation we have, in
the case of infants, the distinct separation of repentance
and faith (the essentials of vital Regeneration) from their
Baptism ; being there stated to be things which, “when
they come to age, they are themselves bound to perform."
Thus in the beginning of our Catechism we have the full
covenant privileges of Baptism, and in the close the dis-
APPENDIX.
311
tinctness of them from those vital graces of repentance
and faith, all-essential to our salvation. We may see
then here the manifest growth of Divine and scriptural
knowledge in our Reformed Church of England, as at
present established. Regeneration, in its all-important
character, is brought before us as a death unto sin, and a
new birth unto righteousness; " for," to use the words of
the Homily on Whit Sunday, “it is the Holy Ghost, and
no other thing, that doth quicken the minds of men, stir-
ring up good and godly motions in their hearts, which are
agreeable to the mind and commandment of God, such as
otherwise, of their own crooked and perverse nature,
they should never have. That which is born of the flesh,
saith Christ, is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit
is spirit. It is the Holy Ghost which inwardly worketh
the Regeneration and new birth of mankind-he brings
them forth anew, so that they shall be nothing like the
men they were before.” Thus clearly and fully in our
latest services, as in the latest epistle, the beautiful first
epistle of St. John, full of light and full of love, the new
birth is separated from the various means which God may
use to accomplish it, and is brought out in its distinctness,
simplicity, and purity, as the work of the Spirit of God,
and the spring of all holy affections. The blessed apostle,
after just glancing in his Gospel at its connexion with
Baptism (John . 5), seems ever after to delight in the
pure contemplation of the spiritual truth.
To view, then, Regeneration in its highest sense, and
Baptism as inseparable, is a real departure from the fully-
expressed, and finally corrected, sentiment of the Church
of England, and a return again to the spirit of the Article
of 1536. To identify the administration of Baptism with
being born again, as an inward vital change, joined to the
certain salvation of the baptized, is a going back to Papal
principles. Oh may we, who have been once delivered
i
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APPENDIX.
from the errors of Popery never return back, step by
step, to that from which we have been rescued ! May we
never lose sight of that right receiving of Baptism, with-
out which our Reformers here so plainly teach us that we
have not its full blessings.
The maturer judgment of our Reformers then on this.
subject seems to be, that where baptism is rightly re-
ceived by adults, which right reception is always supposed
and necessarily so supposed in the language of a common
Liturgy, regeneration in its fullest sense is gratefully
acknowledged to God, on their answers and baptism
before the congregation. While the baptism of infants,
is retained as most agreeable to the institution of Christ,
yet, seeing they cannot perform repentance and faith,
their regeneration, in its highest sense, is necessarily only
the language of faith, hope, and charity, but a relative
change has really taken place. When the service leads:
us here, then, always to thank God for the regeneration
of infants by the Holy Spirit, and account them made
children of God in baptism, it always expresses thanks:
for this relative change; and it does so, because regene-
ration is used, as in the Scriptures, for a change of state:
(Deut. xxxii. 18 ; Matt. xix. 28), and applied to baptism..
(Titus iii. 5.) On the profession of faith by the sponsors,
infants are in all cases brought by baptism into this state:
of grace, or into a new world of covenant privileges pro-
mised to the children of believers, and which promises;
are sealed to them at that time; just as the Jews were by
circumcision. Faith in parents (Mark ix. 23), and spon-
sors, and believers in general (Matt. ix. 2; Mark ii, 5;
Luke v. 20), may in their highest sense realize these pro-
mises. But unbelief leaves the baptized children in that
lower sense (the sense of covenant privileges), of the
terms children of God, regeneration, and the like ; thiet
use of which we have before shown (pp. 60, 61') the
APPENDIX.
313
Scriptures justify. This sense includes, as in the case of
the circumcised Jew, real privileges to be grateful for,
and very greatly increases our personal responsibility,
but is not necessarily joined to our personally having
spiritual and eternal life. In using the service we may
always be thankful for the relative change ; and by faith
we may rise to be grateful for the highest blessing.
These covenant privileges furnish pleas in our prayers for
the full blessing; they show God's readiness to grant it
to us, and they furnish powerful arguments in the minis-
try. Bishop Hopkins, in his “ Treatise on the Sacra-
ments," has some just remarks on the use of the word
regeneration in our baptismal thanksgiving, as expressive
of a relative change. See also Griffith's “ Spiritual Life"
on this subject, though I cannot, as he does, apply the
word justification to this state.
The necessity of faith in the receiver of each sacrament
was one great principle mainly insisted upon by Luther
and the Reformers (see “Lutheri Opera," vol. i. p. 716,
and his Letter of Nov. 29, 1518), and it is clearly set
forth in our 27th, 28th, and 29th Articles. Our Reformers
have carefully abstained from confounding justification
with the administration of baptism. The expression in the
Homily “baptized or justified” is, as we may see at the
beginning of the Homily, a distinction, not an identity.
Original sin was generally held as washed away by the
sacrifice of Christ in the baptism of infants who have no
actual sins-justification is in the Scripture connected
with actual sins, and their removal by faith. No state-
ment in our Church, necessarily teaching to that effect,
can be produced. Indeed, nothing can be plainer than
our Lord's express statement, that every unbeliever in
the love of God to us in Christ Jesus, be he who he may,
who has come to years of discretion, and lives under the
light of the Gospel, is not justified, but condemned. He
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that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth
not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the
name of the only begotten Son of God. (John iii. 18. See
also Rom. X. 9-15.) May we be kept from all self-
deception on this vital truth! Never may we make the
ordinance, and the relative change and privilege, the sub-
stitute for the inward change and blessing, and so mock
ourselves or our fellow-Christians with the form instead
of the power of godliness; but rather have grace to rise
by the ordinance to the true enjoyment of realized spiri-
tual blessings, using present covenant privileges as a
ground of hope and a plea for them. Melancthon used
the term regeneration as equivalent to conversion. He
says, “If any one shall speak thus, let there be made
three parts of regeneration, or conversion, namely-re-
pentance, or remorse and sorrow for sin_faith-and
renewed obedience, he in effect says the same as I do."
Mr. Scott observes."I have never found him restrict it
to baptism, or what accompanies baptism.” (See his Note
in his continuation of Milner, vol. ii. pp. 250, 251.)
Regeneration and justification are frequently joined to-
gether in the “Apology for the Augsburg Confession,"
and in the “Formula Concordiæ" of the Lutheran Church;
and viewing regeneration as a vital change, though dis-
tinct from justification, it is always united with it, both
being marked by living faith, and joined with spiritual
hife. (John i. 12, 13; Rom. i. 17 ; iii. 24-28.)
We see, then, in the Holy Scriptures a state of external
covenant privileges called of God by the great names
which point out also higher spiritual blessings. (Gen.
xvii. 10; Deut. x. 16; Rom. ix. 1-5;1 Corx. 2, 3;
Gal. iii. 27.) We fall short of God's grace and love as
set before us objectively for our faith, on the one hand, if
we do not connect these covenant blessings with his ordi-
nances; as we fall short of the truth, and of our respon-
ii!
.
.
*
APPENDIX.
315
sibility, on the other, if we do not distinguish them sub-
jectively from the full blessing of vital godliness, to be
personally experienced for our individual salvation. (Rom.
ü, 28, 29; iii. 1, 2 ; Phil. ii. 2, 3.) Our Reformers seem
to have been guided of God to leave these services of our
Church on these points as the Holy Scriptures have left
the revealed doctrines upon them. Alterations, in the
present state of the Church, would, I fear, be made at the
loss of some part of the scriptural truth which has been
preserved. The union of the visible and invisible, of the
earthly and the heavenly, will to the end be the field of
battle, till all the visible and earthly be redeemed from
evil, and all things be made new (Rev, xxi. 1-5); but
by the visible ordinance we are now graciously assisted of
God to rise to the invisible grace. It is the shell in which
the kernel ripens, or the chaff in which the wheat grows;
but still, ordinarily speaking, it is necessary for that
ripening and that growth. God give us all grace to see
and admit the measure of truth on each side of this much-
controverted subject, to abstain from harsh condemnation
of those holding perhaps only partial truth, and to lay
fast hold of vital and essential doctrines, for the salvation
of men, and the building up of his Church, in their sim-
plicity and purity.
IV. PRESENT POSITION OF THE TRACTARIANS, AS
STATED BY THEIR FRIENDS.
A very striking letter was published in “L'Univers,"
of 13th April, 1841, from a young member of the Uni-
versity of Oxford, and for the authenticity of which the
editor vouches. It was republished in the “ Catholic," of
May, 1841.
It contains the following account of the state of our
Church at the time, and of the Roman tactics :
“ There are at this moment in the Anglican Church a
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crowd of persons who balance between Protestantism and
Catholicism, and who nevertheless would reject with horror
the very idea of a union with Rome. The Protestant
prejudices which for three hundred years have infected our
Church, are unhappily too deeply rooted there to be extir-
pated without a great deal of address. We must, then,
offer in sacrifice to God this ardent desire which devours
us, of seeing once more the perfect unity of the Church of
Christ. We must still bear the terrible void which the
isolation of our Church creates in our hearts, and remain
still till it pleases God to convert the hearts of our Anglican
confréres, especially of our holy fathers, the bishops. We
are destined, I am persuaded, to bring back many wander-
ing sheep to the knowledge of the truth. In fact, the pro-
gress of Catholic opinions in England for the last seven years
is so inconceivable, that no hope should appear extravagant.
Let us then remain quiet for some years, till, by God's blessing
the ears of Englishmen are become accustomed to hear the
name of Rome pronounced with reverence. At the end of this
term you will soon see the fruits of our patience.
“Permit me to offer you, in conclusion, one or two
remarks. Permit me to point out a sure means of re-
uniting England to the Church of Rome-a means which I
dare to call irresistible. Let the Roman Catholics in
England labour to reform themselves; let them break the
bands of worldly policy which unite them to our schismatics;
let them cease to favour sedition and treason. These are
not the arms of the Church. No; she has vanquished the
world by her sufferings, fastings, and prayers. We are
told that two orders of monks are just established in
England to labour at our conversion. Let them, I beseech
you, leave to God the care of touching our hearts ; let
them abstain from those unfortunate efforts which have
been made against the peace of our flocks; let them avoid
all endeavour to gain over individuals. It is a long task
APPENDIX.
317
to gather up a nation bit by bit, atom by atom. I aim at
pointing out to them the means of harvesting the whole
realm, and heaping up its fruits in the granaries of the
Church. Let them labour among the Roman Catholics.
Let them go into our great towns to preach the Gospel to
that half pagan populace; let them walk barefooted; let
them be clothed in sackcloth ; let them carry mortification
written on their brow; let them, in fine, have amongst them
a saint like the seraph of Assissium, and the heart of
England is already gained."
Mr. Spencer (in “L'Ami de la Religion," Aug. 12, 1841),
after stating his first idea that the Tractarians would
go over to the Roman Church, thus states his corrected
views :
“ Indeed quite lately I still held to the idea, that in a
short time we should see them prepared to quit their Church
in considerable numbers, and unite with us in labouring to
effect the conversion of their brethren. But the nearer the
approaches they make to Catholic sentiments, the more
resolved they appear to be to rectify their position, not
by quitting the vessel as if they despaired of its safety, but
by guiding it, together with themselves, into the harbour
of unity. They insist upon it that we are mistaken in
supposing that the succession of their orders has ever been
interrupted. They constantly maintain, that although the
Thirty-nine Articles, which are the confession of faith of
the Anglican Church, were the work of men, like Cranmer,
infected with heresy, yet that God did not permit that there
should be inserted in them any declarations absolutely
contrary to the Catholic faith. They prove by facts drawn
from the history of their Church, that ever since the
pretended Reformation this Church has ever had within
her bosom, and in an uninterrupted succession, doctors,
priests, bishops, who have signed the aforesaid Articles in a
sense altogether Catholic; they still further openly avow,
E E 3
318
APPENDIX.
that they themselves have no objection to urge against
the decisions of the Council of Trent, and that it is in the
sense of the Catholic faith, as agreed upon at that Council,
that they profess to understand the formularies of their
own Church. Lastly, as a proof that the spirit of the
Anglican Church is essentially Catholic, and that its for-
mularies cannot be regarded as implying a formal con-
demnation of Catholic doctrines, they point to this signifi-
cant fact, viz., that since they have openly proclaimed
these sentiments to the world, nobody has been able to
offer them any effectual opposition. At first there was an
outcry against them, but latterly they have been allowed
to go on pretty much as they liked.”
Dr. Hook, in his Letter upon the Bishopric of Jeru-
salem, thus describes the same parties :-" There are
certainly many persons among our younger brethren, at the
present time, who are inclined to look upon our Church in
the following light:—they regard the Church of England
as a branch of the Catholic Church, from which, without
peril to their souls, they may not recede ; but they look
upon it as injured rather than improved by the Reformation;
they think that if some abuses were corrected, serious errors
were introduced; they agree with the Romanists in main-
taining that the Reformation was unnecessary-atallevents,
to the extent to which it was carried; and that it was con-
ducted in a manner not to be defended upon Catholic
principles. The conclusion which must be inevitably
deduced from these principles is this, that the Church of
England, as at present constituted, is not the model
according to which other Churches are to be reformed;
that she is full of imperfections, and that we have as
much to learn from Rome as Rome has to learn from us.
I believe that in this statement I have clearly asserted an
opinion very extensively held upon the subject."
Is this a time, then, for the trumpet to give an uncertain
APPENDIX.
319
sound ? Is this a time to praise and excuse the authors of
such a movement ? Surely faithful love to them and to
all men calls for plain scriptural warning againstit. Surely,
if we wish to convey to our children the great blessings of
the Reformation, we must lift up our voice clearly and
distinctly against the dangers of the Apostasy.
Oh, that I could convince my brethren of the danger
of their present situation, and lead them back to that sure
foundation on which the Reformers rested ! Ever since
the Reformation there has been a class that have thus
approached Popery without openly joining it. Thus, in
an “Exposition of the Revelation," Dr. Goodwin, the
Puritan (whose writings are full of deep scriptural thought,
though with something of the severity and roughness of
his school), explaining the character of having the number
of the name of the beast, applies it to this class in his day,
nearly 200 years since, in a description painfully appli-
cable to many in this day. I quote parts of his description,
as it may possibly be a guard to some against this temp-
tation. (See vol. ii. of his works, in folio, published in
1683, after his death, pp. 65, 66.)
“ This number of his name seems to be a company that
proceed not so far as to receive his character, professing
themselves to be priests of Rome, nor to receive his name;
for they do not profess themselves to be Papists, and yet
are of the number of his name; that is, do hold and bring
in such doctrines and opinions, and such rites in worship,
as shall make all men reckon, account, or number them
among Papists in heart and affection; and so, they are of
the number of his name, that is, in account such, they
behave themselves so as they are, and deserve to be
accounted and esteemed Papists, and to aim at Popery, in
the judgment of all orthodox and Reformed Protestants ;
and that justly, for although their profession deny it, yet
their actions, and their corrupting of doctrine and worship
320
APPENDIX.
speak it to all men's consciences. The number of his
name seems to the life to picture out a generation of
such kind of Popish persons as these in any (even the
most famous) of the Reformed Churches. Though they
renounce the Pope's character, and the name of Papists,
and will by no means be called priests of Baal, but boast
themselves to be of the Reformation, and opposites to the
Papal faction; yet do they bring in an image of Popish
worship and ceremonies, of altars, crucifixes, second
service, and the like, so to make up a full likeness in the
public service, to that of the Popish Church. All this,
not as Popery or with the annexion of Popish idolatrous
opinions, but upon such grounds only, as upon which
Protestants themselves have continued some other cere-
monies. And as in worship, so in doctrine, they seek to
bring in a presence in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper,
beyond that which is spiritual, to faith, which yet is not
Popish Transubstantiation; a power in priests to forgive
sins, beyond that which is declarative, yet not that which
mass priests arrogate: justification by works, yet not so
grossly as in the way of Popish merit, but as a condition
of the Gospel as well as faith ; and many the like to these;
thus truly setting up an image of old Popery in a Pro-
testant Reformed way, even as Popery is an image of
heathenish worship in a Christian way. Say these men
what they will, that they hold not of the Pope, nor any
way intend him, or the introducing of his religion into
these Churches, yet their actions do (and cannot but) make
all men number them as such; and therefore we say, they
have gained that esteem at home and abroad in all the
churches, and it is no more than what the Holy Ghost
prophesied of, who hath fitted them with a description so
characteristical, as nothing is more like them than this of
these here, who are said to receive the number of his name.
And they doing this in a way of Apostasy from their former
APPENDIX.
321
profession and religion in which they were trained up, and
in a Church so full of spiritual light, where God hath more
witnesses than in all the rest of the Churches, and with an
intention and conspiracy in the end to make way for the
beast (this going before, as the twilight doth serve to
usher in darkness), therefore the Holy Ghost thought them
worthy of this character in this prophecy), and of a
discovery of them unto whom they do belong."
V. NOTICE OF EFFORTS MADE BY ROMANISTS IN SYRIA
AND THE EAST.
The following information respecting the efforts making
by the Romanists in the East was communicated to me by
Dr. Crawford
“ The Church of Rome has, from time immemorial,
laboured to establish her spiritual power in the East, and
has had recourse to many cunning devices to allure the
Eastern Christian Churches into union with herself; her
success in past times has been but very partial. Since,
however, recent political events have so greatly increased
the facilities of communication with the East, that ever-
vigilant and active community has renewed her exertions
to obtain influence in those regions on a much greater
scale than at former periods. During the last two years
she has been continually sending missionaries of both
sexes and adapted to all classes of society, into Syria,
Egypt, Persia, Abyssinia, and every accessible district of
Asia. One of the last acts has been the appointment of a
Bishop of Babylon. (A worthy and meet counterpart to
the true Church of Christ, constituting a Jew, faithful
to Christ, a Bishop of the converted Jews at Jerusalem.)
A Society of Jesuits from France purchased, a few years
ago, a house and premises near Beyrout, to found a college
for the general education of the natives of Syria ; and it
322
APPENDIX.
was lately announced that they had already above 120
pupils, and that their college was daily increasing. A
French newspaper, “l'Univers,' contained last February
the following announcement :- Alexandria, as well as
Constantinople and Smyrna, is about to possess estab-
lishments of Lazarists and Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul,
from France. The French Government has purchased
from Mahomet Ali an extensive piece of ground for the
purpose of erecting a building in which the Lazarists and
Sisters of Charity may give instruction to children of both
sexes.
“ The Protestant communities of Europe have been com-
paratively extremely remiss and inactive as regards the
East. They have but very few missionary agents there
at present. The support of the cause of the Gospel in
those vast regions depends at this time mainly on the
AMERICAN missionaries, who within the last few years
have established a great many stations there, and whose
labours have been much blessed.
“The principal measure adopted is the very remarkable
one of the establishment of an Episcopal Mission at
Jerusalem, with a converted Jew as its bishop; but in
consequence of the restrictions imposed upon it by the
Turkish Government, its labours must chiefly for the
present be confined to the Jews.
“And on the other hand, the Church Missionary Society
is obliged, by the want of funds, to withdraw its missionary
agents from the East, and to give up its very important
printing and missionary establishment at Malta at the very
time when, in the providence of God, a more favourable
opening had been made for successful missionary exertions
than at any former period.”
Never was there such a call made on Evangelical
Christians, not by their backwardness and standing aloof
from the Society, to suffer such an abandonment and
APPENDIX.
323
withdrawing of its missions. If any man draw back, God
himself says, “My soul shall have no pleasure in him."
VI. PAPAL PROGRESS : INTOLERANCE AND IDOLATRY
IN FRANCE : ANTICIPATIONS IN ENGLAND,
(From “L’Espérance," of Dec. 27, 1842.)
With the New Testament in our hand, we certainly
believe in the fall of Popery; but, however strange it may
appear to some, we think that, previous to this final fall,
Rome will once more regain her ancient power, and bear
anew her saddest fruits. It is not difficult to convince
ourselves that this papal reconstitution is advancing before
our eyes, Jesuitry is everywhere regaining its empire; the
true Christian element, the catholicity of a Fénélon, of a
Bishop Sailer, appears less and less ; and devotion for the
Virgin prevails, amongst the most devout, above the
worship of Christ. At no period has the authority, the
supremacy of the fallen Bishop of Rome had more auda-
cious, more fanatic defenders. His seat is a thousand
times more magnified than the invisible throne of the
Lord's grace.
Convents, brotherhoods the most fanatic, multiply with
an astonishing rapidity. The lassitude of some, the igno-
rance of others, difficulties, ill-understood warnings, our
whole social and political situation, wonderfully facilitate
these gloomy conquests. Nothing was wanting to complete
this papal restoration, but the re-establishment of religious
orders, and of the warriors of the middle ages.
We have already seen that they thought seriously of
reviving these institutions worthy of Mahomet, and as much
opposed to the spirit as to the word of our Divine Master.
H the Gospel condemns them, they, on the other hand,
completely answer the inclinations of man's unregenerate
heart, wbich borders as closely on fanaticism as on incre-
0
T
WA
324
APPENDIX.
dulity: they answer particularly to the military instincts
of the French. Let public opinion pronounce for them,
and we may be sure that Rome, which ever flatters the
spirit of the times, will loudly demand them. One of the
principal journals of the Romish Church in France has
just published an article intended to recommend the esta-
blishment of a religious order of “ Porte-Glaives," similar
to the ancient Teutonic knights. The destination of this
order would be Algeria, (provisionally at least, infidels at
first, heretics afterwards !) and its object would be to
defend and to GOVERN our African possessions. The most
essential condition of this order would be that of admitting
in it NO DIVERSITY OF FAITH. For the rest, here is the
counsel given by General Duvivier, one of the generals of
the African army :-
“ If we had," says General Duvivier, “the strong
burning faith of the Godfreys and the Bayards, we should
form military and religious orders, who would be the heads
of columns, and the military conductors of our invasion.
If we had bold, vigorous, sober, believing men, like the
companions of Ferdinand Cortez, they would rush on to
conquest and civilization, in the footsteps of these religious
orders. If we had Christian charity, rich societies would be
formed, which would give the funds necessary to transport
new Crusaders. Then, one may be assured, these would
succeed. Certainly they would impose pitilessly" (we
cannot admit this epithet for a truly Christian propa-
gation) " their faith on the natives, but this would be one
cause more of rapid success; for, notwithstanding the pro-
gress of ideas, we must not deceive ourselves; a nation
which would be powerful must have a severe discipline,
and its first rule must be, not to admit diversity of faith.”
The words in italics are so also in the journal from which
we have copied literally the preceding quotation. This
journal demands also the European restoration of the
APPENDIX.
325
Order of Malta, and the re-establishment of its sovereignty,
no longer on any isle of the Mediterranean, but, above all,
in the holy city which was its cradle.
We will raise our voice, however feeble it may be, against
thoughts and projects so anti-Christian ; yet they should
not surprise us on the part of those to whom the true
thought of Christ is strange, in proportion to their confi-
dence that they alone possess it. It is well that the little
flock of true disciples should know what passes, in order
that in prayer and faith, they may be ready for all, even
what is most unexpected. There is neither wisdom nor
charity in enclosing ourselves with illusions, and shuta
ting our eyes, before the formidable development of the
reign of that enemy, who is yet more dangerous because
disguised as an angel of light.
Directions of Cardinal de Bonald, Cardinal Archbishop
of Lyons, respecting devotion to the Holy Virgin, and
specially on the worship of the Immaculate Conception.
(From the same copy of “ L'Espérance.")
If there is anything which announces clearly the real
weakness of the Papacy, in the midst of its apparent
triumphs, it is the means it employs for its restoration. We
pretend not to foresee crises, perhaps, very unexpected,
through which the Christian Church must still pass ; above
all, we will not decide whether the nations now subject to
Rome will be able to support for a little longer period
the regimen of any other religion than Christianity. One
thing is very evident, it is, that Rome seems only to regain
her strength by casting herself with new fury into an
openly announced idolatry, and we venture to use the
term, with a deplorable boldness. We rest these reflec-
tions on the document whose title we have just given ;
and to show to what a point idolatry has reached in this
326
APPENDIX.
document, it will suffice to give its commencement, the
very first words ; here they are :
"L. S. M. de Bonald . . . Cardinal Priest, Archbishop
of Lyons, &c. &c.
“When the Christian religion was born on Mount
Calvary of the blood of Jesus Christ, she appeared in the
world with a countenance austere as her language, and
daughter of the man of sorrows, she had received in
heritage only a crown of thorns; her hands bore no sceptre
but the cross. But this garb would have frightened the
human heart too much, if the Saviour had not given to
religion from her cradle, a companion whose gentleness
should temper her severity ; whose charms should make
men FORGET the rigour of her laws, and support the weight
of her yoke. This faithful companion was, our dearly
beloved brethren, the worship of the Holy Virgin. These
two sisters, hand in hand, descended together from the
Holy Mount, to proceed together to the conquest of souls.
From that time, wherever the standard of the cross was
unfurled, the ensign of the Mary was also seen. Jesus,
in taking possession of a heart, made his mother reign
there also; and these two sacred names became insepara-
ble on the lips of a Christian, as they are in the songs of
angels in the highest heaven," &c.
We cannot here undertake a thorough theological dis-
cussion. We will confine ourselves to pointing out the
principal features of this paragraph. The Gospel, the
good news of salvation for sinners, these glad tidings of
great joy for all people (according to the word of the
angels), has only, according to M. de Bonald, an austere
countenance. The Gospel, which, according to the Scrip-
tures, brings to the sinner peace and joy, has only, accord-
ing to Rome, a crown of thorns. The Gospel, which,
according to the Scriptures, gives us access with boldness
and confidence to the throne of mercy, according to Rome,
APPENDIX.
327
terrifies the human heart. And whilst Jesus tells us that
his yoke is easy and his burden light, and St. John
teaches us that the commandments of God are not grieva
ous, the worshippers of Mary need something to make us
“ forget the rigour of this Gospel, and bear the weight of
its yoke.” Lastly, while the Gospel teaches us that we
are under grace, and no more under the law, Rome, on
the contrary, tells us that the Gospel maintains or re-
establishes a law which crushes ; and which renders ne-
cessary-what ? the institution of another religion; of a
companion who might soften her terrible sister.
We could have wished that M. le Cardinal would have
quoted to us the part of Scripture where he finds the
worship of Mary mentioned in the songs of the angels.
We have, indeed, found in the Apocalypse, seven songs
which are sung in heaven, but we have been able to find
there no name but that of the Lamb who was slain for us.
The document that we are now analysing would give
rise to a volume of comments of the same kind; but we
can only notice the most striking points.
At page 5, we are told that “in our holy books the
Spirit of God has thrown a scarcely transparent veil over
the life of the mother of the Saviour.” The expression
says too much or too little. There is no veil thrown over
this life : the Scripture speaks plainly or it says nothing;
it shows us, it is true, Mary as truly blessed : but all be-
lievers are so. For the rest, this faithful soul does not
appear, notwithstanding all that has been said of her, to
have been more enlightened than any other about heavenly
truths, nor about the Divine nature of her Son. When
Jesus said to her, at Jerusalem, that he “must be about
his Father's business," she “understood him not.” (Luke
ii. 50.) We all know the equality that our Saviour made
between Mary and every other believer, when he said, “He
that doeth the will of God, the same is my mother, my
F F 2
328
APPENDIX.
sister, and my brother.” Here are truths without veil :
and unless it be in cases of this kind, the veil is so thick
one can see nothing at all.
So that there are scarcely expressions severe enough to
describe words like these, that Protestant Christianity ever
treats as impious.
“True Catholics pray only, in some sort, to Jesus, by
Mary; for them there is no festival without her. One
would say that without her there is no more hope for them.
Her name is incessantly on their lips, and her image in
every heart. .... It would seem that God had committed
to his mother his omnipotence! and that the hands of this
pure virgin could ALONE dispense to the Jew or to the
Gentile the rays of truth and the waters of grace.”
It is after similar assertions that they introduce in favour
of Mary the absurd title of advocate, thus robbing, here
again, Jesus and the Holy Spirit of the names and functions
attributed only to Deity. (1 John ii. 1; John xiv. 16.)
It is true, that to guard against the Protestants, against
the defenders of the truth, they try for a moment to say
just the contrary of all that has gone before.
“Mary even is at the feet of Him who alone is worthy
of adoration. The infinite is between her and her Creator."
(P. 14.)
But we leave it to honest consciences to reconcile these
last words with all that precedes and all that follows; we
leave them also to appreciate the value of these equivocal
expressions, “ in some sort," "one would say that," " it would
seem that,” employed to insinuate into men's minds ideas
they would be ashamed boldly to present.
But enough on this subject. It is enough to have to state
such wanderings, such an abandonment of salutary truth.
And how much more happy should we be to find in the
instructions of the Bishops and Archbishops of the king-
dom pure and pressing invitations to have recourse to Him
APPENDIX.
329
who has said with such Divine condescension, “All that ye
shall ask in my name, I will do.” “Come unto Me, and
I will give you rest.” But we see more and more the
Roman Church is no longer the depository of heavenly
truth; she persists in refusing to lean on the Word of
God alone, since she perseveres in exalting that tradition
which misleads, at the expense of the Scripture, which is
the lamp to our feet.
It is, then, for the Evangelical Church, which builds on
this foundation of the apostles and prophets, to appropriate
to herself all the blessing of her principle.
It is for this humble and mean Protestant Church, so
persecuted in ancient times, and always so abased among
us, to continue in France her firm and holy protestation.
And the more the Roman Church buries and loses itself in
its superstition and Idolatry, the more should the Pro-
testant Church purify herself from all unbelief, and regain,
in reality and life, the apostolical character that she has in
her doctrine.
Roman Anticipations and Exertions in England.
The “Roman Catholic Magazine," of February, 1843,
assuming the four falsehoods as four truths, (1), that all
the misery of the lower orders is owing to Protestantism,
and (2), that the people of England will soon detect this,
and (3), that Protestantism is a heresy, and (4), that no
heresy flourished after 300 years, asks, what if they
“bethink themselves how that the ascendency of that
heresy, which plagues and vexes them thus sorely, has
still to look for the completion of its three hundredth year,
that fated term which no heresy as yet has been permitted
to witness and rejoice! In 1559 the Apostasy of England
was consummated by the united voice of her Sovereign and
her three Estates. In 1859 who is blind to the signs of
the times? Yet who may dare to interpret them ?” This
FF 3
330
APPENDIX.
magazine then pours forth its wishes in curiously strained
metaphors, that England may before that period “have
undone the past, unthreaded the rude eye of that sharp
rebellion which pierces into the very bones and marrow
of her greatness, and welcomed home again the discarded
faith, and with it the return of happiness.” Such are the
boasting anticipations of those whose predicted character
is to speak lies in hypocrisy.
The energy of the Papist, the Hon. and Rev. G. Spencer,
is seen in the same magazine, in his urging the extension
to England of a new Society, the Society of St. Vincent and
of St. Paul. He says, “We have already adopted, of late
years, from France, the Association for the Propagation of
the Faith. We have begun now to enter very generally
into the confraternity established at Paris, of the immaculate
heart of our Lady! we show by these tokens that, with
taking time, we are ready for every good work, and that
our people know how to overcome national prejudices;
and who knows how soon this new proposal from Paris
may come to the same result ?”
Let these statements of French Papal exertions in our
country help to awaken the Reformed Church of England
and Protestant Churches in general, to some just sense of
our real dangers, and some corresponding exertions for
the maintenance of the true faith of Christ.
INDEX.
Absolutions, 1973
China, Roman Missionary sent to,
Achill, 41
preface
Additional Curate Society, 239 “Christian Observer," preface
Alcazar, quoted, 140
" Christian Remembrancer," pre-
Algiers, Relics from, 45
face
Antichrist, 169, 285
Christian year, 86
" Quarterly Review," 252, 295 Christians, true, in Rome, 146,
Apostasy, 42
154, 193
Apostolic Succession, 58, 121 Church, the last enemy of, preface
Armada, Spanish, 176
Church of Christ, 105
Armageddon, 98
Church of Christ, hidden, 240
Articles, quoted, 277, 309
Church Pastoral-Aid, 239
Article, XXXIX., perverted, 70 “ Churchman's Monthly," 233
Ashley, Lord, 54.
City Missions, 239
Atheist, the, 22.
Clarkson, referred to, 174
Atonement, reserved, 67
Commandment, Second, omit-
Authorities, honour due to, 261 ted, 162
Babylon, 74, 96, 112, 140
Commandment, Fourth, perverted,
- plagues on, 183, 195
164
Baptismal Regeneration, 60, 307 Coming of Christ, 98, 114, 189
Baptized or Justified, 313
Commentators on Revelation, 292
Barrow, referred to, 152, I Confession of Christ, 129
176
Confessional, Romish, 170
Beast, the, 18, 23
Contrast truths, 82, 85
Beast from the Earth, 19, 93 Coronation Oath, 200
Bellarmine, 18, 140, 152, 175
- Service, 277
Bernard, Dr., quoted, 153
Crawford, Dr., his statement, 321
Binnius, referred to, 178
Croly, Dr., referred to, 196
Birks's - Elements," 293
Cross, adoration of, 161, 199, 228
Bona, Cardinal, 169
Cuninghame, 141
Bonald, Cardinal, on Virgin, 325 Daily Service, preface, 56
Bonaparte, 11, 12
Dangers of the Latter Day, 107
Bonaventura, 44, 159
D'Aubigné, quoted, preface
Bossuet, 141
Deliverance, sudden, 109
Bradford, quoted, 58, 275
--
complete, 113
Brightman, referred to, 5, 170 Demons, doctrines of, 230
Britain, situation of, preface Discernment, Spiritual, 253
“ British Critic," 3, 65
District visiting, 239
Bullin Cænâ Domini, quoted, 163 Dragon, 17, 20
Calcutta, Bishop of, quoted, 170 Duvivier's Counsel, 324
Candlish, Dr., 277
Education, 48
Canning's Speech, preface
Elizabeth, Queen, Bull against,
Canoc on Eucharist, quoted, 162 168
Caswell, Rev. H., quoted, 50 . “Espérance," quoted, 30, 33, 202,
Catholic, the Holy Church, 105 323
Ceremonies, 67
Euphrates, 15, 144
Chartism, 95, 119
Evangelical Society, 41
Powe
332
INDEX.
155
Faber, referred to, 171
Lawlessness, 23
False Religioni, extensive progress Lee's Eusebius Theophonia, 294
of, 77
Leipsic, Letter from, 33
False Prophet, 26, 74, 91
Liberalism, 48
Foxe, referred to, 152
London, State of, 117, 237
Foxe, republication of, 176
City Mission, 118, 239
French King's Speech, preface Looking for Christ, 124
Frogs, 37
Love, spirit of, 267
Garbett, referred to, 72
| Luther, quoted, preface, 58
Goode's “ Divine Rule," 72
M'Ghee, quoted, 28, 174
Govett on Revelation, 294
M'Neile, referred to, 167
Graham, Sir J., Letter of, 276 Magna Charta, annulled by the
Greek Church, 78
Pope, 177
Greek and Eastern Churches, 3 Malvenda, quoted, 145
Gregory XVI., Letter of, 26 Manufacturing Districts, 24
- Bull against Slavery, Marriage forbidden, 232
28
Martyrs, 148, 162
Gunpowder Treason, 1, 102, 176 Mass, Idolatry of, 162
Hallelujahs in Revelation, 143 Maynooth College, 36, 55
Hartwell Horne, referred to, 161 Meats to be abstained from, 232
Henry VIII., Bull against, 28 Mede, 6, 139, 233
Herbert, Mr. S., quoted, 264 Mendham, referred to, 177
Homilies, quoted, 199
Milner, quoted, 61, 242
Homily on Whit-Sunday, quoted, Miracles, false, 80, 171, 173, 181,
231
Hooper, quoted, 59, 251
Missal, quoted, 159
Host, Worship of, 158
Missions, 47
Humility before God, 257
' Papal, 31, 186, 229
Idol-Temple Offering, 53, 262 Mormonism, 21, 53
Ignatius, Epistle of, 174
" Morning Herald” quoted, 256
Images, Adoration of, 198
Mystery of Godliness, 217
Inconsistencies to be avoided, 259 orientertainment of Iniquity, 154, 169, 224
Indulgences, 173, 198
National Protest against Rome,
Infallibility of Popery, 166, 187 204
Infidelity, 21-23, 187, 237 Neology, 21, 81
Intellect, Cultivation of, 247 Newman, quoted, 79, 256
Jansenists, 155, 172
"New Moral World," 22
Jericho, type of, 9, 10
New Zealand, Popery in, 186
Jerusalem, Patriarch of, 302 November, the fifth of, 1, 102
-
Heavenly, 209
Oaths evaded by Papists, 162
Jesuits Restored, 31, 44, 262 O'Connell, quoted, 31
para conocemo Principles of, 173
Opposing errors, 40
Jewell, quoted, 70, 153, 171, 203 | Palmer, 3, 286
Jews Persecuted by Rome, 177 Papal Works, republication of, 176
Joachim, Abbas, 98
Parker Society, 176
Judgment of Persons, condemned, Parliament, Prayer for, 273
86
Peace, General, preface
Judgment, Private, 90
Peel, Sir R., quoted, 10
Justification, 64
Persecutions, Papal, 148, 150, 178,
Kings of the East, 15, 17
181
Koapp, Christian Theolog: Phænix, quoted, 95
Lamartine, quoted, 14
Pilkington, referred to, 59
Lapide, C. A., quoted, 141, 145 Pius IV., creed of, 156
Lathbury, 102, 177
Pope's “Roman Misquotations,"
Latimer, quoted, 203
157
INDEX.
333
Popery, activity of, 27-30 | Rome, tendency to, 2, 37, 67
- revival of, 39, 211 Romish Journals, 32
- subtlety of, 254
Rubrics, 67
Pope, adoration of, 160
Sacraments, our Reformers' view,
Popish priests, profession of, 156 307
Porteus, Bishop, on “the French Sacrifice of Christ supplanted,
Revolution," 299
167, 168
“ Post-office London Directory," Saints, worship of, 159
preface
Scotch Church, 275, 280
Practical application, 117
Scriptures suppressed by Popery,
Prayer enforced, 248
165, 171
Propaganda, preface
- study of, 246
Prophecy, uncertainty of, pre- Shelley, quoted, 11
face, 3
Sins, mortal and venial, 173
Prophets, false, 250
Socialism, 21, 22, 52
Protestant Association, 131, 210 Society for the Suppression of
Public worship, attendance in Vice, 23
London, 118, 237
- for Propagation of the
Pusey, Dr., 79
Faith, 29
“Quarterly Review," referred to, Spirit, aid of, 249
252, 295
St. Simonianism, 21
Queen's Speech, preface
Stillingfleet, referred to, 160, 173,
" Quesnell's Reflections," 171
217
“ Record," quoted, preface, 53 Stowell, quoted, 123
Reformed Churches, sins of, 181 Stuart on “ Revelation," 294
Reformers hated, 70
Test of true Church, 224
Regeneration, Church of England | Tillinghast, quoted, 13
view of, 307-315
Todd, Dr., 18
Religious Societies, 47, 130, 210 Tract 86, quoted, 103
Repentance after Baptism, 201 Tractarians, 30, 40, 55, 82, 200
Republican Societies, 25
Tradition, 58, 198, 201
Restoration of Israel, 143, 189 Trent, Council of, 206
Revelation, Protestant interpre Turkish Empire, 5, 12, 17, 39
tation of, 285, &c.
| Unclean Spirits, 17
Revolution of 1688, 182
Unction, extreme, 168
- French, 10, 12, 185 Unity of the Church, 83, 242
Ribera, quoted, 145
Usher, quoted, 159, 174
Rich, preface, 264
Vial, sixth, 5
Rogers' “ Anti-popery," 233
seventh, preface, 100
Romanist exertions in Syria, 321 Vials, fulfilment of, 9
“ Roman Catholic Magazine," Virgin, worship of, 44, 45, 159,
preface, 27, 32, 329
185, 228, 325
-
Members, oath Wallace, Mr., quoted, 279
of, 212
Watchfulness, 117
Rome is Babylon, 140, 179 Wealth, Idolatry of, 51, 264
- Government of, preface “ Weekly Dispatch," 22
possible prevalence of, 94 Woodhouse, 18, 141
Prayer for, 214
| Word of God, 88
Sins of, 158
Wordsworth, quoted, 256
Supremacy of, 150, 167,174 ) Young, Rev. E., quoted, 251
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