cc 
 
 THE 
 
 IMPORTANT QUESTION 
 
 ARE YOU SAVED?" 
 
 ANSWERED 
 
 By a Reference to God's Word and the 
 
 Lives and Teaching of the Holy Apostles 
 
 there recorded. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. THOMAS MAY, M.A. 
 
 (Late Vicar of Leigh, Kent.) 
 
 " We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbHng-block, and unto 
 the Greeks foolishness ; but unto them which are called, both Jews and 
 Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." — I. Cor. i. 23, 24. 
 
 " Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift." — II. Cor. ix. 15. 
 
 W. WELLS GARDNER, 2, PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, 
 
 1878.
 
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 CHKISI'IAN ((triOl.. \:\ i.iii; i-.\-\'k \K. ...\ iii< s'l.tii 
 
 BlRTHDAS . 
 
 Lkigh Parsonagr, 
 
 March 2ist, 1S78.
 
 ARE YOU SAVED?" 
 
 T F this question be put with a view to elicit the 
 ^ reply, " I know from my own feelings, that I 
 have passed from death unto life, and that I cannot 
 relapse into sin, nor miss eternal salvation," it is 
 indeed a most improper question. Such self- 
 confidence can only minister to what is one form of 
 that " Pride of hTe " (aXa^ovela) which the Beloved 
 nisciple tells us is one of the three great tempta- 
 tions that are m the world (1. John ii. i6). Of this 
 same " Pride " St. James is speaking when he says, 
 " Now ye rejoice in your boastings" {dXa^oveiais) ; 
 and adds, "all such rejoicing is evil" (James iv. i6). 
 Such vain conceit would appropriate to itself " the 
 prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," 
 without running " with patience the race that is set 
 before us." " If any man strive for the mastery," 
 St. Paul tells us, *'yet is he not crowned, except 
 he strive lawfully " — follow the rules prescribed 
 for the Christian competitor (II. Tim. ii. 5). And 
 the Lord Jesus himself forewarns His disciples, — 
 "he that shall endure unto the end " — not he who did 
 run well and was hindered, not he who is wearied 
 and faints in his mind as he nears the term of his 
 earthly existence; but, — " he that shall endure unto 
 the end, the same shall be saved" (St. Markxiii. 13). 
 Again, unto the angel of the church of Smyrna,
 
 4 ARE YOU SAVED f 
 
 St. John is commanded to write, " Be thou faithful 
 itnto death'' — not faithful for a season only, too con- 
 fident that thou shalt never fall from thy stedfast- 
 ness, but, — " Be thou faithful unto death, and 
 I will give thee a crown of life." St. Paul gives his 
 brethren a caution, very necessary in the present 
 day, " Ye have need oi patience, that after ye have 
 done the will of God (not before) , ye might receive 
 the promise." " By your patience save ye your 
 souls," was our Lord's admonition to His disciples, 
 for so it may be understood, when He foretold 
 the destruction of Jerusalem, and the impending 
 troubles of God's rebellious people (St. Luke xxi. 19) . 
 And Christ is "the author of eternal salvation unto 
 all them" — but only to them — "that obey Him" 
 (Heb. V. 9). "Be not weary in well doing; " "and 
 the Lord" will "direct your hearts into the love 
 of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ " 
 (H. Thess. iii. 13. 5). 
 
 The doctrine of the Church of England respect- 
 ing Personal assurance and Final perseverance is thus 
 set forth in her XVIth Article of Religion : — " After 
 we have received the Holy Ghost we may depart 
 from grace given, and fall into sin, and by the 
 grace of God we may arise again and amend our 
 lives. ' And, therefore, they are to be condemned 
 which say that they can no more sin as long as 
 they live here, or deny the place of forgiveness to 
 such as truly repent." (See the Articles of Religion 
 in the Book of Common Prayer.) 
 
 A more profitable inquiry than that referred 
 to above seems to be involved in the following 
 questions: — 
 
 ;uiuc!;
 
 ARE YOU SAVED r 5 
 
 1. Is Christ dwelling in your hearts by faith ? 
 {See Eph. iii. 15). An answer may be deduced 
 from two texts of Holy Scripture ; " Now if any 
 man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of 
 His " (Rom. viii. 9) ; " Hereby we know that He 
 abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given 
 us " (I. John iii. 24). 
 
 2. " Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye 
 believed?" (Acts xix. 2). If we have been duly 
 baptized, I conceive we may at once answer in the 
 affirmative, and say that we have received the 
 Holy Ghost. " He," said the Baptist, speaking 
 of the Lord Jesus, '' shall baptize you with the Holy 
 Ghost " (St. Mark i. 8). We have all been baptized 
 " into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
 of the Holy Ghost " (St. Matt, xxviii. 19). 
 
 3. But the question recurs in another form ; 
 Are you now in the enjoyment of the communion 
 of the Holy Ghost ? or, to recur to the words of 
 our first question. Is Christ now dwelling in your 
 hearts ? 
 
 The indwelling of the Spirit, or of Christ, is to 
 be judged of by the production of the fruit of the 
 Spirit. And St. Paul tells us, " The fruit of the 
 Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, 
 goodness, faith, meekness, temperance " (Gal. 
 V. 22). St. Peter, likewise, having, in the opening 
 of his second General Epistle, confirmed his con- 
 verts in the hope of the increase of God's graces, 
 subjoins the exhortation, " Giving all diligence, 
 add to your faith virtue ; and to virtue knowledge ; 
 and to knowledge temperance ; and to temperance 
 patience ; and to patience godliness ; and to godliness
 
 6 ARE YOU SAVED T 
 
 brotherly kindness ; and to brotherly kindness 
 charity." The words that follow are according 
 to the general teaching of both Apostles ; the one, 
 St. Peter, the Apostle of the Circumcision ; the 
 other, St. Paul, of the Uncircumcision. " For," 
 adds St. Peter, in the very next verse, " if these 
 things be in you, and abound, they make you that 
 ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the 
 knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that 
 lacketh these things " — no matter what his pro- 
 fessions may be — " is blind, and cannot see afar off, 
 and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old 
 sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren," continues 
 the Apostle, "give diligence to make your calling 
 and election stire ; for if ye do these things " — not if 
 ye call Christ ' Lord, Lord!' boast of Him as your 
 Saviour, and do not the things that He says, — 
 "ye shall never fall : for so an entrance shall 
 be ministered unto you abundantly into the ever- 
 lasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 All this valuable instruction is included within 
 the space of the first eleven verses of the first 
 chapter of the Second Epistle General of St. 
 Peter. 
 
 Let us now contemplate, from St. Paul's point 
 of view, the doctrine of Salvation through the only 
 merits of Jesus Christ, and by Sanctification of 
 His Spirit. " By Grace are ye saved through 
 Faith," saith the Apostle, " and that not of your- 
 selves : it is the gift of God " (Eph. ii. 8). 
 
 " By Grace are ye saved." So far as God is 
 concerned, the work of man's salvation is complete,
 
 ARE YOU SAVED ? 7 
 
 Our Saviour on the Cross declared, " It is finished : 
 and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost " 
 (St. John xix. 30). " The Apostle and High Priest 
 of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to 
 Him that appointed Him," finished there the work 
 which His Father had given Him to do, and which 
 he had willingly undertaken : " though He were a 
 Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which 
 He suffered ; and being made perfect" — " perfect 
 through suffering" — " he became the author of 
 eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him." 
 {See Heb. ii. 10; iii. i ; v. 8-9). 
 
 " Grace and truth" — the Truth made manifest 
 in Him, — " came by Jesus Christ " (St. John i. 17). 
 " The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath 
 appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying 
 ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live 
 soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present 
 world ; looking for that blessed hope, and the 
 glorious appearing of the great God and our 
 Saviour Jesus Christ ; who gave Himself for us, 
 that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and 
 purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of 
 good works " (Tit. ii. 11-14). 
 
 But there is something required on man's part 
 to secure his own portion in this salvation. " By 
 grace are ye saved, through faith.'' Faith is the 
 instrument of our salvation — the hand, as it were, 
 whereby we lay hold of " Jesus, the Author and 
 Finisher of our faith." And here, let me illustrate 
 by adopting Bishop Hall's apt similitude of the 
 two hands which upheld Peter, when, "beginning 
 to sink, he cried " in the agony of despair, " Lord,
 
 8 ARE YOU SAVED t 
 
 save me ! " (St. Matt. xiv. 30). Now, the two hands 
 alluded to are these. There was the hand of 
 Christ's power that " caught him," and saved his 
 life from destruction ; and there was the hand of 
 his own faith which grasped the power of The 
 Lord our Righteousness, mighty to save — whose 
 Name was called Emmanuel, or Jesus ; for He shall 
 save His people from their sins. " Believe on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved " 
 (Acts xvi. 31). " Lord, I believe; help Thou mine 
 unbelief" (St. Mark ix. 24). 
 
 Of St. Peter, in respect of his deliverance from 
 a watery grave, it might be truly said, as it was 
 said by " The Truth" Himself to the woman who 
 was a sinner but had become a true penitent and 
 believer, "Thy sins are forgiven;" and again, "Thy 
 faith hath saved thee; Go in peace" (St. Luke vii. 
 48-50.) With the gentle rebuke, " O thou of little 
 faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ? " the great Healer 
 cured Peter of his doubtings ; and, for a season, 
 he went on his way rejoicing in a consciousness of 
 his fidelity to his " Lord and his God." But the 
 time came — it was Satan's hour — when the Prince 
 of Darkness renewed his attack upon Peter from 
 the ambuscade of self-complacency and self-con- 
 fidence. Hear the Lord's warning of his danger : 
 " Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to 
 have you, that he may sift you as wheat ; but I have 
 prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not " (St. Luke 
 xxii. 31, 32). Which means that it be not utterly 
 extinguished, so that there be not a spark left for 
 the Holy Ghost to fan into a flame ; in other words, 
 that thy faith die not. We all know that Peter's
 
 ARE YOU SAVED T Q 
 
 faith had come to its lowest ebb of vitality, when 
 "he began to curse and to swear, saying, * I know not 
 the man ' " — Christ Jesus, — "the Lamb of God that 
 taketh away the sin of the world," But the prayer 
 of the prevailing Intercessor revived his drooping 
 soul. His conversion was secured. After our 
 Lord's victory over sin and Satan, Peter was 
 formally reinstated in his apostleship, which he 
 seemed to have abdicated. 
 
 We have an account of his restoration in St. 
 John's narrative of what occurred at the sea of 
 Tiberias ; when, for the third time, according to 
 the Evangelist's reckoning of these appearances, 
 " Jesus shewed Himself," in His glorified Body, 
 " to His disciples, after He was risen from the 
 dead " (St. John xxi. 15-18). At this manifestation 
 St. Peter is singled out for a renewal of his com- 
 mission to feed the flock of Christ, over which the 
 Lord Jesus Himself, the Lord of Life, and the 
 Lord, the Holy Ghost, the Giver of Life, had made 
 him an overseer; and his " triple confession'' (as St. 
 Augustine observes) is made a counterpoise to his 
 " triple denial;'' that Peter's tongue may be an organ 
 of love no less than of fear ; and that the presence 
 of Life — " The Life" — may not elicit less than the 
 imminence of Death had done. Observe, also, the 
 remarkable correspondence of the triple injunction 
 here delivered to St. Peter, — " Feed My lambs," 
 " Feed My sheep," " Feed My sheep "—with that 
 addressed to him, like this, under his original name 
 of Simon. His Master foresaw that the enemy's 
 advantage over him would be only for a season, and 
 that a very short one ; for that the Lord, a few
 
 lO ARE YOU SAVED .'' 
 
 hours after, would turn and look upon His frail 
 disciple, and produce in him that "godly sorrow 
 which worketh repentance unto salvation not to be 
 repented of." 
 
 We have noticed two occasions on which the 
 faith of the foremost of the Apostles, notwith- 
 standing his self-confidence, failed him in the time 
 of tribulation, even in the hour of extreme bodily 
 danger. The same brave man who "drew his 
 sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, 
 and smote off his ear," is put out of countenance 
 by the challenge of a maid-servant; and, cowardly, 
 tells a lie. Simon Peter might be called a lion- 
 hearted man (" the righteous is bold as a lion"); 
 but, on the occasions alluded to, he verified the 
 saying of the Wise Man, " He that trusteth in his 
 own heart is a fool." x\ll his vain boastings, 
 however, vanished before his conviction of sin, when 
 "he went out, and wept bitterly." We are told, 
 moreover, that " Peter was grieved," when, for the 
 third time, the risen Saviour asked him, " Lovest 
 thou Me?" He feared that his omniscient Lord 
 might detect in him some insincerity of profession, 
 of which he was himself utterly unconscious. He 
 had learned a lesson of self-distrust, and of entire 
 confidence in the knowledge and wisdom of God. 
 
 There is a very general agreement among 
 ancient Ecclesiastical writers that St. Mark, the 
 disciple and companion of St. Peter, collected the 
 materials for his Gospel from the discourses of that 
 Apostle. St. Mark records the message which the 
 Angel (who appeared to the women at the se- 
 pulchre, notifying that Jesus of Nazareth was
 
 ARE YOU SAVED T II 
 
 risen) instructed them to convey to the disciples, 
 couched in these remarkable words, " Go your way, 
 tell his disciples and Peter, that he goeth before 
 you into Galilee ; there shall ye see him, as he said 
 unto you " (St. Mark xvi. 7) . Observe, Peter is here 
 spoken of as detached from the Twelve. Is he 
 taken at his word ? We remember what occurred 
 on the eve of the Crucifixion ; — ^" Then saith the 
 damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou 
 also one of this man's disciples ? He saith, / am not " 
 (St. John xviii. 17). But the Lord had not forgotten 
 Simon Peter, though Simon had forgotten himself, 
 and disowned his Lord. He is included in St. Mark's 
 account of the warning given of the faithlessness of 
 all the disciples, "Jesus saith unto them, ^// ye shall 
 be offended because of me this night: for it is written, 
 I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be 
 scattered " (St. Mark xiv. 27) . And he is included in 
 the promise that immediately follows, " But after 
 that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee " 
 (v. 28). Whether a disciple or not, at the time the 
 message was delivered to the women, Peter, being 
 mentioned by name, is reassured that he shall 
 witness the fulfilment of his Lord's most gracious 
 promise of a manifestation, in his glorified Body, 
 to all the surviving offenders in that memorable 
 night, when the Son of Man "was betrayed, and 
 given up into the hands of wicked men, to suffer 
 death upon the Cross." 
 
 We have anticipated the result of this mani- 
 festation of the risen Saviour at the Sea of Tiberias 
 to Peter in particular. He " that stumbled was 
 girded with 'much' strength." The once faithless
 
 12 ARE YOU SAVED ? 
 
 servant of that Divine Master, "Who took upon 
 Him the form of a servant," proved himself " faithful 
 unto death," and secured for himself " the crown 
 of Life." 
 
 But there was to be another meeting at a 
 mountain in Galilee (and, probably, this was the 
 meeting signified by the Angel), when all the sur- 
 viving Apostles would be assembled, and receive 
 their final commission to " preach the Gospel to 
 every creature." St. Mark, not improbably writing 
 at the dictation of St. Peter, gives the terms of 
 this commission in these memorable words: " Go 
 ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to 
 every creature. He that believeth and is baptized 
 shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be 
 damned" (St. Mark xvi. i6). 
 
 In St. Matthew's record of the Apostolical Com- 
 mission we have the clearest revelation hitherto 
 vouchsafed to us of the Name of God, into which 
 we are to be baptized — the " Name of the Father, 
 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Thus is 
 the Church of Christ constituted; " built upon the 
 foundation of the Apostles and prophets, Jesus 
 Christ Himself being the chief corner stone ; in 
 whom all the building fitly framed together groweth 
 unto an holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also" — 
 St. Paul is writing "to the saints that are at 
 Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus " 
 (Eph.i.i) — "are builded together for an habitation 
 of God through the Spirit" (Eph. ii. 20-22). Of 
 this Church Christ is the Head, and Christians 
 are members. Speaking to His disciples, Jesus 
 tells them, " One is your Master, even Christ, and
 
 ARE YOU SAVED ? 13 
 
 all ye — members of His body, of His flesh, and of 
 His bones," — " all ye are brethren." 
 
 It has pleased this our Divine Master to ordain 
 in His Church two Sacraments — that is to say. 
 Baptism and the Supper of the Lord — as generally 
 necessary to salvation. Both of them were declared 
 so, in anticipation of their actual appointment. 
 
 (i.) For in prophetic allusion to the Sacrament of 
 Baptism, not formally ordained till after the Resur- 
 rection, and just before the Ascension, Jesus said 
 to Nicodemus, a Master in Israel, " Verily, verily, 
 I say unto thee. Except a man be born of water, and 
 of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of 
 God " (St. John iii. 5). He cannot be a Christian 
 at all. Baptism is the door of entrance {janiia Ec- 
 clesicE) into that Kingdom. You have heard how, 
 on the mountain in Galilee, the Lord Jesus conse- 
 crated Baptism as the Sacrament of admission into 
 the fellowship of Christ's Religion : " Go ye," said 
 the Divine Head of the Church, "and make disciples 
 of [fiaOrjTevaare) all nations, baptizing them into 
 the Name {els to ovofia) of the Father, and of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Through this 
 means of Grace, he who would be Christ's disciple 
 is called by his Heavenly Father, through the Son, 
 and by the Holy Ghost, to a state of salvation, — a 
 state in which, if it be not his own fault, he will 
 become an inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven, or 
 Kingdom of God, in its highest sense. By Baptism 
 we are made members of the Church Militant ; 
 and, if we continue Christ's faithful soldiers and 
 servants unto our lives' end, we shall be members 
 of the Church Triumphant — " partakers of the
 
 14 ARE YOU SAVED ? 
 
 inheritance of the saints in light." In the Apostles' 
 Creed, which is the first thing to be learned by the 
 new-born babe in Christ, probably an infant in 
 years, profession is made of a belief in ^^Tlie holy 
 Catholic Church,'' with all its attendant advantages 
 and privileges of " The Communion of Saints ; 
 The Forgiveness of sins ; The Resurrection of the 
 body ; And the Life everlasting." 
 
 (2.) Again, in respect to the Lord's Supper: 
 Jesus, knowing what He would do for the pre- 
 servation of the Spiritual Life given in Baptism, 
 pre-ordains another Sacrament — the Supper of 
 the Lord, — that our growth in Divine wisdom, as 
 in stature, ma}^ be provided for; and our souls 
 strrn-tliriK (1 ;inil I (Tri'.-iit'd ]r\ tlic P»od\" and Blood 
 <>l C'hrisl. as Mitr Ixxjics arc 1>\' bread and wiiu-. 
 Xuticc tile Lcniarkablt: sinulariLx' ol lani-uatre in 
 which our ])lessed Lord declares the necessity of 
 every one who will be saved by the Gospel terms of 
 salvation observing both the ordinances He was 
 about to appoint in His Church. In His discourse 
 with Nicodemus, He identifies the new birth with 
 Baptismal regeneration : "Jesus answered, Verily, 
 verily, I sav unto thee, Except a man be born of 
 water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the 
 kingdom of God " (St. John iii. 5) . And in His great 
 discourse at Capernaum, when He had just 
 been speaking of Himself as the Bread of Life: 
 "Then Jesus said unto them, Yeril}^ verily, I say 
 unto you. Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of 
 Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you " 
 (St. John vi. 53). The life communicated to you in 
 Baptism will not abide ; according to the principle 
 ou which the HolySpirit deals out His gifts. — "For
 
 ARE YOU SAVED ? I5 
 
 whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall 
 have more abundance : but whosoever hath not, 
 from him shall be taken away even that he hath " 
 (St. Matt. xiii. 12). 
 
 Be very careful then, dear brethren in the 
 Lord, that ye neglect not the gift that is in you 
 by " the washing of regeneration" in Baptism ; 
 which gift, by being duly improved, will be a con- 
 stant stimulant to 3'ou to seek more grace of the 
 Almighty Lord Who is ever willing to give it, and 
 who has provided the great Eucharistic Feast as a 
 chief means for the "renewing of the Holy Ghost ; 
 which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus 
 Christ our Saviour : that, beinu' justified by His 
 i^i";i(;i;. w 1 ' >]i('uld 1 xj n^.u'c li(n"s ;u",r< 'l"(linL:' tc tbr 
 liopc m|" ciirn;!! lite." (>(■( lit. iii. 5-7). 
 
 In lh<- Att> ..f tliv .\|)i'>lI(S. jii tile ;ii,T<_iiiui 
 given of the infant Church immediately after the 
 great da\- of Pentecost, \vc read, in our English 
 Bibles, " And the Lord added to the Church 
 dailv sucli as should be saved " (Acts ii. 47) — 
 Tot's' (Toy^oixkvovi ; those that were being saved ; 
 those that were being called to a state of salvation 
 — placed in a condition in which God would give 
 them the ability to "work out their own salvation 
 witli fear and trembling" — not to make their safety 
 a matter of feeling ; — " for it is (jod that worketh 
 in us. l)otli to will and to do of His good pleasure " 
 (Phil. li. 12). And this is in perfect accordance with 
 what St. Pau'l teaches us when he writes, " By 
 grace are ye saved through taith ; and that not of 
 yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Eph. ii. 8). 
 
 If, then, we look faithfully to the teaching of 
 Christ's inspired Apostles, as contained in Holy
 
 i6 
 
 ARE YOU SAVED 
 
 Scripture, and to the record of their lives, as 
 recorded there, we shall not fail to learn what is 
 the true and right answer to such a question as 
 this, "Are you saved?" How would St. Peter 
 and St. Paul have had their converts answer the 
 question ? Assuredly, they would have had them 
 give some such answer as this : " No ; I am not 
 saved as yet, not actually saved ; but I am being 
 saved, as I hope and trust ; I am in ' the way of 
 salvation,' which the Apostles taught and showed 
 toman" (Acts xvi. 17). On repentance and faith 
 I was "baptized," as the Apostles required every 
 one to be, " for the remission of sins," with the 
 promise and pledge of "the gift of the Holy Ghost" 
 (Acts ii. 38). *' For the promise," they said, "is 
 unto you and to your children, and to all that are 
 afar off, as many as the Lord our God shall call " 
 (Ibid.y.^g). The "way of salvation," its promises, 
 its privileges, and its duties, are, therefore, just the 
 same as they were when the Apostles first preached 
 on the great day of Pentecost, "with the Holy 
 Ghost sent down from heaven." By my Baptism I 
 have been, through God's mercy, " added to this 
 Church" (v. 41-47); I have "continued stedfastly 
 in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in 
 breaking of bread, and in prayer " ; abiding thus in 
 spiritual communion with Christ, through the ap- 
 pointed means and holy ordinances which He has 
 ordained ; in faith and patience, in self-distrust and 
 holy fear, persevering unto the end, I humbly trust, 
 through God's mercy, and Christ's merits, and the 
 grace of His Holy Spirit, to obtain full inheritance 
 of everlasting salvation, through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ,
 
 
 
 -■■•.^■:>- 
 
 7; .vvf ;{,l^-> J