A SERMON, &c. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." THESE two plain and reasonable maxims of St. Paul, which commend themselves, at once, to every's man's common sense, contain the principles of that Reformation, in which our national church purified itself from the errors of popery. Our forefathers claimed the right, without which the gift of reason would be but an ignoble boon, of "proving all things;" and, more especially, the things connected with the salvation of their immortal souls. At the same time, actuated by a piety and sincerity, equalled only by their fortitude and judgment, they determined to use their right of proving all things, with reverence and meekness; and, at any sacrifice, and through any trials of their faith, to "hold fast that which is good." To the noble assertion, and prudent exercise, of this privilege, by the first promoters of the Reformation, we are, under God, in no small degree indebted for the enjoyment of our religious liberty, and for the excellence and purity of our national Church as now established- -a blessing, we contend, second to none, conferred upon any nation, since the world first received the revelation of its only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. While the gratitude of protestants, for their newly-restored privileges, was fresh, and the reeently vindicated liberties of our national church, were endangered, from the power of the popes and the treasonable practices of their blind followers, the Reformation, and the points in which it is distinguished from the church of Rome, were made the frequent subjects of discussion in our pulpits. But, in process of time, as the Reformation became more firmly established, and the temporal power of the popes enfeebled, this custom had fallen into disuse, and the subject occupied but little of our attention.* Circumstances have, however, within these last few years, rendered it necessary that protestants should be awakened to vigilance against approaching danger, and to the nature of their position and privileges. Our ancestors, who had bitter experience of the character and effects of popery, never felt themselves safe, while it had power to persecute and tyrannize over them. In history, the darkest and * "We often grow insensible of our blessings, merely from the long and uninterrupted possession of them. And this insensibility usually makes us careless of preserving them, till we are again taught to judge of their value, by their loss. Something of this kind, it is to be feared, is our own case at present with regard to the Reformation; we have possessed that blessing so long, that we have forgot to enjoy it. Ignorant of the servitude under which our fathers groaned, we know not how to relish our own deliverance: the deformities of a superstition two hundred years ago are so far out of sight, as to make us less attentive to the beauties of a reasonable service. By these means, we not only reap less pleasure than we might, and produce less fruit than we ought; but we grow less apprehensive of the tyranny that watches to enslave us, and less zealous to maintain that liberty which our ancestors sacrificed their lives to purchase for us."- Glocester Ridley's Life of Bishop Ridley. the bloodiest pages are those, which record the perfidious disregard of the most solemn engagements, and the merciless and inexorable cruelties of that church towards those, who dared to appeal from its mandates to the word of God. It claims to be incapable of error and of change; its principles of universal domination have been only repressed, not renounced; its persecuting decrees are still taught in a book, printed under the sanction of the Romish archbishop of Dublin, and used as a text-book by the priests.* A consistent practice has been exhibited. The result of every increase of power has been aggravated injuries against the protestants, both laity and clergy, in that country; menaces and agitation, calumnies and plunder, violence and assassinations. Nor are its machinations confined to Ireland. every part of England, its active hostility to the established church, is felt. Wheresoever, and by whatsoever enemies, the downfall of the protestant established church of this country is sought, there the papists are found as allies-fomenting, or leading, the movement, as may best suit their purpose-a purpose, which, if crowned with success, will include in its destructive range, not merely the established church,but all those deluded protestants, who may be blindly led to lend their assistance in opening the breach to foes, who, if they be consistent with their authenticated principles, or their hitherto unaltered practice, must conspire against the religious liberties of all protestants. In It is time, when these things are in progress, that we should look back upon the ground of the Reformation, and 66 ourselves with a prepare * Appendix 4. reason for the faith that is in us." But, in addition to these awakening considerations, a remarkable and inviting coincidence presents itself. On this day, the 4th of October, exactly 300 years ago, a most important step in the Reformation was effected. The first printed translation of the whole Bible in the English tongue was completed. The charter of our salvation was no longer a sealed volume-it was opened to the nation-we were enabled to follow St. Paul's counsel, "to prove all things, and hold fast that which is good." And not less remarkable is it, that not only the three hundredth year of this great event should come round amidst the awakening dangers of our protestant church, just alluded to, but, that a day, in which we may concur in the celebration of this mercy, should fall on the LORD'S DAY, when “ we assemble and meet together, to render thanks for the great benefits which we have received at his hands, to set forth his most worthy praise, to hear his most holy word, and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary as well for the body as the soul." May we not almost take it as a call, to turn to God in his temple, with grateful remembrance of the blessings of the Reformation-to rejoice, with holy joy, in that Word, which we are now all permitted to hear in our own tongue—and, amidst the dangers which threaten our church, to ask of him that protection, and assistance, which, both outwardly and inwardly, is, indeed, requisite and necessary, both for its safety and its welfare? Can we, then, better employ our time, than in taking a view of some important landmarks, by which the protestant may guard himself against the attempts of those, whose artifices, or whose ignorance, may mislead him? And, as the limits of a discourse will not permit me to enter fully into the many points of difference between the Romanists and the Reformed Church, I shall select one point on which I can enlarge, and which, I consider, in the present times, as requiring particular attention. I shall shew, 1st, with respect to its history, and 2dly, with respect to its doctrines, that our national reformed church was not a new church, but, as I have said, purified itself -used its reason, for that purpose for which reason was given by its Divine Author-for "proving all things, and holding fast that which is good.' I affirm, then, that the protestant church, established in these kingdoms, is not a new churchit is not a church which dates its beginning from the Reformation-it is not a strange church, which opposed itself to Christ's holy catholic or UNIVERSAL church. But, it is an ancient and true branch of Christ's holy catholic church. It is the same church which has ever existed, since there was a Christian church, in this nation-it is our national church, in its pure and primitive form, cleansed (and cleansed by its own act and deed,) from those corruptions, unscriptural inventions, and contradictions, which, in the course of time, the usurped power of popery had imposed upon it, and retaining all, that constituted it a true branch of the true vine-the church of Christ. The Re formation, my brethren, was the result not of strangers, or foreigners, coming in to plant a new religion, but the work of the members of the national church asserting their Christian liberty— proving all things-and holding fast that which is good; holding fast all that was sanctioned by the church of Christ, and rejecting all that was the corrupt imposition of the church of Rome. |