they cannot set aside the trust which He has placed in our hands, I mean "the ministry of reconciliation," (2 Cor. v. 18.) nor make void the promise He has made, that in the faithful exercise of this ministry, He is "with us always, even to the end of the world." Remember, then, that whether your pastors be rich or poor, honoured or despised by the world, it is only the having received this COMMISSION that makes us “bold in our God to speak unto you the Gospel of God" (1 Thess. ii. 2.); and it is only this that can give you any security that the ministration of the Word and Sacraments shall be effectual to the saving of your souls. Learn, then, to cherish and value the blessing which God has vouchsafed to you, in having given you pastors who have received this commission. The Dissenting teachers have it not. They lay no claim to regular succession from the Apostles; and though the Roman Catholic clergy have indeed been ordained by the hands of Bishops, they are mere intruders in this country, have no right to come here, and besides, have so corrupted the truth of God's word, that they are not to be listened to for a moment. OXFORD. The Feast of the Ascension. [FIFTH EDITION.] These Tracts are continued in Numbers, and sold at the price of 2d. for each sheet, or 7s. for 50 copies. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. G. F. & J. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE. 1840. GILBERT & RIVINGTON, Printers, St. John's Square, London. TRACTS FOR THE TIMES. ACCOUNT OF RELIGIOUS SECTS AT PRESENT "I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them." Rom. xvii. 17. It is conceived, that many members of the English Church, whom late events have awakened to a knowledge of the religious differences which exist in the world, are but insufficiently acquainted with the chief points which distinguish the various religious bodies which are among them; and may be anxious for information on the subject. The following statement, drawn up by a Clergyman at the request of a parishioner, is submitted to their consideration. The English Church, which is a true branch or portion of the "One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church" of CHRIST', receives and teaches the entire Truth of GoD according to the Scriptures; the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth. This may be proved by reference to the Scriptures; in which no fundamental doctrine can be pointed out, which the Church does not teach: nor can it be shown that the Church teaches any thing, as necessary to salvation, but what is contained in the Scriptures, or can be proved by them,—this being the acknowledged rule of teaching set forth in the 6th Article of the Church. VOL. I. 1 See Nicene Creed. A The parties which are separated from, and opposed to the Church, may be arranged into three classes. 1. Those who reject the Truth. 2. Those who receive and teach a part, but not the whole, of the Truth. 3. Those who teach more than the Truth. I.-Those who reject the Truth. Under this head are included all who deny that JESUS "is the CHRIST, the Son of the living GOD'," and that salvation is through His blood. Such are 1. SOCINIANS, (so called from Socinus, a chief teacher of their error,) who profess to receive the Old and New Testament, but reject these fundamental doctrines as there set forth, and reject also the doctrine of the Personality and operations of the HOLY GHOST 2. These men commonly call themselves Unitarians. 2. JEWS, who profess to receive the Old Testament, but denounce our LORD as an Impostor. These contradict the Prophets of the Old Testament, to whose evidence our LORD appealed while fulfilling their prophecies: and they forget the living witness they themselves afford to our SAVIOUR's truth, who foretold concerning their Church and nation, the evils which have since happened, and under which they are now suffering *. 3. DEISTS (SO called from professing to acknowledge merely a Deity), who reject both the Testaments, denying that God has ever revealed His will to men. Thus they contradict reason, which suggests that He would not leave the beings whom He created capable of happiness, without instruction how to attain that happiness: they contradict also the unanswerable evidence of history, miracles, and fulfilment of prophecy, which prove that 1 Matt. xvi. 16. 2 On these points see "Churchman's Manual." Oxford, 1834, pp. 20-23. 3 John v. 39. 46. 4 See Leslie's Short and Easy Method with the Jews. He actually has revealed His Will, and that the Book which we call the Bible contains that Revelation1. 4. ATHEISTS (i. e. men "without God"), who deny altogether the existence of a GOD. These contradict the voice of nature, which, by the regularity of seasons, the succession, growth, and decay of plants, of animals, and men, by the course of the planets and all its other wonderful works, attest the existence, power, and goodness of a Superior Being, who must have made all these things at the first, and now continues and preserves them. 2 These four Classes may be placed together, because to all four the same passage of St. John is applicable: "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the FATHER "," and of all four it may be truly said, "They have trodden under foot the Son of GOD, and counted the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing, and done despite to the SPIRIT of Grace 3." II.—Those who receive and teach a part but not the whole of the Truth, erring in respect of one or more fundamental doctrines. Under this head are included most of what are called " Protestant Dissenters." The chief of these are, 1. PRESBYTERIANS, so called from maintaining the validity of ordination by Presbyters or Elders only, in other words, by the second order of the clergy, dispensing with and superseding the first *. 2. INDEPENDENTS, so called from being opposed to and independent of all ecclesiastical government *. 3. METHODISTS (subdivided into an immense variety of sects; the chief are Wesleyans, Whitfieldians, or Lady Huntingdon's, 1 See Leslie's Short and Easy Method with the Deists. 21 John ii. 23. 3 Heb. ix. 29. 4 From this error have sprung all the Sects enumerated under this second head. 5 See Hebrews xiii. 17. Ranters, or Primitive Methodists, Brianites, or Bible Christians, Protestant Methodists, Tent Methodists, Independent Methodists, and Kilhamites). These three do not receive or teach the Truth respecting the doctrine of "laying on of hands," which St. Paul classes among the fundamental doctrines of Christianity 1, and by which the Christian ministry receives its commission and authority to administer the Word and Sacraments. For they one and all reject the first (i. e. the Apostolic, or, as we now call it, Episcopal) order of clergy, who exercised that rite according to the New Testament, and without whom there is no warrant from Scripture for believing that the Clergy can be appointed, or the Sacraments be duly administered". 3 4. BAPTISTS, who have departed from the Truth not only as concerns the doctrine of "laying on of hands," but also as concerns the doctrine of Baptism; another of the fundamental doctrines, according to St. Paul. For they refuse to permit their children to receive that sign of admission into the Christian covenant. Thus they contradict the Old Testament, for there we find that to the Christian Covenant, or Covenant in CHRIST, which GOD confirmed with Abraham, children were enjoined to be admitted; and those children whose parents withheld them from receiving the sign of the covenant, were counted by God to have broken His covenant'. They contradict also the New Testament, for there our SAVIOUR says, "Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not";" and St. Paul declares, that where either parent is a believer, then "are the children holy," i. e. admissible to the covenant of grace®. 5. QUAKERS, who reject altogether laying on of hands, and both the Sacraments. Besides these are, especially in Wales, JUMPERS and SHAKERS, 1 Heb. vi. 2. 2 See "Churchman's Manual," pp. 5-15. Acts xiv. 23. 1 Tim. v. 22. Tit. i. 5. 3 Gal. iii. 17. 5 Mark x. 14. 4 Gen. xvii. 14. 61 Cor. vii. 14. |