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diff --git a/49112-0.txt b/49112-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c972b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/49112-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,963 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, National Apostasy, by John Keble + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: National Apostasy + Considered in a Sermon Preached in St. Mary's, Oxford + + +Author: John Keble + + + +Release Date: June 2, 2015 [eBook #49112] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NATIONAL APOSTASY*** + + +Transcribed from the 1833 J. H. Parker edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + + NATIONAL APOSTASY + CONSIDERED + IN + A SERMON + PREACHED IN ST. MARY’S, OXFORD, + BEFORE + HIS MAJESTY’S JUDGES OF ASSIZE, + ON SUNDAY, JULY 14, 1833. + + + BY + JOHN KEBLE, M. A. + + FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE, AND POETRY PROFESSOR + IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. + + * * * * * + + OXFORD, + PRINTED BY S. COLLINGWOOD, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY, + FOR J. H. PARKER. + SOLD ALSO BY J. G. AND F. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL’S CHURCHYARD, + AND WATERLOO-PLACE, LONDON. + MDCCCXXXIII. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + + +SINCE the following pages were prepared for the press, the calamity, in +anticipation of which they were written, has actually overtaken this +portion of the Church of GOD. The Legislature of England and Ireland, +(_the members of which are not even bound to profess belief in the +Atonement_,) this body has virtually usurped the commission of those whom +our SAVIOUR entrusted with _at least one voice_ in making ecclesiastical +laws, on matters wholly or partly spiritual. The same Legislature has +also ratified, to its full extent, this principle;—that the Apostolical +Church in this realm is henceforth only to stand, in the eye of the +State, as _one sect among many_, depending, for any preeminence she may +still appear to retain, merely upon the accident of her having a strong +party in the country. + +It is a moment, surely, full of deep solicitude to all those members of +the Church who still believe her authority divine, and the oaths and +obligations, by which they are bound to her, undissolved and indissoluble +by calculations of human expediency. Their anxiety turns not so much on +the consequences, to the State, of what has been done, (_they_ are but +too evident,) as on the line of conduct which they are bound themselves +to pursue. How may they continue their communion with the Church +_established_, (hitherto the pride and comfort of their lives,) without +any taint of those Erastian Principles on which she is now avowedly to be +governed? What answer can we make henceforth to the partisans of the +Bishop of Rome, when they taunt us with being a mere Parliamentarian +Church? And how, consistently with our present relations to _the State_, +can even the doctrinal purity and integrity of the MOST SACRED ORDER be +preserved? + +The attention of all who love the Church is most earnestly solicited to +these questions. They are such, it will be observed, as cannot be +answered by appealing to precedents in English History, because, at most, +such could only shew, that the difficulty might have been raised before. +It is believed, that there are hundreds, nay thousands of Christians, and +that soon there will be tens of thousands, unaffectedly anxious to be +rightly guided with regard to these and similar points. And they are +mooted thus publicly, for the chance of eliciting, from competent judges, +a correct and early opinion. + +If, under such trying and delicate circumstances, one could venture to be +positive about any thing, it would seem safe to say, that in such measure +as it may be thought incumbent on the Church, or on Churchmen, to submit +to any profane intrusion, it must at least be their sacred duty, to +declare, promulgate, and record, their full conviction, that it _is_ +intrusion; that they yield to it as they might to any other tyranny, but +do from their hearts deprecate and abjure it. This seems the least that +can be done: unless we would have our children’s children say, “There was +once here a glorious Church, but it was betrayed into the hands of +Libertines for the real or affected love of a little temporary peace and +good order.” + +July 22, 1833. + + * * * * * + + 1 SAMUEL xii. 23. + + _As for me_, _GOD forbid that I should sin against the LORD in + ceasing to pray for you_: _but I will teach you the good and the + right way_. + +ON public occasions, such as the present, the minds of Christians +naturally revert to that portion of Holy Scripture, which exhibits to us +the will of the Sovereign of the world in more immediate relation to the +_civil_ and _national_ conduct of mankind. We naturally turn to the Old +Testament, when _public_ duties, _public_ errors, and _public_ dangers, +are in question. And what in such cases is natural and obvious, is sure +to be more or less right and reasonable. Unquestionably it is a mistaken +theology, which would debar Christian nations and statesmen from the +instruction afforded by the Jewish scriptures, under a notion, that the +circumstances of that people were _altogether_ peculiar and unique, and +therefore irrelevant to every other case. True, there _is_ hazard of +misapplication, as there is whenever men teach by example. There is +_peculiar_ hazard, from the sacredness and delicacy of the subject; since +dealing with things supernatural and miraculous as if they were ordinary +human precedents, would be not only unwise, but profane. But these +hazards are more than counterbalanced by the absolute certainty, peculiar +to this history, that what is there commended was right, and what is +there blamed, wrong. And they would be effectually obviated if men would +be careful to keep in view this caution:—suggested every where, if I +mistake not, by the manner in which the Old Testament is quoted in the +New:—that, as regards reward and punishment, GOD dealt formerly with the +Jewish people in a manner analogous to that in which He deals now, not so +much with Christian _nations_, as with the _souls of individual +Christians_. + +Let us only make due allowances for this cardinal point of difference, +and we need not surely hesitate to avail ourselves, as the time may +require, of those _national_ warnings, which fill the records of the +elder church: the less so, as the discrepancy lies rather in what is +revealed of GOD’S providence, than in what is required in the way of +human duty. Rewards and punishments may be dispensed, visibly at least, +with a less even hand; but what _tempers_, and what _conduct_, GOD will +ultimately reward and punish,—_this_ is a point which cannot be changed: +for it depends not on our circumstances, but on His essential, unvarying +Attributes. + +I have ventured on these few general observations, because the impatience +with which the world endures any remonstrance on religious grounds, is +apt to shew itself most daringly, when the _Law_ and the _Prophets_ are +appealed to. Without any scruple or ceremony, men give us to understand +that they regard the whole as obsolete: thus taking the very opposite +ground to that which was preferred by the same class of persons two +hundred years ago; but, it may be feared, with much the same purpose and +result. _Then_, the Old Testament was quoted at random for every excess +of fanatical pride and cruelty: _now_, its authority goes for nothing, +however clear and striking the analogies may be, which appear to warrant +us in referring to it. The two extremes, as usual, meet; and in this +very remarkable point: that they both avail themselves of the +_supernatural_ parts of the Jewish revelation to turn away attention from +that, which _they_, of course, most dread and dislike in it: its +authoritative confirmation of the _plain dictates of conscience_ in +matters of civil wisdom and duty. + +That portion, in particular, of the history of the chosen people, which +drew from Samuel, the truest of patriots, the wise and noble sentiment in +the text, must ever be an unpleasing and perplexing page of scripture, to +those, who would fain persuade themselves, that a nation, even a +Christian nation, may do well enough, as such, without GOD, and without +His Church. For what if the Jews _were_ bound to the Almighty by ties +common to no other people? What if He _had_ condescended to know _them_ +in a way in which He was as yet unrevealed to all families of the earth +besides? What if, as their relation to Him was nearer, and their +ingratitude more surpassing, so they might expect more exemplary +punishment? Still, after all has been said, to exaggerate their guilt, +_in degree_, beyond what is supposed possible in any nation whatever now, +what can it come to, in _kind_ and in _substance_, but only this;—that +they rejected GOD? that they wished themselves rid of the moral restraint +implied in His peculiar presence and covenant? They said, what the +prophet Ezekiel, long after, represents their worthy posterity as saying, +“_We will be as the heathen_, _the families of the countries_.” {10} +“Once for all, we will get rid of these disagreeable, unfashionable +scruples, which throw us behind, as we think, in the race of worldly +honour and profit.” Is this indeed a tone of thought, which Christian +nations cannot fall into? Or, if they should, has it ceased to be +displeasing to GOD? In other words, has He forgotten to be angry with +impiety and practical atheism? Either this must be affirmed, or men must +own, (what is clear at once to plain unsophisticated readers,) that this +first overt act, which began the downfall of the Jewish nation, stands on +record, with its fatal consequences, for a perpetual warning to all +nations, as well as to all individual Christians, who having accepted GOD +for their king, allow themselves to be weary of subjection to Him, and +think they should be happier if they were freer, and more like the rest +of the world. + +I do not enter into the question, whether visible temporal judgments are +to be looked for by Christian nations, transgressing as those Jews did. +Surely common sense and piety unite, in representing this inquiry as, +practically, one of no great importance. When it is once known for +certain that such and such conduct is displeasing to the KING of kings, +surely common sense and piety concur in setting their mark of reprobation +on such conduct, whether the punishment, sure to overtake it, come +to-morrow, or a year hence, or wait till we are in another world. + +Waving this question, therefore, I proceed to others, which appear to me, +I own, at the present moment especially, of the very gravest practical +import. + +What are the symptoms, by which one may judge most fairly, whether or no +a nation, as such, is becoming alienated from GOD and CHRIST? + +And what are the particular duties of sincere Christians, whose lot is +cast by divine Providence in a time of such dire calamity? + +The conduct of the Jews, in asking for a king, may furnish an ample +illustration of the _first_ point: the behaviour of Samuel, then and +afterwards, supplies as perfect a pattern of the _second_, as can well be +expected from human nature. + +I. The case is at least possible, of a nation, having for centuries +acknowledged, as an essential part of its theory of government, that, +_as_ a Christian nation, she is also a part of Christ’s Church, and +bound, in all her legislation and policy, by the fundamental rules of +that Church, the case is, I say, conceivable, of a government and people, +so constituted, deliberately throwing off the restraint, which in many +respects such a principle would impose on them, nay, disavowing the +principle itself; and that, on the plea, that other states, as +flourishing or more so in regard of wealth and dominion, do well enough +without it. Is not this desiring, like the Jews, to have an earthly king +over them, when the LORD their GOD is their king? Is it not saying in +other words, “We will be as the heathen, the families of the countries,” +the aliens to the Church of our Redeemer? + +To such a change, whenever it takes place, the immediate impulse will +probably be given by some pretence of danger from without,—such as, at +the time now spoken of, was furnished to the Israelites by an incursion +of the children of Ammon; or by some wrong or grievance in the executive +government, such as the malversation of Samuel’s sons, to whom he had +deputed his judicial functions. Pretences will never be hard to find; +but, in reality, the movement will always be traceable to the same decay +or want of faith, the same deficiency in Christian resignation and +thankfulness, which leads so many, as individuals, to disdain and forfeit +the blessings of the gospel. Men not impressed with religious principle +attribute their ill success in life,—the hard times they have to struggle +with,—to any thing rather than their own ill-desert: and the institutions +of the country, ecclesiastical and civil, are always at hand to bear the +blame of whatever seems to be going amiss. Thus, the discontent in +Samuel’s time, which led the Israelites to demand a change of +constitution, was discerned by the Unerring Eye, though perhaps little +suspected by themselves, to be no better than a fresh development of the +same restless, godless spirit, which had led them so often into idolatry. +“They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should +not reign over them. According to all the works, which they have done +since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, +wherewith they have forsaken Me, and served other gods, so do they also +unto thee.” {14a} + +The charge might perhaps surprise many of them, just as, in other times +and countries, the impatient patrons of innovation are surprised, at +finding themselves rebuked on religious grounds. Perhaps the Jews +pleaded the express countenance, which the words of their Law, in one +place, {14b} seemed, by anticipation, to lend to the measure they were +urging. And so, in modern times, when liberties are to be taken, and the +intrusive passions of men to be indulged, precedent and permission, or +what sounds like them, may be easily found and quoted for every thing. +But Samuel, in GOD’S name, silenced all this, giving them to understand, +that in His sight the whole was a question of _motive_ and _purpose_, not +of ostensible and colourable argument;—in His sight, I say, to whom we, +as well as they, are nationally responsible for much more than the +soundness of our deductions as matter of disputation, or of law; we are +responsible for the meaning and temper in which we deal with His Holy +Church, established among us for the salvation of our souls. + +These, which have been hitherto mentioned as omens and tokens of an +Apostate Mind in a nation, have been suggested by the portion itself of +sacred history, to which I have ventured to direct your attention. There +are one or two more, which the nature of the subject, and the palpable +tendency of things around us, will not allow to be passed over. + +One of the most alarming, as a symptom, is the growing indifference, in +which men indulge themselves, to other men’s religious sentiments. Under +the guise of charity and toleration we are come almost to this pass; +_that no difference_, _in matters of faith_, _is to disqualify for our +approbation and confidence_, _whether in public or domestic life_. Can +we conceal it from ourselves, that every year the practice is becoming +more common, of trusting men unreservedly in the most delicate and +important matters, without one serious inquiry, whether they do not hold +principles which make it impossible for them to be loyal to their +CREATOR, REDEEMER, and SANCTIFIER? Are not offices conferred, +partnerships formed, intimacies courted,—nay, (what is almost too painful +to think of,) do not parents commit their children to be educated, do +they not encourage them to intermarry, in houses, on which Apostolical +Authority would rather teach them to set a mark, as unfit to be entered +by a faithful servant of CHRIST? + +I do not now speak of public measures only or chiefly; many things of +that kind may be thought, whether wisely or no, to become from time to +time necessary, which are in reality as little desired by those who lend +them a seeming concurrence, as they are, in themselves, undesirable. But +I speak of the spirit which leads men to _exalt_ in every step of that +kind; to _congratulate_ one another on the supposed decay of what they +call an exclusive system. + +Very different are the feelings with which it seems natural for a true +Churchman to regard such a state of things, from those which would arise +in his mind on witnessing the mere triumph of _any given set of adverse +opinions_, exaggerated or even heretical as he might deem them. He +_might_ feel as melancholy,—he _could_ hardly feel so indignant. + +But this is not a becoming place, nor are these safe topics, for the +indulgence of mere _feeling_. The point really to be considered is, +whether, according to the coolest estimate, the fashionable liberality of +this generation be not ascribable, in a great measure, to the same temper +which led the Jews voluntarily to set about degrading themselves to a +level with the idolatrous Gentiles? And, if it be true any where, that +such enactments are forced on the Legislature by public opinion, is +APOSTASY too hard a word to describe the temper of that nation? + +The same tendency is still more apparent, because the fair gloss of +candour and forbearance is wanting, in the surly or scornful impatience +often exhibited, by persons who would regret passing for unbelievers, +when Christian motives are suggested, and checks from Christian +principles attempted to be enforced on their public conduct. I say, +“their public conduct,” more especially; because in that, I know not how, +persons are apt to be more shameless, and readier to avow the irreligion +that is in them;—amongst other reasons, probably, from each feeling that +he is one of a multitude, and fancying, therefore, that his +responsibility is divided. + +For example:—whatever be the cause, in this country of late years, +(though we are lavish in professions of piety,) there has been observable +a growing disinclination, on the part of those bound by VOLUNTARY OATHS, +to whatever reminds them of their obligation; a growing disposition to +explain it all away. We know what, some years ago, would have been +thought of such uneasiness, if betrayed by persons officially sworn, in +private, legal, or commercial life. If there be any subjects or +occasions, now, on which men are inclined to judge of it more lightly, it +concerns them deeply to be quite sure, that they are not indulging, or +encouraging a profane dislike of GOD’S awful Presence; a general +tendency, as a people, to leave Him out of all their thoughts. + +They will have the more reason to suspect themselves, in proportion as +they see and feel more of that _impatience under pastoral authority_, +which our SAVIOUR Himself has taught us to consider as a never-failing +symptom of an unchristian temper. “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and +he that despiseth you, despiseth Me.” {18a} Those words of divine truth +put beyond all sophistical exception, what common sense would lead us to +infer, and what daily experience teaches;—that disrespect to the +Successors of the Apostles, _as such_, is an unquestionable symptom of +enmity to Him, who gave them their commission at first, and has pledged +Himself to be with them for ever. Suppose such disrespect general and +national, suppose it also avowedly grounded not on any fancied tenet of +religion, but on mere human reasons of popularity and expediency, either +there is no meaning at all in these emphatic declarations of our LORD, or +that nation, how highly soever she may think of her own religion and +morality, stands convicted in His sight of a direct disavowal of His +Sovereignty. + +To this purpose it may be worth noticing, that the ill-fated chief, whom +GOD gave to the Jews, as the prophet tells us, in his anger, {18b} and +whose disobedience and misery were referred by himself to his “fearing +the people, and obeying their voice,” {18c} whose conduct, therefore, may +be fairly taken as a sample of what public opinion was at that time +supposed to require,—his first step in apostasy was an intrusion on the +sacrificial office, {19a} as the last and greatest of his crimes was +persecuting David, whom he well knew to bear GOD’S special commission. +GOD forbid, that any Christian land should ever, by her prevailing temper +and policy, revive the memory and likeness of Saul, or incur a sentence +of reprobation like his. But if such a thing should be, the crimes of +that nation will probably begin in infringement on Apostolical Rights; +she will end in persecuting the true Church; and in the several stages of +her melancholy career, she will continually be led on from bad to worse +by vain endeavours at accommodation and compromise with evil. Sometimes +_toleration_ may be the word, as with Saul when he spared the Amalekites; +sometimes _state security_, as when he sought the life of David; +sometimes _sympathy with popular feeling_, as appears to have been the +case, when violating solemn treaties, he attempted to exterminate the +remnant of the Gibeonites, in his zeal for the children of Israel and +Judah. {19b} Such are the sad but obvious results of separating +religious resignation altogether from men’s notions of civil duty. + +II. But here arises the other question, on which it was proposed to say +a few words; and with a view to which, indeed, the whole subject must be +considered, if it is to lead to any practical improvement. What should +be the tenor of _their_ conduct, who find themselves cast on such times +of decay and danger? How may a man best reconcile his allegiance to GOD +and his Church with his duty to his country, that country, which now, by +the supposition, is fast becoming hostile to the Church, and cannot +therefore long be the friend of GOD? + +Now in proportion as any one sees reason to fear that such is, or soon +may be, the case in his own land, just so far may he see reason to be +thankful, especially if he be called to any national trust, for such a +complete pattern of his duty, as he may find in the conduct of Samuel. +That combination of sweetness with firmness, of consideration with +energy, which constitutes the temper of a perfect public man, was never +perhaps so beautifully exemplified. He makes no secret of the bitter +grief and dismay, with which the resolution of his countrymen had filled +him. He was prepared to resist it at all hazards, had he not received +from GOD Himself directions to give them their own way; protesting, +however, in the most distinct and solemn tone, so as to throw the whole +blame of what might ensue on their wilfulness. Having so protested, and +found them obstinate, he does not therefore at once forsake their +service, he continues discharging all the functions they had left him, +with a true and loyal, though most heavy, heart. “GOD forbid that I +should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach +you the good and the right way.” + +Should it ever happen (which GOD avert, but we cannot shut our eyes to +the danger) that the Apostolical Church should be forsaken, degraded, nay +trampled on and despoiled by the state and people of England, I cannot +conceive a kinder wish for her, on the part of her most affectionate and +dutiful children, than that she may, consistently, act in the spirit of +this most noble sentence; nor a course of conduct more likely to be +blessed by a restoration to more than her former efficiency. In speaking +of the Church, I mean of course, the laity, as well as the clergy in +their three orders,—the whole body of Christians united, according to the +will of JESUS CHRIST, under the Successors of the Apostles. It may, by +GOD’S blessing, be of some use, to shew how, in the case supposed, the +example of Samuel might guide her collectively, and each of her children +individually, down even to minute details of duty. + +The Church would, first of all, have to be constant, as before, in +INTERCESSION. No despiteful usage, no persecution, could warrant her in +ceasing to pray, as did her first fathers and patterns, for the State, +and all who are in authority. That duty once well and cordially +performed, all other duties, so to speak, are secured. Candour, +respectfulness, guarded language,—all that the apostle meant, in warning +men not to “speak evil of dignities,” may then, and then only, be +practised, without compromise of truth and fortitude, when the habit is +attained of praying as we ought for the very enemies of our precious and +holy cause. + +The constant sense of GOD’S presence and consequent certainty of final +success, which can be kept up no other way, would also prove an effectual +bar against the more silent but hardly less malevolent feeling, of +disgust, almost amounting to misanthropy, which is apt to lay hold on +sensitive minds, when they see oppression and wrong triumphant on a large +scale. The custom of interceding, even for the wicked, will keep the +Psalmist’s reasoning habitually present to their thoughts: “Fret not +thyself because of the ungodly, neither be thou envious against the evil +doers: for they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and be withered +even as the green herb . . . Leave off from wrath, and let go +displeasure: fret not thyself, else shalt thou be moved to do evil.” {22} + +Thus not only by supernatural aid, which we have warrant of GOD’S word +for expecting, but even in the way of natural consequence, the _first_ +duty of the church and of churchmen, INTERCESSION, sincerely practised, +would prepare them for the _second_;—which, following the words of Samuel +as our clue, we may confidently pronounce to be REMONSTRANCE. “I will +teach you the good and the right way.” REMONSTRANCE, calm, distinct, and +persevering, in public and in private, direct and indirect, by word, +look, and demeanour, is the unequivocal duty of every Christian, +according to his opportunities, when the Church landmarks are being +broken down. + +Among laymen, a deep responsibility would appear to rest on those +particularly, whose profession leads them most directly to consider the +boundaries of the various rights and duties, which fill the space of +civilized Society. The immediate machinery of change must always pass +through their hands: and they have also very great power in forming and +modifying public opinion. The very solemnity of this day may remind +them, even more than others, of the close amity which must ever subsist +between equal justice and pure religion; Apostolical religion, more +especially, in proportion to her superior truth and exactness. It is an +amity, made still more sacred, if possible, in the case of the Church and +Law of England, by historical recollections, associations, and +precedents, of the most engaging and ennobling cast. + +But I return to the practical admonition afforded her, in critical +periods, by Samuel’s example. + +After the accomplishment of the change, which he deprecated, his whole +behaviour, to Saul especially, is a sort of expansion of the sentiment in +the text. It is all earnest INTERCESSION with GOD, grave, respectful, +affectionate REMONSTRANCE with the misguided man himself. Saul is boldly +rebuked, and that publicly, for his impious liberality in sparing the +Amalekites, yet so, as not to dishonour him in the presence of the +people. Even when it became necessary for GOD’S prophet to shew that he +was in earnest, and give the most effectual of warnings, by separating +himself from so unworthy a person;—when “Samuel came no more to see +Saul;” {24}—even then, we are told, he still “mourned for him.” + +On the same principle, come what may, we have ill learned the lessons of +our Church, if we permit our patriotism to decay, together with the +protecting care of the state. “The powers that be, are ordained of GOD,” +whether they foster the true Church, or no. Submission and order are +still duties. They were so in the days of pagan persecution; and the +more of loyal and affectionate feeling we endeavour to mingle with our +obedience, the better. + +After all, the surest way to uphold or restore our endangered Church, +will be for each of her anxious children, in his own place and station, +to resign himself more thoroughly to his GOD and SAVIOUR in those duties, +public and private, which are not immediately affected by the emergencies +of the moment:—the daily and hourly duties, I mean, of piety, purity, +charity, justice. It will be a consolation understood, by every +thoughtful Churchman, that, let his occupation be, apparently, never so +remote from such great interests, it is in his power, by doing all as a +Christian, to credit and advance the cause he has most at heart; and what +is more, to draw down GOD’S blessing upon it. This ought to be felt, for +example, as one motive more to exact punctuality in those duties, +personal and official, which the return of an Assize week offers to our +practice; one reason more for veracity in witnesses, fairness in +pleaders, strict impartiality, self-command, and patience, in those on +whom decisions depend; and for an awful sense of GOD’S presence in all. +An Apostle once did not disdain to urge good conduct upon his proselytes, +upon the ground, that, so doing, they would adorn and recommend the +doctrine of GOD our SAVIOUR. {25} Surely, then, it will be no unworthy +principle, if any man be more circumspect in his behaviour, more watchful +and fearful of himself, more earnest in his petitions for spiritual aid, +from a dread of disparaging the holy name of the English Church, in her +hour of peril, by his own personal fault or negligence. + +As to those who, either by station or temper, feel themselves most deeply +interested, they cannot be too careful in reminding themselves, that one +chief danger, in times of change and excitement, arises from their +tendency to engross the whole mind. Public concerns, ecclesiastical or +civil, will prove indeed ruinous to those, who permit them to occupy all +their care and thoughts, neglecting or undervaluing ordinary duties, more +especially those of a devotional kind. + +These cautions being duly observed, I do not see how any person can +devote himself too entirely to the cause of the Apostolical Church in +these realms. There may be, as far as he knows, but a very few to +sympathise with him. He may have to wait long, and very likely pass out +of this world, before he see any abatement in the triumph of disorder and +irreligion. But, _if he be consistent_, he possesses, to the utmost, the +personal consolations of a good Christian: and as a true Churchman, he +has that encouragement, which no other cause in the world can impart in +the same degree:—he is calmly, soberly, demonstrably SURE, that, sooner +or later, HIS WILL BE THE WINNING SIDE, and that the victory will be +complete, universal, eternal. + +He need not fear to look upon the efforts of Antichristian powers, as did +the Holy Apostles themselves, who welcomed the first persecution in the +words of the Psalmist: + +“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? + +“The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together, +against the LORD, and against His Anointed. + +“For of a truth against Thy Holy Child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, +both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of +Israel, were gathered together, + +“FOR TO DO WHATSOEVER THY HAND AND THY COUNSEL DETERMINED BEFORE TO BE +DONE.” {27} + + + + +FOOTNOTES. + + +{10} Ezek. xx. 32. + +{14a} 1 Sam. viii. 7, 8. + +{14b} Deut. xvii. 14–20. + +{18a} Luke x. 16. + +{18b} Hos. xiii. 11. + +{18c} 1 Sum. xv. 24. + +{19a} 1 Sam. xiii. 8–14. + +{19b} 2 Sam. xxi. 2. + +{22} Psalm xxxvii. 1, 2, 8. + +{24} 1 Sam. xv. 35. + +{25} Titus ii. 10. + +{27} Acts iv. 25–28. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NATIONAL APOSTASY*** + + +******* This file should be named 49112-0.txt or 49112-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/9/1/1/49112 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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