{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_64879/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_64879","id":"gutenberg_64879","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64879","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Samuel, 2nd, XXIV, 10 -- Sermons","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Church of England -- Sermons -- 19th century","Great Britain -- Census, 1851"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1851 Lavis edition by David Price.  Many thanks to\nthe British Library for making their copy available.\n\n\n\n\n\n                                   THE\n                   SPIRITUAL IMPROVEMENT OF THE CENSUS.\n\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                               ~~~~~~~~~~~\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                A SERMON,\n\n                               PREACHED IN\n\n                 The Parish Church of All Saints, Fulham,\n\n                            30TH MARCH, 1851.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                  BY THE\n                          REV. R. G. BAKER, M.A.\n\n                             VICAR OF FULHAM,\n           RURAL DEAN, AND PREBENDARY OF ST. PAUL\u2019S CATHEDRAL.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                              _WITH NOTES_.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                          SOLD BY LAVIS, FULHAM.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                  LONDON\n                   R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nSERMON.\n\n\n                              2 SAMUEL xxiv. 10.\n\n    \u201c_And David\u2019s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people_.\n    _And David said unto the Lord_, _I have sinned greatly in that I have\n    done_: _and now_, _I beseech thee_, _O Lord_, _take away the iniquity\n    of thy servant_; _for I have done very foolishly_.\u201d\n\nAT the time here spoken of, David had been, for nearly forty years, king\nover \u201c_the Lord\u2019s people_.\u201d  The youngest of eight sons of one of the\nshepherds of Israel, and raised from that lowly station to the throne by\nthe express appointment of Jehovah, it may well excite our surprise to\nobserve his conduct on the occasion to which the text refers.  We might\nhave supposed that the incidents of his early life, no less than the\nexperience of his riper years, would have taught him a more simple spirit\nof faith and trust than that which he now showed.  \u201c_A lion and a bear_\u201d\ncame upon him while he was yet a boy, and took a lamb out of his father\u2019s\nflock which he was keeping; and he was not only delivered from them, but\nenabled alone and unharmed to slay them. {3}  At another time, when the\nPhilistine giant defied the armies of the living God, David went forth of\nhis own accord to meet him.  Mindful of the same power which had saved\nhim from \u201c_the lion and the bear_,\u201d he asked no armour for his\nprotection.  He sought no weapon for the fight.  \u201c_Strong in the Lord_,\n_and in the power of his might_,\u201d he prevailed, \u201c_with a sling and with a\nstone_.\u201d {4a}  And \u201c_the weak thing_, _and the base thing_, _and the\nthing that was despised_,\u201d was chosen to confound and to \u201c_bring to\nnought the thing that was mighty_, _in order that no flesh should glory\nin the presence of God_.\u201d {4b}  Then, again, how often had David been\nrescued from the personal jealousy of Saul!  What signal success had been\ngranted him against the enemies of Israel!  And how strikingly had even\nthe rebellion of his own misguided son been overruled to the promotion of\nhis safety and glory!\n\nBut it appears that all this instruction had been given him in vain.  He\nwas still disposed to depend, in the transaction before us, upon the\n\u201c_arm of flesh_.\u201d  Proud of the extent of his dominions and of the\nmultitude of his subjects, and secretly pleased with the proof it would\nafford to other nations of his own wisdom and good government, he caused\nthe people to be numbered; although, as the opening of this very chapter\nshows, it was against the advice, and even the entreaties, of his own\nofficers.  For \u201c_Joab_, _the captain of the host_, _had said unto the\nking_, _Now the Lord thy God add unto the people_, _how many soever they\nbe_, _an hundredfold_, _and that the eyes of my lord the king may see\nit_: _but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing_?\n_Notwithstanding the king\u2019s word prevailed against Joab_, _and against\nthe captains of the host_.\u201d {4c}  The heart of David, however, was soon\nopened by Divine grace to confess and to deplore the offence which he had\ncommitted.  And the fearful judgment that followed served at once, in the\nmost instructive manner, to humble and to disappoint him, by showing him\nhow entirely he was dependent upon God for that _very source of strength\nand greatness_ which his conceit led him to prize so highly, and how\nsuddenly he might be stripped of it.  The account is given in the verses\nwhich follow immediately upon the text.  For being allowed to choose\nbetween three visitations, famine, war, and pestilence, and preferring\nthat which he supposed would fall upon his country most lightly, \u201c_the\nLord_,\u201d we read, \u201c_sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to\nthe time appointed_, _and there died of the people seventy thousand\nmen_.\u201d\n\nIt may be right for us to bear in mind, that what made this act of\nnumbering the Israelites so very offensive to God, was that it tended to\ndraw off the hearts of the king and of his people from that single and\nundivided regard which they owed to Him.  All the trials of that nation\ncarried on for such a long course of years, and all the statutes and laws\ngiven for their guidance, were meant to keep this conviction uppermost in\ntheir minds.  They had been singled out from the rest of mankind, not\nonly as the guardians of the true faith and worship, but as witnesses to\nall the world of the power, and love, and faithfulness of the Lord.\nSpecial mercies, continued miracles, wonderful deliverances were wrought\nfor them, in order that they might feel, at every stage of their eventful\nhistory, that they were peculiarly _His people_.  If _bread_ was wanting\nto allay their hunger, or _water_ to assuage their thirst, or _raiment_\nto cover their bodies, it was not provided by any of the slow\ncontrivances of human industry.  But _the hard rock_ poured forth _their_\nwater, and _the heavens_ showered down _their_ food, and their \u201c_raiment\nwaxed not old upon them_,\u201d even during the long period of forty years.\nIf the inhabitants of every other land gave way before them as they\nadvanced, _they_ were taught, and they might have learnt, from the utter\ndisproportion of their own powers, that it was \u201c_the Lord their God_\u201d who\ndrove them out.  And if, in the restlessness of their spirit, they\ndesired to have a king to reign over them, they were reminded that \u201c_the\nLord their God_\u201d was _their_ King.  However _few_, in any case, were the\nnumbers of _their_ hosts, they always proved _sufficient_ for the work\nwhich they were charged to achieve.  And however _numerous_ they were at\nother times, it might yet please Him, as it did on the occasion here\nrecorded, to turn their strength into weakness in an instant.  This\nnumbering of the people, therefore, showed an utter distrust of that\ngoodness which had never failed them, and called down a judgment so\nsevere, that it must have warned them for ever against a repetition of\nthe offence.\n\nThe question will have occurred already, perhaps, to the minds of some\nwho hear me, Can any similar degree of guilt attach to that numbering of\nour own people which is going on at this time throughout the land, from\none end of it even to the other?  If, in the case of David, the measure\nwas condemned so fearfully, and involved so signal a punishment, what are\nthe circumstances in our own case that tend to remove from it any such\nreproach, and may even lead us to hope that instead of thwarting the will\nand pleasure of our God, we are really proceeding in conformity to it,\nand even promoting his purposes of grace and goodness to our land?\n\nMy brethren, in order to answer such an inquiry aright, it seems only\nnecessary that we should remember the essential difference already\npointed out between the chosen nation and any which the world has since\nseen.  Never in any other case has the civil government of kingdoms been\ncarried on by the immediate agency of Almighty power.  _Our_ national\nwelfare depends not upon miracles, but upon those provisions of human\nforethought or experience, which, under the Divine blessing, appear best\nadapted to meet each exigency that arises.  And although there is often\ncause to lament that this blessing is so seldom _implored_ by us\ndistinctly and publicly as a Christian people, and so little\n_acknowledged_ by us in the many mercies, which, as a Christian people,\nwe are enjoying, yet still we may humbly believe that the inquiry now\nconducted cannot be displeasing to God.  Many facts will be learnt from\nit conducive to the common good, and tending either to suggest or to\nmature provisions for our social improvement.  Many practical lessons\nwill be gained, teaching us how we may better \u201c_bear each other\u2019s\nburdens_, _and so fulfil the law of Christ_.\u201d {7a}  Many truths will be\nderived from the results of this Census, which may strengthen our hands\nas \u201c_members one of another_;\u201d {7b} and some objects, it may be hoped,\nwill be answered by it, in the advancement of which we may cheerfully\njoin in giving effect to the counsels of our rulers.\n\nAt the same time there are thoughts mingling with this subject of a more\nserious and personal kind, to which I could desire, in the guidance of\nGod\u2019s Spirit, to direct your minds.  And the occasion for suggesting them\nappears so seasonable, and occurs so seldom, that it may reconcile us to\nthe omission of other topics of inquiry, and the endeavour to found upon\nit some which may be made, under the teaching of that Spirit, conducive\nto our edification and salvation.\n\nThis enrolling of our people _every tenth year_, each man\u2019s family in his\nown house, may it not read to us some lessons as Christians; while it\naffords to those who are set over us in the Lord, the materials for their\nguidance in the great work of government and legislation?  Whether we\nregard it as private individuals, or as fellow-subjects in that civil\ncommunity with which the Providence of God has connected us, or as\nmembers of the Church of Christ and \u201c_heirs together of the grace of\nlife_,\u201d {7c} it may suggest to us many reflections of thankfulness,\nself-inquiry and abasement.\n\n_Ten years_ have passed away since this Census was last taken; and of\ncourse by far the larger portion of those here present were at that time\nincluded in it.  These allotted periods fixed by the institutions of men\nagree very remarkably with those which the Spirit of God in his word has\npointed out as warnings of the shortness and the uncertainty of life.\n\u201c_The days of our age are threescore years and ten_; _and if by reason of\nstrength they be fourscore years_, _yet is their strength labour and\nsorrow_; _for it is soon cut off_, _and we fly away_.\u201d {8a}  If this,\nthen, be the limit to the life of man, what an important portion of it do\nthese latter years contain, quickly as they pass away, and short as they\nnow appear in looking back upon them!  It is well known that nearly\none-half of the number of deaths that occur among mankind happen before\nthe tenth year of life is completed.  Yet have _we all_ been spared,\nthrough sickness, and casualties, and during one year of that term\nthrough pestilence itself raging at our doors, to see the end of it; and\nto improve it, as affording a rich fund of opportunities, and warnings,\nand motives, and principles for the period yet to come.  Nor is it only\nlife that has been thus continued to us; but life with all its attendant\nhealth, and strength, and reason, and many temporal comforts.  And there\nhave been dangers warded off, and blessings multiplied to us in a measure\nwhich we should now find it difficult, even with the utmost stretch of\nmemory, to reckon; still less to trace out all those impressions of\ngratitude and praise towards the Great Dispenser of them all, which each\nof them, as it passed, ought to have fixed indelibly upon the heart.  For\nthese are all the gifts, too often even the unasked gifts, but in every\ncase the undeserved and ill-requited gifts of Him \u201c_in whom we live_,\n_and move_, _and have our being_.\u201d {8b}  And in addition to these, how\nmercifully have our spiritual privileges been continued to us, those\nwhich unite us with \u201c_Christ the hope of glory_,\u201d {8c} and which open to\nus the supplies of His grace, and which long since ought to have led our\naffections from earthly to heavenly things.  _For ten years more_ has the\nrevealed word of God been spread out before us, \u201c_the engrafted word_,\n_which is able to save our __souls_;\u201d {9a} inviting us to \u201c_flee from the\nwrath to come_;\u201d {9b} charging us to have our treasure in heaven; and\nreminding us, wherever we open it, of the things which belong to our\neternal peace.  _For ten years more_ has His Blessed Son been calling to\nus to \u201c_come to Him that we might have life_;\u201d {9c} cheering us with the\npromise that \u201c_whosoever cometh to Him shall in no wise be cast out_;\u201d\n{9d} offering to meet and to bless us with His spiritual presence in the\nordinances of His own appointment upon earth, and interceding for us\ncontinually before the throne of His Father in heaven.  _For ten years\nmore_ has that Spirit who does \u201c_not always strive with man_,\u201d {9e} been\nstriving with _us_; often grieved by our coldness, our inconsistency, our\nunwatchfulness; yet never quite leaving us to ourselves; and even now\nwaiting to be entreated by us, that He may purify and sanctify us wholly.\nAnd let me say, that if it is an obvious, it is also a solemn thought,\nthat _these ten years_ have included above 500 Sabbaths; each of which\nmight have been, had we diligently improved them, a new step in our\nadvancement towards heaven.  They might have made such an addition to our\nstock of spiritual knowledge, and strength, and progress, as would ere\nnow have carried us far more onward than we have yet reached towards that\n\u201c_rest which remaineth for the people of God_.\u201d {9f}\n\nAnd then comes the concerning question, from which not one person who\nhears me can escape; In what manner, to what degree have these advantages\nbeen turned to account?  _These ten years_ of continued forbearance, and\nlonger trial, and multiplied mercies on the part of our God, do they find\nus at the close of them living more closely to Him; more desirous of His\nfavour; more afraid of His displeasure; and adorning more, in our life\nand conversation, the gospel of His own dear Son?  _So much __nearer_ as\nwe must know ourselves to be to our latter end, are we in any, and in\nwhat measure, better prepared to meet it?  Do our tempers and pursuits\nprove us to be, what this new stage of our journey must convince us that\nwe are, mere \u201c_strangers and sojourners upon earth_,\u201d {10a} seeking \u201c_a\nbetter country_, _that is_, _an heavenly_?\u201d {10b}  Or rather, are there\nnot some sins still, as in time past, a shame and a burden to us; some\nevil habits or negligences, some ignorances or omissions yet cleaving to\nus, and even growing with our growth, and strengthening with our\nstrength?  The world, the flesh, and the devil, those three enemies of\nour souls whom we engaged in our baptism to renounce, have they less\npower over us than they once had?  And do we find in ourselves more\nreadiness to pray, more comfort in our private prayers, more delight in\nour Sabbaths, more of actual profit from all the means of grace, than we\ndid before?  With such an inquiry as this presented to him, and quickened\nby the thought, that as more time is gone there is so much the less\nremaining, may not the most advanced and established among us find room\nfor confession and self-abasement?  And if this indeed be so, if even\n\u201c_the righteous scarcely be saved_, _where shall the ungodly and the\nsinner appear_?\u201d {10c}  Where those who \u201c_make a mock at sin_,\u201d {10d}\n\u201c_glory in their shame_,\u201d and only \u201c_mind earthly things_?\u201d {10e}  What\nmust be their state in the sight of God, and what their aggravated\ndanger, who for _ten years more_ have been \u201c_crucifying the Son of God\nafresh_\u201d {10f} by their open unresisted ways of sin, despising the grace\nof God, and giving a more free indulgence to those very lusts against\nwhich the true believers have been at least watching, and contending, and\npraying?\n\nMy brethren, it may seem, no doubt, an alarming reflection, but it is\nstill a faithful saying, and confirmed by all our experience, that if\n_ten years more_ have not carried us forward in our heavenly course, if\nthey do not find us growing in grace, in the knowledge of ourselves and\nin the knowledge of Christ Jesus, they will too probably find us\nconfirmed in evil; more estranged from God; more ripe for judgment; the\nchains of sin bound faster around us, and all our habits more difficult\nof change; nay, even impossible to be changed, until that Spirit from on\nhigh be given us, who can at any time turn a man from darkness to light,\nbut who, the longer He is wilfully slighted, is the less willing to be\nsought.\n\nThese are some of the topics, and, as I well know, they are but a few of\nthem, which a retrospect of this interval might urge upon us as\nindividuals; and these arise only from a review of our own position as\nthe survivors of this new period of probation which the Lord in mercy has\npermitted us to pass.  But I might well ask you to cast your eyes once\nmore back, (it will be wise and profitable for us to do so,) in order\nthat we may call to mind how many persons, some of them dear to us as our\nown souls, _began_ this same period with us, who have not lived like us\nto witness its _close_.  If the thought suggests to any of my hearers\nsome recollections of pain, and sorrow, and separation, may they have the\ngrace given them to consider that it is the brightest light which casts\nthe deepest shadows; and that there are trains of thought which can edify\nwhile they sadden us; like the shade of Peter\u2019s body, which, as it passed\nacross the multitudes, gave life and health to whatever it obscured.\n{11a}\n\nThe number of interments which have occurred within the last ten years in\nthe three burial grounds of this parish have included more than a fifth\npart of its population.  Such is the sure and rapid way in which, day by\nday, and year by year, the sentence passed upon our fallen race is\nfulfilled.  \u201c_Dust thou art_, _and unto dust shalt thou return_.\u201d {11b}\nAnd some of these events, if I could now place them in order before you,\nhave been attended with circumstances so full of awakening instruction,\nthey have proclaimed so distinctly the instability of all earthly ties,\nthe vanity of all expectations that have not heaven for their object, and\nthe love of Christ for their security and their motive, that no louder\ncall could ever be addressed to those who have been most nearly affected\nby them.  And as surely and as quickly will the same mortality proceed\nduring the next decade of the world\u2019s duration.  Another like proportion,\nanother fifth, yes, my brethren, one person in five, of those who are\nassembled here to-day, will be swept off from the engrossing cares and\nthe unsatisfying frivolities of life into the great charnel-house which\nmust ere long receive us all.  How many more such ties will be loosened\nbefore the same interval recurs again!  Those whom we love the best may\nbe taken from us, or we from them, never more to meet until the\nresurrection of the last day.  With such perpetual notices before us of\nthe shortness of our time, and of the momentous nature of that work which\nit is given us to do, let us resolve to work while it is day.  Let us\nneglect no call; let us abuse no warning; let us lose no opportunity\nwhich may assist us in making our \u201c_calling and election sure_.\u201d {12a}\n\u201c_This I say_,\u201d declares St. Paul, with a full conviction of the truth\nupon his mind, \u201c_This I say_, _that the time is short_: _it remaineth_,\n_that both they that have wives be as though they had none_; _and they\nthat weep_, _as though they wept not_; _and they that rejoice_, _as\nthough they rejoiced not_; _and they that buy_, _as though they possessed\nnot_; _and they that use this world_, _as not abusing it_: _for the\nfashion of this world passeth away_.\u201d {12b}\n\nSuffer me now to advert to some topics of inquiry which such an occasion\nas this presents to us, as members of the same civil community,\nfellow-citizens of the same favoured land, or even as inhabitants of the\nsame parish.  There are other mercies for us to review, and there are\nother grounds of humiliation in the abuse of them, which we have to\ncherish beyond those which belong to us as private individuals.  And to\nthese we cannot safely be indifferent.\n\nConsider the many blessings we have to acknowledge as bestowed upon our\ncountry.  During the earliest of these intervals fixed for numbering the\npeople, of which we have now reached the sixth, we were engaged in\ndestructive wars, always a source of the most extensive misery and crime.\nAnd ever, as the period came round for enrolling our living population,\nthere was an allowance to be made for the losses it had suffered of\nmultitudes who had passed into the grave before their full time, in\nforeign lands, amidst the horrors of the battlefield or the naval fight,\ntheir last hours wanting all the solace of domestic endearment or\nspiritual comfort.  But we have now been mercifully spared for nearly\nforty years from any general or continued war.  _Ten years more_ of\nalmost unbroken peace, or of peace broken only in the remoter\ndependencies of the empire, have passed over us.  And very few of our\ncountrymen, comparatively with other times, have had their lives cut\nshort by a scourge to which the pride and covetousness of mankind are\nalways urging them, but which it may be hoped the God of love and peace,\nin answer to the prayers of His servants, will continue still to\nrestrain.  It was a feeling of the terrors of that scourge which drew\nfrom David the affecting entreaty recorded in the chapter before us:\n\u201c_Let us fall now into the hands of the Lord_; _for his mercies are\ngreat_: _and let us not fall into the hands of man_.\u201d {13}\n\nAnd if it cannot equally be said that our land has been spared from the\nvisitation of pestilence, if it has pleased God, within the last ten\nyears, to send again among us that fearful judgment, what cause had we\nfor thankfulness that even in the midst of that judgment He remembered\nmercy, and that in the most direct answer to prevailing prayer that we\nhave ever witnessed, He caused the disorder to cease even at the time\nwhen it seemed to be defying all human means of restraining it.\n\nThere are two aspects in which this new enrolment will present itself to\nthe mind as connected with our national state.  And there are different\nconclusions to be drawn from it, according as they are viewed or not in\nthe light which the Scripture gives us, and tried by the rules which it\naffords.  It may be thought, when this new list is making out of our\npeople from one end of the country to the other, advancing as they\nprobably are in numbers, intelligence, and wealth, the result of it will\nrather speak the language of exultation than of abasement.  While we are\narranging in their different classes our men of opulence, and our men of\nbusiness, and our men of science, \u201c_merchants_,\u201d like those of the\n\u201c_crowning city_,\u201d equal to \u201c_princes_, _and traffickers ranked among the\nhonourable of the earth_;\u201d {14a} our cunning artificers and our tillers\nof the ground surpassing those of other lands in diligence, enterprise,\nand talent; there is enough here, it may be thought, to assure us that\nGod is well pleased with us, and that all these proofs of worldly\nprosperity are pledges of His favour.  Surely, it will be said by some\nwho witness it, \u201c_this great nation is a wise and understanding people_.\u201d\n{14b}  And yet let us remember, that the distinctions of nations, like\nthose of individuals, are given to them as talents to be accounted for\nand improved, not in order to flatter pride, or to promote the comparison\nof themselves with others.  The higher is the measure of our privileges,\nthe heavier is the weight of our responsibilities.  These signs of\ngreatness may be found utterly worthless when they are weighed in the\nbalance of the sanctuary, and may be tending only to increase our\ncondemnation.  If, indeed, our zeal for God\u2019s glory had kept pace with\nour experience of His mercies; if, placed as we are at the head of the\ncommerce of the world, our influence reaching to every sea and every\nshore on which the sun shines, we had carried with us that best of our\nnational treasures, that which is interdicted to some nations, and, alas!\nas yet unknown to many more, the pure, the full, the free gospel of the\ngrace of God; if, many years ago, we had taken up that position, to the\nimportance of which we seem only to have awakened of late, that of being,\nas the heralds of the Church, the evangelizers of mankind; if the moral\nand spiritual improvement of our people at home had advanced as rapidly\nas their intellectual character, then, indeed, we might have given up the\naccount of our resources with joy and not with grief.  But since it is\nmost true, as you yourselves also know, that while the largest funds are\nnever wanting for every scheme, the wildest, the most uncertain, of\nworldly speculation or display, they are often left to fail, and to fall\naway, and to be importuned for in the prosecution of the soberest, the\nmost scriptural plans for promoting the glory of God, or the welfare of\nsome distressed portion or other of our fellow-men; if all the boasted\nimprovements in our means of communication are only carrying into the\nquietest and least corrupted districts of the land new incentives to\nSabbath desecration; if while we have been spared from the desolations of\nforeign war, we are given up, at this very hour, to intestine divisions\npervading equally the Church and the State, and upon questions where a\nChristian people ought to be found essentially agreed; here, again, we\nhave cause rather to humble than to exalt ourselves, and to fear lest our\nGod should enter into judgment with us for this poor requital of all the\ndistinctions with which we have been blessed.\n\nThe most remarkable event which, within _the last ten years_, has\naffected the spiritual state of our own parish, has been the erection, in\na district scarcely built upon before, but in the midst of a poor and now\nrapidly increasing population, of a spacious and splendid Roman Catholic\nchurch, with extensive school-rooms and the residence of a priest\nattached to it.  My brethren, there are but few probably among us who\nwould lament this measure, if its only design and its only effect were to\nprovide for the instruction of that large number of Roman Catholic\nlabourers who inhabit that and the contiguous districts.  Shut out as\nthey are, by the stern prohibitions of their own priesthood, from all\naccess to our means of grace; taught to believe that all doctrine is\nheresy, and all instruction hurtful, which does not flow directly from\ntheir own communion; living among us, as they did, for so many years,\nlike sheep having no shepherd, who would condemn the only provision being\nat length made for them, of which their unhappy state admitted?  Nay\nmore; may we not hope that having been left hitherto equally ignorant and\nfettered, ignorant of the commonest means of knowledge, and fettered and\nprecluded from attaining it, the instruction now given to their children\nwill one day become the blessed means of enabling them to throw off their\nfetters, and make an opening for the light of Gospel truth to shine upon\ntheir souls?  But, alas! all that we see and hear forbids us to believe\nthat the only design or effect of this measure is to enable the Romanists\nto provide for their own people.  There is already too much evidence to\nshow that it has all the character of an aggression upon the faith of the\nmembers of our Church.  It is in full accordance with those measures,\nwhich within the last few months have happily awakened the Protestant\nspirit of our whole people, and have shown in its true colours the\ninfluence of that unscriptural and grasping Church from which they\nsprang.  By devices the most insidious, our people are invited to witness\nthe imposing ritual of this new building; while depositaries are opened,\neven at our own doors, for the public sale of cheap tracts, that tend,\nwith bitter irony and gross misstatements, to discredit _our_\ninstitutions and to recommend _theirs_. {17a}  What will be the actual\nresult of all this conflict between truth and error before _ten more\nyears_ have passed, it may not be easy to say.  If those among us who are\nspared to outlive them are enabled to \u201c_hold fast the profession of their\nfaith without wavering_,\u201d {17b} they may not only save their own souls,\nbut lead others, who can only view Him now through the mists of their\ncorruptions, to honour the holy name of Him by whom we are called.  But\nsurely, with these facts before us, there is the strongest inducement for\nus all, not only to examine ourselves whether we are in the faith, but\nwhy, and on what grounds we are in it; {17c} while there is a motive\ncreated strong enough to induce all who have the means at their command\nto promote any well-advised plans for arresting the evil, or turning it,\nthrough God\u2019s blessing, to good. {17d}\n\nTo conclude.  The inquiry which will be going on to-morrow throughout the\ncountry is addressed to us all, as the heads of our separate households;\neach giving a return of the names, and ages, and birthplace, and\noccupations of those, who will pass this very night under his own roof.\nBut surely the thought will occur to _some_ among us, I would to God that\nit might be brought home by His Spirit to the hearts of _all_, that there\nare several other points of inquiry besides these, upon which the great\nHead of the Church may be expecting, and really does expect, an account\nto be rendered by us.  We may have no power to influence the character or\nto regulate the habits of those large masses of the people whose\nirreligion, in the crowded districts that surround us, we may deplore.\nThe influence which is to affect a whole nation falls within the power of\nvery few.  But that which affects the character of any family or\nhousehold, (and nations are made up of families) depends mainly on the\nprinciples, aye, and even on the tempers and way of life of those whom\nGod places over them; for this also is an allotment of His providence.\nLet us then suppose for an instant, that it was desired to obtain, as on\nthis same day, a return of what might be called the spiritual statistics\nof England.  Suppose, that laying aside, or rather looking beyond the\nmere considerations of civil or political economy, it were wished to\nlearn by such distinct and palpable records as might be furnished, the\nactual state of religion through the whole extent of our population.  I\nwell know, indeed, that there are signs and marks of which no earthly\ninquiries could take cognizance; proofs of spiritual growth in some, and\nof declension in others; secret concessions to the corrupt nature in one\nclass, or inward aspirations after holiness in the other; hypocrisies\nwhich no eye can detect among \u201c_the children of this world_,\u201d and\nspiritual conflicts in the \u201c_children of light_,\u201d which can only be known\nto the Supreme Searcher of their hearts.  But when all this is allowed,\nwe might lay down some distinctions in every case, the existence or the\nabsence of which would go far to show, whether the master of that house,\nand those around him, were really serving God or not.  If it were\ninquired throughout the land, or if, limiting the supposition to our own\nparish, it were asked in every house, Is family prayer maintained _under\nthis roof_? {18a}  Is the Sabbath observed by the master, by the\nservants, by the children, as \u201c_a delight_, _the holy of the Lord_,\n_honourable_?\u201d {18b} all work suspended which may be left undone, and\nevery pursuit given up which is inconsistent with the real spirit of the\nday, as one of holy rest?  Would the general answers to these questions\nbe such as we could really ponder over with any comfort?  Or again, if it\nwere asked, How many Bibles _in this house_ are diligently searched?  How\nmany of its inmates are not only permitted, but encouraged and invited,\nand if need be, urged to attend upon the public worship of God?  Is there\na servants\u2019 library _in this house_, to which every one of them may have\nrecourse for some edifying or self-improving reading during the leisure\nintervals of their service? {19a}  How many communicants are there _in\nthis family_ among those who have reached the proper age of full\ncommunion with the Church, and with her living Head?  How many of the\nchildren are really reared in the spirit of their baptismal vows,\n\u201c_virtuously brought up to lead a godly and a Christian life_?\u201d {19b}\nAre not these subjects of inquiry on which there would be too great cause\nfor self-reproach to many among us; the reproach resting upon those who\nhad all the means afforded them for their spiritual sustenance and\ngrowth, but have carelessly neglected to improve them?\n\nMy brethren, I commend these remarks in all faithfulness and affection to\nyour private meditations and your prayers.  And may your own consciences,\nenlightened by the Spirit of God, guide you to some profitable\napplication of them!  May it be given to each of us to feel this day,\nthat we are supplying a return of so many beings, not merely connected\nwith us by the ties and duties of an earthly relation, or a short-lived\nexistence here; but of those who are travelling on quickly with ourselves\nto an eternity of bliss or woe; precious, never-dying souls; the objects\nequally with us of the Saviour\u2019s love, the Spirit\u2019s teaching, and the\nFather\u2019s care; called equally with us to be members of Christ, children\nof God, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven.  What \u201c_I say unto you I\nwould say unto all_, _Watch_! _for ye know not when the Master of the\nhouse will come_\u201d to reckon with us, whether at the close, or the middle,\nor the opening of this new decade on which we are now entering.\n\nBut this we know, that when the Lord does come the second time from\nheaven, then will be the great numbering of the nations: not the mere\nperiodical census of a single kingdom, which, with all its boasted wealth\nand enterprise, is but a mere speck upon the surface of our earth; but a\nnumbering of all the myriads that have ever peopled it, from the family\nof the first man until there \u201c_shall be time no longer_;\u201d {20a} \u201c_the sea\ngiving up the dead which are in it_; _and death and the grave delivering\nup the dead_\u201d {20b} which are in them; and all distinctions of age, or\nrank, or learning, or riches, or power, lost and sunk, in the simple but\neverlasting distinction between those who served God, and those who\nserved Him not; those whose names are written in the Lamb\u2019s book of life,\nand those not to be found there.  And then will these inquiries and such\nas these, which your ministers urge upon you now in \u201c_the foolishness of\npreaching_,\u201d {20c} but which too often reach only unwilling ears and\ncareless hearts, then shall they be enforced by \u201c_the voice of the\narchangel and by the trump of God_.\u201d {20d}\n\nLet us then \u201c_walk circumspectly_, _not as fools_, _but as wise_,\n_redeeming the time_, _because the days are evil_.\u201d {20e}  And may we be\nfound so far faithful to Him who calls us, that out of these our earthly\nhouseholds, some may be continually gathering to join that \u201c_multitude\nwhich no man can number_,\u201d {20f} who, on the sea of glass and before the\nsapphire throne, are worshipping Him that sits upon the throne, and\ncasting their crowns before Him, and saying, \u201c_Thou art worthy to receive\nglory_, _and honour_, _and power_; _for thou hast created all things_,\n_and for Thy pleasure they are and were created_!\u201d {20g}\n\n\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n\nNote A. (P. 17.)\n\n\nDuring the evenings of the late winter months a series of scenic\nrepresentations, twice in every week, was displayed in the school-room,\nwhich is near the church; and the admission being free, they were\nattended by large numbers of the poorer class, Roman Catholic and\nProtestant.  On these occasions the priest always attended, and explained\nthe subjects represented, which were uniformly taken from the Scripture.\nAnd he lost no opportunity of inviting his audience to hear the same\nsubjects enforced in the church which thus interested them in the\nschool-room.\n\nThe following extracts from some of these tracts, which are all announced\nupon a large printed placard in the window of the house where they are\nsold, as having received\n\n  THE \u201cAPPROBATION OF HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL WISEMAN AND ALL THE CATHOLIC\n                                BISHOPS,\u201d\n\nwill justify, it is presumed, without a comment, the epithets here\napplied to them, as describing their character and tendency.  They are\neither untrue, unfair, or ironical.\n\nExtracts from a tract, entitled, \u201c_Protestantism weighed in its own\nBalance_, _and found wanting_.  No. 1.  _The Bible_, _and the Bible\nonly_.\u201d\n\n    \u201cIt is worth observing that this rule of faith, as well in its short\n    and popular form, as also when more fully drawn out and explained, is\n    rather negative than positive.  Those who use it are more careful to\n    say what they do _not_ than what they _do_.  They insist upon \u2018the\n    Bible _only_\u2019 to the exclusion of everything else, but they are not\n    equally jealous about receiving the whole Bible, every part of it.\n    They say that nothing is to be required of any man that it should be\n    believed which is not to be found in the Bible, or at least may not\n    be proved thereby; but they do not with equal distinctness insist\n    upon the duty of believing everything which _is_ read in that sacred\n    book or _may be_ proved by it.  This is no idle assertion, but is\n    plain matter of fact.\u201d\u2014P. 1.\n\n    \u201cThere are many texts even then which they do not really receive;\n    some which are to them as an unknown tongue, without any meaning at\n    all, and which they therefore make no use of whatever; others which\n    seem to be opposed to their own creed, and which they therefore try\n    to escape from and to explain away; lastly, there are others which\n    they even boldly contradict.\u201d\u2014P. 2.\n\n    \u201cIf God did not intend the Bible to be man\u2019s only guide and teacher\n    in matters of religion, but appointed His Church for this very\n    purpose, that she should fulfil this office, and promised her His\n    guidance, so that she should never be deceived in proposing anything\n    to our belief that was not true and had not been revealed by Him,\n    then of course, not only is the Catholic Church right upon this\n    point, but also of necessity right upon every other point also.\u201d\u2014P.\n    6.\n\n    \u201cThe Protestant professes that the only sure way of knowing God\u2019s\n    will is for every man to read the Holy Scriptures for himself.  I\n    take up the Holy Scriptures, therefore, for this purpose, and I find\n    there that our Lord appointed, and the apostles practised, quite\n    another way of learning God\u2019s will and the right road to heaven.  I\n    find that our Lord sent, not a message, but messengers; not a book\n    for men to read, but apostles for men to obey; and in like manner I\n    find that the apostles do say not a word about the necessity of not\n    believing anything that is not written in a certain book, but on the\n    contrary, that they distinctly say, Believe all that you have been\n    taught, whether written or unwritten.\u201d\u2014P. 9.\n\n    \u201cIt is plain that our Lord did not use the words, \u2018Search the\n    Scriptures,\u2019 in the sense in which the Protestants use them.  He did\n    not refer His hearers to the Scriptures in the same way that the\n    Protestant refers you.  For if so, why did they need His further\n    teaching?  He made the same use of the Scriptures as Catholics do in\n    speaking to Protestants at this day.  The Catholic says to\n    Protestants, \u2018Search the Scriptures,\u2019 for these are they which\n    testify of the Church as well as of her Head.  They expressly command\n    you to \u2018hear the Church\u2019 (St. Matt, xviii. 17).\u201d\u2014P. 11.\n\n    \u201cA Catholic priest at the present day might follow the example of St.\n    Paul, and show that Jesus whom he preached was Christ; that the\n    Church which he preached to them was in very deed the society to\n    which such high and noble privileges were promised in Holy Scripture.\n    And every one who should give heed to his preaching in the same way\n    as the Bereans did, would not fail to meet with the same reward.  He\n    also would \u2018believe;\u2019 believe not only the one doctrine which had\n    been thus proved to him from Holy Scripture, viz. that the Church was\n    the appointed teacher of mankind, but also every other doctrine which\n    the same teacher might propose to his belief, whether written in the\n    Holy Bible or not.\u201d\u2014P. 14.\n\nExtract from another tract, entitled, \u201c_The Church_, _the Guardian of\nScripture_, or, _How does the Bible come to us_?\u201d\n\n    \u201cPeople are apt to think of the Bible, as if it were a whole without\n    parts, indivisible, self-existent, in short, a kind of divinity; or,\n    at least, as if it had come down from heaven precisely such as we now\n    have it, ready bound to our hands, if not with the Bible Society\u2019s\n    stamp upon it.\u201d\u2014P. 7.\n\nExtract from another tract, entitled, \u201c_The Rosary of the Blessed Virgin\nMary_, or, _The use of the Beads no vain Repetition_.\u201d\n\n    \u201cPerhaps you find something that shocks you in the fact of the \u2018Hail\n    Mary\u2019 being repeated so much oftener than the Lord\u2019s Prayer; and it\n    may be that there is in this a fresh instance of that unhappy\n    creature-worship which disfigures every part of the Catholic\n    religion.  Now do not suppose that the reason of this is, that we\n    consider prayers addressed to the Blessed Virgin better than prayers\n    addressed to God.  We do certainly think her prayers for us are\n    better, and more likely to be heard and answered than our own;\n    because we know that she was ever perfectly free from all stain of\n    guilt, and is now nearest to God in glory; and we feel ourselves full\n    of the defilement of sin.\u201d\u2014P. 10.\n\n    \u201cChrist has entered into His kingdom, and His saints are reigning\n    with Him.  Which of them shall be nearest to Him in glory as once in\n    suffering, but her through whom He joined our human nature to Deity\n    itself?  The anguish over, the grace and virtue crowned, the glory\n    never to pass away; surely, well may we again call the Queen of\n    Heaven, \u2018Blessed among women!\u2019 and more than ever trusting in the\n    power of her intercession, more than ever call on her, \u2018Holy Mary,\n    mother of God! pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of\n    death.\u2019\u201d\u2014P. 14.\n\n              SECOND AND FOURTH OF THE FIVE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES.\n\n    \u201c2d.  The scourging of our Blessed Lord, at the pillar by soldiers,\n    in Pilate\u2019s house; the number of stripes they gave him being above\n    five thousand.\n\n    \u201c4th.  The carrying of the Cross; in which our Lord Jesus Christ,\n    being sentenced to die, bears with most amazing patience the cross\n    which is laid upon Him for His greater torment and ignominy, meeting\n    His blessed mother by the way.\u201d\n\n               FOURTH AND FIFTH OF THE FIVE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES.\n\n    \u201c4th.  The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin; in which after her\n    death, twelve years after the Resurrection, she is assumed into\n    heaven by her Divine Son accompanied by the holy angels.\n\n    \u201c5th.  The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin; in which, amid the great\n    jubilee and exultation of the whole court of heaven, and to the\n    particular glory of all the saints, she is crowned by her Son with\n    the brightest diadem of glory.\u201d\u2014P. 16.\n\nExtracts from a tract, entitled, \u201c_Our Parish Churches as they were and\nas they are_.  1. _Old stones tell tales_.\u201d\n\n    \u201cI declare, it seems to me that the very idea of worship has almost\n    died out in England.  Do you think that if people really felt they\n    were speaking to Almighty God, they would sit at their ease, or look\n    over a book, and never do more?  Church of Englandism has such a\n    _comfortable_ look about it; it is the religion of people well to do\n    in the world, and have too much business to transact to turn their\n    minds thoroughly to anything else.  It is a _one day a week_\n    religion.  Every thing about it is so formal, so decent, so sober, so\n    proper and respectable.  It would look so odd to seem in earnest; to\n    be on your knees in prayer before so many well-dressed people, as\n    though you had a soul to be saved.  Church of Englandism is such a\n    human thing; it smacks so much of the world and of \u2018good society.\u2019\n    It makes a poor man feel awkward, just as he does when he finds\n    himself in a gentleman\u2019s drawing-room.\u201d\u2014P. 10.\n\n    \u201cThe Church of England would never have built such churches, though\n    it is very proud of them now it has got them, and lately has taken to\n    making a few others in imitation of the old ones.  People never seem\n    to think of this.  They are always bragging about their fine old\n    parish churches, and their venerable cathedrals, and all the while\n    they were built by the Papists, as they call them; and if it had not\n    been for the Papists they would never have had them to brag of.  The\n    sparrow stole into the martin\u2019s nest, and said, See what a nice warm\n    house I have got.  He couldn\u2019t say he had _made_ it, but he was quite\n    as cocky as if he had.\u201d\u2014P. 11.\n\n    \u201c\u2018And what is this?\u2019 said I again; and I pointed at a curious sort of\n    niche with a hole at the bottom of it.  \u2018That,\u2019 said he, \u2018is a\n    _piscina_; it was for pouring the water away after the priest had\n    washed his hands.\u2019  \u2018Why should he wash his hands,\u2019 said I, \u2018more\n    than our ministers?\u2019  \u2018Because,\u2019 said Peter, \u2018he had to touch the\n    body of the Lord, and to lift Him up, as when He was raised on the\n    cross.  And your ministers have no need to wash theirs, because they\n    have not got the body of our Lord there at all.\u2019\u201d\u2014p. 14.\n\n    \u201c\u2018What was the use of saying mass for him,\u2019 said I, \u2018when he was dead\n    and buried?\u2019  Peter smiled, and answered, \u2018It is said in the\n    Scriptures, that it is a good and wholesome thought to pray for the\n    dead, and it certainly must be so.\u2019\u201d\u2014P. 15.\n\nExtracts from a tract, entitled, \u201c_The Church of our Fathers_.\u201d\n\n    \u201cSt. Peter, the prince of the apostles, to whom our Lord himself gave\n    the name of Peter, which signifies a rock, and told him at the same\n    time that on that rock He would build His Church, and that the gates\n    of hell should not prevail against it,\u2014this same Peter went to Rome\n    and became its Bishop; and from that time the Church of Rome, as\n    being the See of St. Peter, has ever been looked upon by the faithful\n    as the mother and mistress of all churches, and each of his\n    successors in turn as the visible head of the Church on earth.\u201d\u2014P. 5.\n\n    \u201cIt is generally believed that Caractacus settled in Rome with his\n    family; that his daughter was called Claudia, and that she married a\n    noble Roman called Pudens, who, together with herself, afterwards\n    became Christian; that they had a daughter who was afterwards\n    celebrated as a saint under the name of St. Pudentiana; and that this\n    Pudens and Claudia, whom St. Paul mentions in his Epistle to Timothy\n    (2 Tim. iv. 21), were no other than these.  It is said also that this\n    noble British household gave shelter and hospitality to St. Peter,\n    while he lived as Bishop in Rome; a retired room in the house being\n    set apart as his chapel.  A church was afterwards built on the site\n    of this house, which having been since twice rebuilt, is still known\n    by the name of St. Pudentiana; and it is this church which, from its\n    connexion with the history of our country, has been assigned to\n    Cardinal Wiseman as the church from which he takes his title.\u201d\u2014P. 7.\n\n    \u201cSeveral miracles attended the death of this our first martyr\n    (Alban).  When on his way to death, he came to a river which divided\n    the town from the hill where he was to suffer; the people thronged\n    the bridge over it in such multitudes that he feared he should not be\n    able to pass all that day, and longing for his crown, raised his eyes\n    to heaven and prayed.  And God straightway divided the waters as for\n    His people of old, so that he walked through dryshod.\u201d\u2014P. 9.\n\n    \u201cThe next thing that we hear of the Church in Britain is, that two\n    bishops from Gaul, Germanus and Lupus, were sent over here to preach\n    to the people, many of whom had been perverted by false teachers; but\n    all gladly listened to the preaching of these holy bishops, and\n    returned to the way of truth.  They were the more easily persuaded,\n    because the preaching of these men was also accompanied by the\n    working of miracles.  After a public conference, in which the\n    heretics had been completely put to silence by the eloquence of the\n    bishops, an officer in the Roman army stepped forward with his little\n    daughter who was blind, and begged that they would bestow such relief\n    upon her as they were able.  The bishops desired him to try first the\n    powers of those false teachers who had been just now disputing\n    against them.  But these declined the trial, and united with the\n    officer in begging her cure at the hands of Germanus and Lupus.  Upon\n    this Germanus offered up a short prayer, and invoking the Holy\n    Trinity, pulled from his bosom a little box of relics which he always\n    carried about him.  This he applied to the girl\u2019s eyes, and her sight\n    was immediately restored.\u201d\u2014Pp. 9, 10.\n\nExtracts from a tract, entitled, \u201c_How Antichrist keeps Christmas_; or,\n_A Peep at Christmas in a Catholic country_.\u201d\n\n    \u201cIt is true, indeed, that Christmas is a festival of such universal\n    gladness, as to thaw for a moment even the icy heart of\n    Protestantism; sending a ray of joyousness down into the cold depths\n    of the population of this country, where all is so smooth and smiling\n    on the surface, all so chill and joyless underneath.  At Christmas I\n    really believe a thrill of gladness darts through the heart of the\n    great majority of the people.  Churches and chapels are made gay with\n    shining leaves and scarlet berries; carols are sung in the streets;\n    the words, \u2018A merry Christmas to you!\u2019 pass from mouth to mouth; and\n    beef and pudding, the outward form which joy is wont to put on in\n    this cold, hungry climate, smoke on many a board to which, alas! for\n    every other day in the year they are utter strangers.  Nay, it is to\n    be hoped that even in union workhouses there is an intermission of\n    gruel for Christmas day.\u201d\u2014Pp. 4, 5.\n\n    \u201cAbundant food is a necessity of our climate, and a condition of our\n    physical well-being to a degree that the people of the South cannot\n    understand.  We are told of our Saxon forefathers, whom I have before\n    mentioned, that their frames, though so tall and well-formed, were\n    neither so patient of labour nor of hunger as might be expected from\n    their apparent strength.  Alas! for the necessity which grinds down\n    our poor to the endurance of both to such a hurtful degree.  But to\n    return to Christmas.  The difference between Catholic and Protestant\n    Christmas is this, that both love Christmas, but Catholics love it\n    far more distinctly and consciously for Christ\u2019s sake.  The very name\n    of the festival is theirs, Christ\u2019s Mass; to Protestants one part of\n    the word has confessedly lost its meaning, and the other is a dim\n    vision.  Look at the professedly religious part of the observance of\n    this feast, and see what it amounts to.  In the churches of the\n    English establishment, except the holly boughs, what is there to tell\n    of the Lord\u2019s birth?  Of course the lesson from Scripture recounting\n    that event is read; so also are certain Psalms which prophetically\n    relate to it; and a sermon on the Nativity is (sometimes) preached.\n    But otherwise the ordinary routine of the service goes on the same as\n    usual.  \u2018Dearly beloved brethren,\u2019 holds on the even tenour of its\n    way, with dulness scarcely mitigated; and there is really nothing\n    either peculiarly to draw out the devotion of those assisting at it\n    towards their infant Lord, nor, which is more to our present purpose,\n    any special outpouring of such devotion on the part of the Church\n    herself.\u201d\u2014P. 6.\n\n\n\nNote B. (P. 17.)\n\n\nIt is hoped that the following brief summary of the leading doctrines\nheld by the two Churches of England and Rome, with the authorities on\nwhich they respectively rest, may prove useful to some of the readers of\nthese pages, whether as promoting their inquiry, or confirming their\nfaith.\n\n_Doctrines maintained by the Members of the Church of England and of the\nChurch of Rome_, _with the authorities claimed by each in their support_.\n\n        CHURCH OF ENGLAND.                   CHURCH OF ROME.\n                I.                                  I.\n\nHoly Scripture containeth all       All saving truth is not contained\nthings that are necessary to        in the Holy Scripture, but partly\nsalvation: so that whatsoever is    in Scripture and partly in\nnot read therein, nor may be        unwritten traditions, which\nproved thereby, is not to be        whosoever doth not receive with\nrequired of any man, that it        like piety and reverence as he\nshould be believed as an article    doth the Scriptures, is accursed.\nof the faith, or be thought         If any one doth not receive all\nrequisite or necessary to           these books (_viz. the apocryphal\nsalvation.\u20146_th_ _Article of        mixed with the genuine and\nReligion_.  See Deut. iv. 2; Isa.   canonical books_), with every\nviii. 20; Rom. xv. 4; 2 Tim. iii.   part of them as they used to be\n15\u201317; Rev. xxii. 8.                read in the Catholic Church, and\n                                    as they are contained in the\n                                    ancient vulgar Latin edition, for\n                                    holy and canonical, and shall\n                                    knowingly contemn the aforesaid\n                                    traditions, let him be\n                                    accursed\u2014_Decrees of the Council\n                                    of Trent_.\n               II.                                 II.\n\nWe are accounted righteous before   If any man shall say that the\nGod, only for the merit of our      good works of a justified man are\nLord and Saviour Jesus Christ by    in such sense the gifts of God,\nfaith, and not for our own works    that they are not also his worthy\nor deservings.\u201411_th_ _Article of   merits; or that he, being\nReligion_.  See Ps. cxliii. 2;      justified by his good works,\nLuke xvii. 10; Rom. iii. 22\u201324,     which are wrought by him through\n27, 28.                             the grace of God and the merits\n                                    of Jesus Christ, of whom he is a\n                                    living member, does not really\n                                    deserve increase of grace,\n                                    eternal life, the enjoyment of\n                                    that eternal life, if he dies in\n                                    a state of grace, and even an\n                                    increase of glory, let him be\n                                    accursed.\u2014_Decrees of the Council\n                                    of Trent_.\n               III.                                III.\n\nThe offering of Christ once made    If any one say that in the mass\nis that perfect redemption,         there is not a true and proper\npropitiation, and satisfaction,     sacrifice offered unto God; or,\nfor all the sins of the whole       that to be offered is nothing\nworld, both original and actual;    else but for Christ to be given\nand there is none other             us to eat, let him be\nsatisfaction for sin, but that      accursed!\u2014_Decrees of the Council\nalone.\u201431_st_ _Article of           of Trent_.\nReligion_.  Gal. iii. 13; Heb.\nvii. 26, 27; ix. 12, 22, 24\u201328;     I further profess, that in the\nx. 14; 1 John iii. 1, 2.            mass is offered to God a true,\n                                    proper, and propitiatory\n                                    sacrifice for the quick and\n                                    dead.\u2014_Creed of Pope Pius IV_.\n               IV.                                 IV.\n\nThe Romish doctrine concerning      It is lawful to represent God and\npurgatory, pardons, worshipping,    the Holy Trinity by images; and\nand adoration, as well of images    the images and relics of Christ\nas of reliques, and also            and the saints are to be duly\ninvocation of saints, is a fond     honoured, venerated, and\nthing vainly invented, and          worshipped.  And in this\ngrounded upon no warranty of        veneration and worship those are\nScripture, but rather repugnant     venerated which are represented\nto the word of God.\u201422_d_           by them.\u2014_Decrees of the Council\n_Article of Religion_.  _Texts      of Trent_.\nopposed to the doctrine of\npurgatory_: Eccl. ix. 5, 6; Isa.    I most firmly assert that the\nxxxviii. 18; St. Luke xxiii. 43;    images of Christ and of the\nHeb. ix. 27; Rev. xiv. 13.          Mother of God, who was always a\n_Texts opposed to the doctrines     virgin, are to be had and\nof the worship of images and the    retained; and that due honour and\ninvocation of saints_: St. Matt.    worship are to be given to\niv. 10; Acts iv. 12; x. 25; 1       them.\u2014_Creed of Pope Pius IV_.\nCor. iii. 11; 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6; 1\nJohn ii. 1, 2.                      I constantly hold that there is a\n                                    purgatory; and that the souls\n                                    detained there are assisted by\n                                    the prayers of the\n                                    faithful.\u2014_Creed of Pope Pius\n                                    IV_.\n                V.                                  V.\n\nThere are two Sacraments ordained   Whosoever shall affirm that the\nof Christ our Lord in the Gospel;   Sacraments of the New Law were\nthat is to say, Baptism, and the    not all instituted by Jesus\nSupper of the Lord.  Those five     Christ our Lord; or that they are\ncommonly called Sacraments, that    more or fewer than seven; or that\nis to say, Confirmation, Penance,   any of them is not truly and\nOrders, Matrimony, and Extreme      properly a sacrament, let him be\nUnction, are not to be counted      accursed.\u2014_Decrees of the Council\nfor Sacraments of the Gospel,       of Trent_.\nbeing such as have grown partly\nof the corrupt following of the     I profess also that there are\napostles, partly are states of      truly and properly seven\nlife allowed in the Scriptures;     Sacraments of the New Law\nbut yet have not like nature of     instituted by our Lord Jesus\nSacraments with Baptism and the     Christ, and necessary for the\nLord\u2019s Supper, for that they have   salvation of all men, (though not\nnot any visible sign or ceremony    all of them to every one,) viz.\nordained of God.\u201425_th_ _Article    Baptism, Confirmation, the Lord\u2019s\nof Religion_.  St. Matt. xxviii.    Supper, Penance, Extreme Unction,\n19; xxvi. 26; St. Mark xiv. 22;     Orders, and Matrimony.\u2014_Creed of\nSt. Luke xxii. 19, 20; 1 Cor. xi.   Pope Pius IV_.\n24.\n               VI.                                 VI.\n\nIt is a thing plainly repugnant     Although the mass contain great\nto the word of God, and the         instruction for the faithful\ncustom of the primitive Church,     people; yet it has not appeared\nto have public prayer in the        expedient to the Fathers, that it\nChurch, or to minister the          should be everywhere celebrated\nSacraments in a tongue not          in the vulgar tongue.\u2014_Decrees of\nunderstanded of the                 the Council of Trent_.\npeople.\u201424_th_ _Article of\nReligion_.  1 Cor. xiv. 3, 6, 14,\n16, 19.\n               VII.                                VII.\n\nThe cup of the Lord is not to be    Whosoever shall affirm that all\ndenied to the lay people: for       and every one of Christ\u2019s\nboth the parts of the Lord\u2019s        faithful are bound by divine\nSacrament, by Christ\u2019s ordinance    command to partake the most holy\nand commandment, ought to be        sacrament of the Eucharist in\nministered to all Christian men     both kinds as necessary to\nalike.\u201430_th_ _Article of           salvation, let him be\nReligion_.  St. Matt. xxvi.         accursed.\u2014_Decrees of the Council\n26\u201328; 1 Cor. xi. 28.               of Trent_.\n\n                                    I confess also, that under one\n                                    kind only is received the whole\n                                    and entire Christ, and the true\n                                    Sacrament.\u2014_Creed of Pope Pius\n                                    IV_.\n\nNote C. (P. 17.)\n\n\nIt is confidently believed by those persons who are most familiarly\nacquainted with the state of the property adjacent to the new Romish\nChurch, that within a very few years nearly the whole of it will be\ncovered with new buildings.  And it is so far removed from the churches\nand National schools at Fulham and Walham Green, where the population has\nalso increased of late very considerably, that it is easy to foresee the\nnecessity which will arise for some new provision for the spiritual\ninstruction of such a district, growing up nearly in the centre of the\nparish of Fulham.  In such cases, all experience teaches that it is far\nwiser to anticipate the measures that may be required for meeting the\nexigency, than to adopt them after it has occurred.  And the Vicar,\ntherefore, deems the present a suitable opportunity for making it known,\nthat the promise has been secured of a most eligible piece of land, near\nthe locality here described, and containing rather more than the third of\nan acre, which would be well calculated, either now or hereafter, for the\nerection of school-rooms, or a church adapted to the wants of this\ngrowing population.  The owner of the land, knowing the important object\nfor which it has been wished to obtain it, has liberally consented to\naccept a price considerably below that which its marketable value would\ncommand, and the Bishop of London has kindly given his sanction to the\nmeasure.  To those persons whose interest in the spiritual edification of\ntheir poorer neighbours may induce them to promote it, the Vicar will be\nthankful to afford any information that may be wished, in reference to\nthis object, and to receive from them any amount of pecuniary assistance\nthat will be needed to meet the expense, which of course must be\nconsiderable.\n\n\n\nNote D. (P. 18.)\n\n\nTo those members of the congregation at All Saints, who have not yet\nintroduced into their families the practice of domestic prayer, and who\nmay possibly feel the want of some suggestions as to the books best\nadapted for conducting it, the Vicar would desire to recommend one or\nother of the following publications, according as they may find them most\neligible for their own use.  The different prices named would bring the\nbooks within the means of every class of his people; and he ventures to\nurge the adoption of the practice equally upon all.\n\n                                                          _s._    _d._\nBishop of London\u2019s Manual of Family Prayer, from             1       0\n1_d._ to\nFamily Prayers, by the late H. Thornton, Esq., M.P.          3       0\nFamily Prayers, by the late W. Wilberforce, Esq.             1       6\nThe Churchman\u2019s Book of Family Prayer, by the Rev. J.        1       6\nH. Swainson, Rector of Alresford\nA Manual of Prayer for Family and Private Devotion,          0       1\nby the Rev. C. A. Heurtley\n\nNote E. (P. 19.)\n\n\nAt a time when books of the most valuable and interesting character are\npublished at prices far below any former precedent, it seems to be little\nless than the duty of every master of a Christian household to furnish to\nhis servants a collection, however limited, of such works as would be at\nonce most useful and acceptable to them, which a few shillings annually\nwould serve to keep up or to extend.  The Vicar would wish to recommend\n_The Churchman\u2019s Monthly Magazine_ as one publication, which might, in\nany case, be added with advantage to such a library.  It has now extended\nto five small volumes, and is continued periodically.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n _The following Table shows the result of the former decennial inquiries\n              into the population of the parish of Fulham_:\n\n                     NUMBER OF HOUSES.                _Males_.     _Females_.     _Total_.\n          _Occupied_.     _Empty_.    _Building_.\n1801               723            15         . . .          2086          2334          4420\n1811               885            14            15          2714          3189          5903\n1821               987            46            13          2949          3542          6491\n1831              1163           111            52          3432          3885          7317\n1841              1441            52             9          4189          5230          9419\n\n                   R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES.\n\n\n{3}  1 Sam. xvii. 34, 35.\n\n{4a}  1 Sam. xvii. 50.\n\n{4b}  1 Cor. i. 28, 29.\n\n{4c}  2 Sam. xxiv. 3, 4.\n\n{7a}  Gal. vi. 2.\n\n{7b}  Eph. iv. 25.\n\n{7c}  1 Pet. iii. 7.\n\n{8a}  Psalm xc. 10.\n\n{8b}  Acts xvii. 28.\n\n{8c}  Col. i. 27.\n\n{9a}  James i. 21.\n\n{9b}  Matt. iii. 7.\n\n{9c}  John v. 40.\n\n{9d}  John vi. 37.\n\n{9e}  Gen. vi. 3.\n\n{9f}  Heb. iv. 9.\n\n{10a}  Psalm xxxix. 12.\n\n{10b}  Heb. xi. 16.\n\n{10c}  1 Pet. iv. 18.\n\n{10d}  Prov. xiv. 9.\n\n{10e}  Philip, iii. 19.\n\n{10f}  Heb. vi. 6.\n\n{11a}  Acts v. 15.\n\n{11b}  Gen. iii. 19.\n\n{12a}  2 Pet. i. 10.\n\n{12b}  1 Cor. vii. 29\u201331.\n\n{13}  2 Sam. xxiv. 14.\n\n{14a}  Isaiah xxiii. 8.\n\n{14b}  Deut. iv. 6.\n\n{17a}  See Note A.\n\n{17b}  Heb. x. 23.\n\n{17c}  See Note B.\n\n{17d}  See Note C.\n\n{18a}  See Note D.\n\n{18b}  Isa. lviii. 13.\n\n{19a}  See Note E.\n\n{19b}  Address to the Sponsors at the close of the Office of Baptism.\n\n{20a}  Rev. x. 6.\n\n{20b}  Rev. xx. 13.  (See the marginal reading.)\n\n{20c}  1 Cor. i. 21.\n\n{20d}  1 Thess. iv. 16.\n\n{20e}  Eph. v. 15, 16.\n\n{20f}  Rev. vii. 9.\n\n{20g}  Rev. iv. 11.","title":"The Spiritual Improvement of the Census: A Sermon, Preached in the Parish Church of All Saints, Fulham, 30th March, 1851","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":11194}