The Church Times

“ Blessed be God, it has not ended yet; and Christ's promise gives us the comfortable assurance that it shall last "even to the end of the world." Down to our days, the Church has been "a witness and keeper of Holy Writ," (Art. xx.) and so faithful a witness, and so watchful a keeper, that we can feel as certain of the facts of the Gospel History, and so of the glorious doctrines which rest upon them, as if we heard them from the Apostles' own lips. ”

“ In public and in private, in church and at home, in consolation and in censure, and above all, in the administration of the Holy Sacraments, a faithful man naturally considers, "By this His messenger Christ is speaking to me; by his very being and place in the world, he is a perpetual witness to the truth of the sacred history, a perpetual earnest of Communion with our Lord to those who come duly prepared to His Table." ”

“ Can we mistake or miscarry, by complying with the great body of God's Church through all ages, and particularly with those great lights of the primitive Church, who, by the excellency of their knowledge, and the integrity of their virtue, have so illustrated our holy religion? ”

“ If this be so, is there a person to be found so venturesome as to preach, or so light of mind as to receive, doctrines in addition to those which the Church has received and the Church preaches! Let him cry aloud, let him cry out again and again, to all, and in all times, and in all places, by means of his Epistles, that elect vessel, that teacher of the Gentiles, that clarion among the Apostles, that herald on the earth, that guest of the third heaven. If any one bring in any new doctrine, let him be anathema! ”

“ That He does so has been the experience of Christians in all ages. They have found in the house and worship of God a strength and power that supported and blessed their life. They have realized that the promise of Christ is still fulfilled, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matt. xviii. 20.)
II. The Church represents Christian teaching.—In the congregation the Word of God is read and preached. (a) Preaching has always formed part of the service of the Christian Church from the very earliest times. ”

“ These and many other such glorious promises made to the Church, Jesus Christ fulfils as Head of the Church, by His Divine Providence, watching over her at all times, " loving her and cherishing her," as St Paul expresses it, Eph. v. 25 , 29. (2.) By the continual communication of His Divine grace to all her members, according to their wants and necessities; for, " to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the giving of Christ," Eph. iv. 7 ; and " of His fulness we have all received, and grace for grace," John, i. ”

“ The Church, although extended through the whole world, even unto the ends of the earth, has received from the Apostles and their Disciples the belief in One God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, the seas, and all that is in them;—and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was made flesh for our salvation ”

“ It is enjoined upon us to preach the Gospel to every creature, and we propose to carry out these things as the Apostles did in former times. Lives may be sacrificed for the truth's sake; but it makes no difference where we are if we are only engaged in the work of God. ”

“ In the early times of the Church in foreign lands the work of the Lord spread rapidly when the Elders labored with unity of purpose and faith, and a great many were added to the Church. Many were brought to this land. Now we have come to a time when but few come into the Church. Some of the doctrines that have been revealed are a stumbling block to the people. ”

“ Consider for one moment what becomes of any of us, if we be not blest and supported with the Divine Grace; and then consider through what channels it is most natural to expect, and safest to seek this Grace: whether through Standing Ordinances, those to which the Church has ever had recourse as appointed by Christ and His Apostles, or those which we follow without inquiry as to their antiquity or acceptableness. ”

“ But there were times when men had communion with God; there were times when God revealed himself unto his servants the Prophets; there were times when men came with a—"Thus saith the Lord" to the people; there were times when the people would say—"All that the Lord has bid us to observe, that will we observe and do;" there were times when the people said—"The Lord is our king, the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver, and he shall rule over us." ”

“ Those who keep the gospel in a time of peace shall be kept by Christ in an hour of temptation. By keeping the gospel they are prepared for the trial; and the same divine grace that has made them fruitful in times of peace will make them faithful in times of persecution.
4. Christ calls the church to that duty which he before promised he would enable her to do, and that is, to persevere, to hold fast that which she had. (1.) The duty itself: " Hold fast that which thou hast, that faith, that truth, that strength of grace, that zeal, that love to the brethren ”

“ Most of us, perhaps, will find, upon examination, that we do not feel and act, as the Apostles and the early Church felt and acted, with regard to the Ordinances of our Religion. The reader is entreated to give this suggestion a fair consideration; not to hurry on, nor turn away from the recollection, that we shall all one day be judged, not merely by what we actually knew, but by what we might have known, respecting our duties to Christ and His Church. ”

“ The Common Prayer shall be said or sung distinctly and reverently, upon such days as are appointed to be kept holy by the Book of Common Prayer, and their eves, and at convenient and usual times of those days, and in such places of every church as the bishop of the diocese or ecclesiastical ordinary of the place shall think meet for the largeness or straitness of the same, so as the people may be most edified. ”

“ In the case of the Catholic Church, the person referred to, i.e. the Bishop, has received it from a predecessor, and he from another, and so on, till we arrive at the Apostles themselves, and thence our Lord and Saviour. It is superfluous to dwell on so plain a principle, which in matters of this world we act upon daily.
3. Lastly, the argument from Scripture is surely quite clear to those, who honestly wish direction for practice. Christ promised He would be with His Apostles always, as ministers of His religion, even unto the end of the world. ”

“ In referring to the Epistles of the New Testament for proof of the duty of submission to Spiritual Authority, we are sometimes met by the objection, that the case is very much altered since the days of the Apostles, and since the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit have been withdrawn from the Church. ”

“ I cannot consent, I am sure the Reformers did not wish me, to deprive myself of the Church's dowry, the doctrines which the Apostles spoke in Scripture, and impressed upon the early Church. I receive the Church as a messenger from Christ, rich in treasures old and new, rich with the accumulated wealth of ages.
L. Accumulated?
C. As you will yourself allow. Our articles are one portion of that accumulation. Age after age, fresh battles have been fought with heresy, fresh monuments of truth set up. ”

“ We there find that the church have placed within it, first, Apostles, secondarily, Prophets, thirdly, Teachers, after that working of miracles, healing the sick, speaking with divers tongues, interpretation of tongues, &c., and all these were helps, governments, gifts, blessings, authorities and powers that served to characterize the true kingdom or church of God from all those that were destitute of this power and authority. ”

“ With regard to the Church—the body of religion—it is fortunate, in times of calm, if it is established, to keep the spirit of religion p. 103alive; it is fortunate, in times of fervour, if it is free, in order that the new life may give it a more perfect shape. ”

“ Remember the multitudes who have been created in thine image but have not known the redeeming work of our Savior Jesus Christ; and grant that, by the prayers and labors of thy holy Church, they may be brought to know and worship thee as thou hast been revealed in thy Son; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. ”

“ As the great central rite of Christian worship it is presented day after day, in myriads of churches, from age to age, to the eyes and hearts of men. The act in which Christians assemble, in which they offer up at once their repentance and their requests, their thanksgivings and their praises, to Him who has formed them into one Body, lives upon this truth. And further, the order of men which is the backbone of the Church, the great Christian priesthood, made by our Lord in instituting the rite and conferring the gift, exists for its continuance. ”

“ No—only the Christian can say in view of earthly loss and disappointments: "It is well—let Him do what seemeth to Him good." Only the Christian—nor need he be—nor is he—of necessity a "church member,"—can say—"Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." ”

“ I am sure the first thing is for us to work for Christ in our daily, secular affairs. I am sure that all are not drones who are not buzzing in the ecclesiastical hive. But I am not so sure that I have not time to take that Bible-class. I am not so sure that the busy ones in the church are not also the busy ones out of the church. ”

“ It may appear not less in the whole tone and spirit of the Church’s life, in the varied Christian virtues of her members, in the general character of their Christian work, and in the grace received by them in the Christian sacraments. When that life is exhibited, as it ought to be, in its distinctively heavenly character, it bears witness to the presence of a power in Christian men which no mere recollection of a past example, however heroic or beautiful, can supply. ”

“ Our Lord Jesus Christ, who offered himself to be sacrificed for us to the Father, and who conferred power on his Church to forgive sins, absolve you through my ministry by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and restore you in the perfect peace of the Church. ”

“ The church work is progressing under our minister. These people very quickly discover when the Gospel is preached in an able and sincere manner, and are attentive listeners, worshiping the Lord in a subdued and quiet way ”

“ There is certainly a great need in these days in the modern Church, first, for Christians to see and seek and obtain the high privilege in the Gospel of a Heaven-born, clear cut, and happy religious 154experience, born of the presence of the Holy Spirit, giving an undoubted assurance of sins forgiven, and of adoption into the family of God. ”

“ For the present juncture the old words approve themselves as the most fitting: "Keep, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy Church with thy perpetual mercy; and, because the frailty of man without Thee cannot but fall, keep us ever by thy help from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord." ”

“ And I said, "Sir, Holy Church, of which Christ is head in heaven and in earth, must needs approve this sentence. For, lo, hereby all men and women may, if they will, be sufficiently taught to know and to keep the commandments of GOD, and to hate and to fly continually all occasion of sin, and to love and to seek virtues busily, [Pg 159] and to believe in GOD stably, and to trust in His mercy stedfastly, and so to come to perfect charity and continue therein perseverantly: and more, the LORD asketh not of any man here now in this life. ”

“ First, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of Hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost.
We believe that a man must be called of God, by "prophecy, and by the laying on of hands," by those who are in authority, to preach the gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church, namely: apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc. ”

“ Is it not true of that light which is in the Church? the people not wholly in the dark about the Doctrines of the Gospel, yet they are not clear; and perhaps, never was a time in the Church when God’s real people were so cloudy, generally, about their p. 47interest in the Saviour, so that we may look for the sieve—a sifting time will come, for the Church and the World seem too much allied, at present, in principle and practice. ”

“ Look back upon the history of the past, since the rise of the Church of Christ, and contemplate the various sceneries through which we have been called to pass; it is rejoicing to the mind of the humble servant of God, to think that the Lord has sustained us by His merciful hand, by His outstretched arm and by His kind providence, and has bestowed upon us so great and choice blessings. ”

“ Let the workingman be urged and led to the worship of God, to the earnest practice of religion, and, among other things, to the keeping holy of Sundays and holydays. Let him learn to reverence and love Holy Church, the common Mother of us all ”

“ Make us, we beseech thee, deeply sensible of the shortness and uncertainty of life; and let thy Holy Spirit lead us in holiness and righteousness all our days; that, when we shall have served thee in our generation, we may be gathered unto our fathers, having the testimony of a good conscience; in the communion of the Catholic Church; in the confidence of a certain faith; in the comfort of a reasonable, religious, and holy hope; in favor with thee our God; and in perfect charity with the world. ”