Prophetess, who departed not from the Temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. Many bad people frequented the place, but that was no reason with her for leaving it; she did not follow the people, she followed God; and there at the latter end of her days she found him: she saw the blessed Jesus there; which would not have happened, if she had objected to the bad members of the congregation, as not holy and good enough for her to assemble with. And did not Christ himself frequent this same Temple afterwards, and teach in it afterwards, though there were many great and scandalous abuses, which he endeavoured to reform; not by taking affront and leaving the congregation, but by staying with them, and bearing with their contradiction and ill humours. But, as the heart of man, when judging of itself, is very deceitful, it may not be for reasons of piety, as they believe and would have it supposed, when persons forsake the congregation; but for reasons of a very different kind; for pride; for distinction; to shew the world how much wiser they are : and if that should be the case, will not the pride that separates them from man separate them from God at the same time, and spoil all their religion, instead of bringing them nearer to perfection? Christians would not be so weak as they are in this respect, if they did but duly consider, that true piety does not lead to will-worship, in which men consult the pleasing of their fancy; but in a conformity of the mind to the will and the ways of God. This is the severest trial of man, and few are able to endure it: nay, not one amongst us, without the special grace of God, disposing the heart to self-abasement, and poverty of spirit. There is another danger which persons may bring themselves into, by boasting of an higher degree of piety than that of the Church: for while they do themselves no real good, they may be doing much harm to other Christians. The great godliness, on which they value themselves, may prove at last to be false and counterfeit; or it may appear weak and ignorant; more zealous than wise; or it may be envious and quarrelsome: and thereby they will give persons occasion to say, that all pretension to superior piety is a suspicious thing, generally taken up for some had purpose. Thus they bring universal reproach upon a religious character: it being concluded from their example, that honest and sensible people will be better thought of, if they purposely avoid all appearances of godliness, and discover as little of it as possible in their words and actions. This is a fearful conclusion, and hastens many a dangerous downfall. I have heard, and many others must have heard, persons talking and arguing after this fashion, whom it is out of our power to convince; and perhaps it is convenient to themselves that they never should be convinced. It is one lamentable consequence of division, that the mouths of such vain talkers are opened. Persons divided in their religious sentiments watch one another with an evil eye; and instead of hiding one another's faults, are delighted with detections and aggravations. This is to the great disadvantage of all piety: it is an evil we should be studious to avoid; and the prospect of that havock which it makes amongst us, should be one great indućement towards a prudent and charitable union with our fellow Christians. It is said farther, that there is better teaching out of the Church. But I do sincerely believe on the other hand, that bad as teaching of the Church may be, there is worse teaching out of it than in it. This indeed we must confess, that so far as the doctrine de pends upon the minister, it is not always right: but we may say at the same time, that so far as the doctrine depends upon the Church, it is never wrong. The Church duly delivers the teaching of God in the Scriptures; and has an unexceptionable form of sound Christian teaching in her Homilies: I wish the people heard them more frequently, and that the spirit of those Homilies was followed by all the Teachers of the Church. But, does all religion consist in man's preaching? Some argue as if they thought so. Hath not God preached to us all in his Gospel; and doth he not say, "My House shall be called the House of Prayer?" Did not the Apostles, though appointed to preach in all the world, go to pray in the Temple? They understood that God had ordained them to preach, with design that they should convert the world to the practice of praying: and it would have been strange, if they had not set the example of it in their own persons.Preaching meant at first the publishing of the Gospel'; that the world might be brought over to it: when the world is converted, and the Scriptures are received as the word of God, the duty then is to read, and to pray, and and to act, as the Gospel instructs; which Gospel is now daily preaching to us all. The more hopeful employment of the ministry now, and of more extensive benefit, is that of teaching the first elements of Christianity in the Catechism. Preaching will never teach these, if they have not been taught before. No science can be understood properly unless we begin with its elements. For this reason I have always been so desirous, that children should be well instructed in their Catechism. I received the advice many years ago from a Bishop of this Church, who was your Diocesan*: he said, "Whatever you do be diligent in catechising; it is of much more use than preaching." So indeed it is: and there are those who can witness that I have never been wanting in the practice: in which if any minister engages with sincerity and affection, I can promise him, from my own experience, that the smiles of the little children of his parish will make him amends for many of the frowns he may meet with in the world. |
