Church. When Theodotus and Artemon, heretics, taught at Rome that our Lord Jesus Christ was not God, but a mere man, they were expelled from communion by Victor, bishop of Rome, and by the Roman Church; and they were universally rejected and abhorred by all Christians. When Paul of Samosata, bishop of Antioch, endeavoured to revive this error, a council or meeting of seventy bishops, from all parts of the East, assembled at Antioch, A.D. 270, and expelled him from the Church. In their epistle, addressed to all the bishops, priests, and deacons, throughout the whole world, and still extant, they declared that "he refused to confess with them that the Son of God came down from heaven;" that he said, "that Jesus Christ is of the earth; and that he had thus "abjured the faith, and gloried in the accursed heresy of Artemon." Nothing can more plainly shew the belief of the Church. The error of Praxeas, Noëtus, and Sabellius, in the third century, who affirmed that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are but one person, thus virtually denying that the Son, or the Holy Ghost, could have been sent" by the Father,1 or come from,"2 "be with," or "intercede with,"4 the Father, were also universally rejected by the Church, as contrary to the Christian faith. The belief of Christians in the incarnation and real bodily existence of Jesus Christ was manifested in their opposition to the Gnostics and Manichæans, who held that our Lord's body was not real, but a mere phantom, and that he did not die on the cross: errors destructive at once of the truth of the Gospel-history, of the atonement of Christ, and of the great miracle of his resurrection from the dead.

66

or

Few things, perhaps, can more remarkably ex

1 John v. 23.

3 John i. 1.

2 John xv. 26, xvi. 28.

4 Heb. vii. 25.

emplify the tendency of the human heart to evil, than those subterfuges which it devises in order to avoid obedience to the will of a pure and all-wise God. For what are heresies, but so many efforts to escape from the obligation of an unreserved submission of our understandings and wills to the revelations of infinite and unfathomable Wisdom, under the pretence of a more strict conformity with the doctrine of revelation itself? All the various heresies which have arisen have alleged the word of God as a sanction for their errors: that sacred and unchangeable truth has been distorted and perverted, in order that the pride of man may be released from the hated necessity of obeying from the heart that form of doctrine which descended from the God of truth, and which ought to be received with childlike humility and affection by every rational and responsible being. Hence it is that so many new interpretations are invented, that the Scriptures themselves are corrupted or mutilated, that one part of God's word is wilfully forgotten, while another is unduly exalted and exclusively dwelt on. Hence conclusions are drawn from particular passages of Scripture, which are in direct contradiction to the general spirit and object of the word of God. And whence does all this proceed, except from the sinful heart of man, and from the temptations of that Spirit of pride and falsehood, that ancient enemy of mankind, who seeks in this way to make the Gospel itself subservient to the destruction of human souls? To such men the words of Scripture are peculiarly addressed, "What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldst take my covenant in thy mouth; seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee?" or, in the words of our Saviour, "Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" The awful condem

nation of such offenders is pronounced by the apostle Paul," If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be anathema."

But to those who know the purity of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and its utter aversion from sin; to those who believe that the sins of men brought down the SON OF GOD from infinite glory and blessedness to the bitter death of the cross, in order that the guilt of sin might be washed away by the efficacy of his most awful sufferings; to those who know that the object of his mission on earth was to seek and save that which was lost through sin, to "purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works," and thus to "make them meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;" to those who have read his lessons, inculcating the most exalted holiness and purity, a severance from the very thoughts, and much more from the desires, the vices, and the sins of the world and the flesh,how strange is it to reflect, that even from the earliest times, Satan has succeeded in deceiving some wicked men into a persuasion, that the disciples of Him who came to condemn sin, and to terminate its dominion, might continue in sin!

When the holy apostles shewed that the law of rites and ceremonies given by Moses to the Jews was not binding on the Gentiles; and that even in respect of the Jews, its obligation had been terminated by the manifestation of that Redeemer, whom the law of Moses and all its sacrifices prefigured and foreshadowed; and when, advancing still further, they shewed to both Jew and Gentile, that fallen man could not, by his own righteousness or works, deserve remission of sin and become acceptable to the pure and holy God; that the salvation of man was only the work of God's mercy and grace extended to those who were ready to perish; and that man's

true righteousness is that firm belief in God and God's word, which God himself alone can give, and which is a fountain of holiness springing up in the heart, and converting man from carnal things, and from the deadness of nature, to the blessing of a new and spiritual life in Christ Jesus ;-when the apostles thus taught man to humble himself before his Creator, and to look only to his mercy for pardon and salvation, the enemies of the Gospel argued that the apostles themselves regarded good works and holiness of life as unnecessary; and that a mere dry and barren belief in Christ, unaccompanied by any fruits of holiness, was sufficient to obtain salvation. St. Paul himself, and St. James, abundantly refuted such errors, and they were always afterwards rejected as heresies by the Church of Christ. The following passage from the epistle of St. Clement, bishop of Rome, written in the name of the Roman Church to the Church of Corinth, some time before the end of the first century, will suffice to shew what was the doctrine of the early Church on this subject.

"Let us then lay hold of God's blessing, and let us consider what are the ways by which we may attain unto it. Let us look back upon those things that have happened from the beginning. Wherefore was our father Abraham blessed? Was it not because that, through faith, he wrought righteousness and truth? Isaac, being fully persuaded of what he knew was to come, cheerfully yielded himself up for a sacrifice. Jacob with humility departed out of his own country, fleeing from his brother, and went unto Laban, and served him; and so the sceptre of the twelve tribes of Israel was given unto him. Now, what the greatness of this gift was, will plainly appear, if we will take the pains distinctly to consider all the parts of it. For from him (Jacob) came our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh; from him

came the kings, and princes, and rulers in Judah. Nor were the rest of his tribes in any small glory, God having provided that 'thy seed (saith he) shall be as the stars of heaven.'

"They were all therefore glorified, not for their own sake, or for their own works, or for the righteousness that they themselves wrought, but through His will. And we also, being called by the same will in Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, neither by our own wisdom, or knowledge, or piety, or the works we have done in the holiness of our hearts; but by that faith, by which Almighty God has justified all men from the beginning: to whom be glory for ever and ever, amen.

"What shall we do, therefore, brethren? Shall we be slothful in well-doing, and lay aside our charity? God forbid that any such thing should be done by us. But rather let us hasten, with all earnestness and readiness of mind, to perfect every good work. We see how all righteous men have been adorned with good works: wherefore even the Lord himself, having adorned himself with his good works, rejoiced. Having therefore such an example, let us without delay fulfil his will; and with all our strength work the work of righteousness.

"The good workman with confidence receives the bread of his labour; but the sluggish and lazy cannot look him in the face that set him to work. We must therefore be ready and forward in welldoing: for from Him (God) are all things. And thus he foretells us, ' Behold, the Lord cometh, and his reward is with him, even before his face, to render to every one according to his work.' He warned us therefore beforehand, with all his heart, to this end, that we should not be slothful and negligent in welldoing. Let our boasting, therefore, and our confidence be in God. Let us submit ourselves to his