Second Address to His Roman Catholic Brethren by a Minister of the Gospel
John Nelson Darby
Table of Contents
Address to His Roman Catholic Brethren by a Minister of the Gospel
Brethren—The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ would ever make him to whom it was given anxious to declare it to others. I thankfully accept the time which the injury I have received has given me, by preventing my daily duty, as an opportunity of addressing myself to you. I have been deeply anxious concerning you from the day I came amongst you; and as I did not know how to leave the labor I was engaged in to turn to you, I cannot but see the hand of God in thus taking me from it for a while. I shall be glad to discharge in some measure my conscience towards you; but I desire to do much more, making known to you the riches and power of God's redeeming love.
You all know how carefully you have been kept and warned from intercourse with those who have been anxious to bring the word of God amongst you, and to show you what the Spirit of God has taught us concerning the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ; you are taught to look upon them as heretics, as if we were not in the right faith at all. I shall make no observation on these things, for the Spirit of the Lord Jesus has taught us in his word, and teaches the heart of every real disciple, that the true and only answer to these charges and this prejudice which they put into your hearts against us, is the exercise of unwearied patience and love towards you. And this is our duty, brethren, and I pray God to enable his servants ever thus to walk, that you may see the sincerity of our hearts towards you in love.
I shall now proceed to set before you those blessed truths of the Gospel, which we hold as the refuge and salvation of our souls. If you refuse altogether to inquire into them, I beg of you only to consider on what ground you will justify yourself if God shall call you in question for having despised his truth. Brethren, my heart's desire to God for you is, that you might know the peace and power of the Gospel of Christ which is kept from you. No other enmity have I against those who keep you in darkness but this, that they deprive you of the Gospel. Would to God they would hear it, and not be heaping up judgment for themselves against the day of wrath! Would to God they would! Gladly and thankfully would every zealous Christian see their work ended, by those who exercise authority over you themselves ministering the Gospel, joined in one mind with us in furthering the glory of the Savior, and our common hopes. But while they will not, it is the bounden duty of every one to whom the grace of the Gospel has been committed, as far as he is afforded opportunity, nay, to seek opportunity to warn you earnestly that you are kept in darkness, and to hold up the Gospel before you, that you may see the light. It is a work of unfeigned love, and I beseech you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to receive it so.
I join with my whole heart those who urge the reading the Scriptures; and I do not conceal from you, that I judge it the manifest work of Satan to keep them from you, and the proof of the power of Antichrist. And all the history of the church shows me this. But I shall not enter on this now. I shall first plainly state the blessed Gospel, in the hope that, by the blessing of God, its glory and its grace may reach some soul And if any amongst you be mourning over their sin, they may find the perfect comfort it was meant to give. And I shall then show you, that that, in which the priests make their boast over us, is an invention only tending to rob Christ of his glory, and you of your comfort, and I must add, to keep you in sin and impenitence. Forgive me this, brethren. Would to God I had opportunity of simply stating the Gospel to you, and you had ears to hear it with desire! Little need I then trouble you or myself with opposing what is contrary to it. But if your souls are endangered by it, is it anything but kindness to show you your danger?
I say then, brethren, that the Lord Jesus, by the one sacrifice of himself once offered, has totally and eternally put away sin, so that it shall never be imputed at all to those that believe on him; and that every repentant sinner who comes to Him is justified from all things, is accepted of God in Christ, with all the love he bears towards the Lord Jesus, for whose sake he does so accept us. That the glorious love of Almighty God has provided this deliverance for sinners who could not help themselves. You can understand, my friends, what comfort it would give to a soul really burthened and distressed with sin, who would earnestly desire favor and acceptance with God, against whom he had offended, to find that God Himself had freely put it all away and blotted it out. And He has, if you will believe the Son of God, and his Spirit speaking by the Apostles He has so loved us, while we were sinners, as to give His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life; so that being justified by faith in Him, we should have peace with God, and rejoice in hope of His glory. And it is Satan's own work to deny this—to say that God did not so love us—that Christ's sacrifice was not sufficient to put away sin—that His blood through faith in it does not cleanse from all sin. Brethren, what you want for your peace is to have your conscience cleansed from sin against God; and this the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ once slain for us alone can do and can do altogether. How much more, says the Apostle, shall the blood of Christ, who by the Holy Ghost offered Himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Heb. 9:14.
Brethren, I beseech you to lay this to heart—has the Son of God left the glory of his Father, and given his life for you, and will you say, I will not accept your freely offered love, I will not believe that you have wrought a full and perfect salvation for me? And if you do not believe that Christ has altogether and perfectly justified you from sin by his death, you deprive yourself of all the hope of the Gospel. For if you are not at peace with God, you can never have the hope of his glory; and if you are not perfectly justified from sin, it is impossible you can be at peace with God; nay, more, you can never serve God here with a free and willing mind, which is the only acceptable service. For if you do not know but that God is still angry with you, if you are still afraid of him, your service will be no real service, you will go on working in misery, in hope of gaining his favor. And this is what every sincere Roman Catholic is doing, adding work to work, in hope of turning away the anger of God, and gaining his favor; but this is all in vain, and really a great dishonor to God. God is love, and he has proved it by sending his Son to die for you, while you were in your sins. How freely, how devotedly, would you be able to serve God, if you knew that He loved you, and had done such wonderful things for you, and that you were fully accepted! And He has, my friends, or we should all have perished eternally.
Oh! that you knew this—oh that you would believe this—that you might know the comfort and the joy that there is in believing! And how is all this? By the sacrifice of Christ, the one great atonement for sin, the one glorious showing forth of the love of God to sinners; so that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, as Paul says; or as our Lord himself says, he who heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath life everlasting, and cornea not into judgment, but is passed from death to life. John 5:14.
“By one oblation,” says the Epistle to the Hebrews, “He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” Heb. 10:14.
And what, on the denial of this, is promised instead, in which you boast yourselves? The pretended absolution of your priests and the sacrifice of the Mass.
The effect of these is not to bring the conscience to God, that it might feel the depth of heart-sin against Him, and seek for cleansing pardon and renewal of soul through the blood of the cross, and the power of the Spirit of God—but, by relieving your conscience at the moment from the fear it was under, to leave you at liberty to go on sinning again. But, my friends, need I solemnly warn you, do not your own consciences tell you, that this is an impious delusion? It takes away the fears of the wicked man, so as to let him go on in his sin, and leaves the poor humbled penitent with his conscience as burthened as ever; and because they are sincere in their sorrow for sin, some additional burthen of penance is put upon them. Oh! is this like the grace of God, or the truth of his love? Brethren, if anything would rouse Christian indignation to what is called religion amongst you, it is to see the wicked thus let go free, and still more, the heaping sorrow upon a contrite heart, putting them off with penances, which in their sincerity they will rigidly fulfill, without one ray of that comfort which the blessed God delights to give the humble. “For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” But I tell the unrepenting sinner, they miserably deceive themselves, and they, and those that deceive them, shall find judgment for their iniquity; and I tell the humbled and contrite in the Lord's name, fear not, Christ has died for you, God himself has justified you, there is free and perfect remission by the death of Him who was delivered for your offenses. Nay more, that same Jesus, who died for you, is now at the right hand of God making intercession for you; able, as the Apostle says, “to save them forever, that come to God by Him, always living to make intercession for us.”
And this is another point where the great and tender love of God has been hid from you, I mean the mediation of Christ: you are led to look at Christ as a severe judge, or an unapproachable Lord, as if we had need of a mediator to come to him by. But let the humble soul remember that he is, through the infinite grace of God and his own love, man as well as God. Did he not prove to us, that he was ready, nay, desirous to receive all that come to him, by becoming one of ourselves, though without sin? For what did he pass through suffering and trial in the flesh, but to enter into all our sufferings with us, to understand them all, that they who believe might feel they had a friend who knew thoroughly all our wants and trials or will they say he has left off to feel for those, for whom he suffered so much, nay, whom he purchased at so costly a price? Brethren, I beseech your attention to this. The very glory of the Gospel, the way in which it has pleased the Father to glorify himself and his Son Jesus Christ, is by the Son's becoming mediator between God and man; and for this purpose, as the Apostle speaks, he became man—he acquainted himself with all the trials of those whom he redeemed to be his children, and whom he ever looks at as such, that he might succor them in all their difficulties. Heb. 2:11. The words of the Apostle are these: “For both he that sanctified, and they who are sanctified are all of one; for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren;” and again, “behold I and my children whom God hath given me.” Therefore, because the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He Himself also in like manner hath been partaker of the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the empire of death, that is to say, the devil. Wherefore it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest before God, that he might be a propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that wherein he himself hath suffered and been tempted, He is able to “succor them also that are tempted.”
And it is not merely argument we have for these things. I quoted to you above, he was declared to be “always living to make intercession for us,” but the Apostle is plainer still.
“Having therefore a great high priest, that hath passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession; for we have not a high priest who cannot have compassion on our infirmities, but one tempted in all things like as we are, without sin. Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid.” In short, brethren, what could our hearts desire more, than that one who so loved us as to give his life for us; one who has a perfect sense and tender feeling for all our wants, by having felt them himself, should be now exercising that love for us at the right hand of the Father. And so John— “But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just, and he is the propitiation for our sins.'' Acquaint yourselves with the love and gracious tenderness of our glorified Lord. Taste and see that the Lord is gracious; dishonor him not in denying his willingness to receive you, as though he were a consuming fire; he is not except to those who deny him That Lord who is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever, has not changed in his love since he said, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Open your hearts before him, ye that seek for mercy: if he redeemed you when you were enemies by sin, how much more will he receive you now that he has reconciled you? But having gone on to say so much for the humble soul, I return to the sacrifice and priesthood.
Some, I know, totally to their own confusion, deny that Christ has thus perfectly delivered the conscience of believers, by putting away sin for them by the sacrifice of himself. But, perhaps, some of you will say, who denies it? I answer as to the comfort of your consciences, as to the faith of the soul in it, it is utterly denied to you; and your consciences in consequence are kept in bondage.
Christ (the Spirit of God has declared) has put away sin by the sacrifice of himself: if he has, what need of any other sacrifices? He hath made an end of sin, says Daniel, and brought in everlasting righteousness. But in your sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sin as not put away; for if Christ has reconciled us to God, and expiated sin for us, what is the repeated sacrifice for? Does it not directly and expressly take away from the glory of his sacrifice, and say it was not enough, that it was insufficient? And while it robs Christ of his glory, as if he had not reconciled us to God, it deprives us of our comfort by declaring his sacrifice insufficient to clear our consciences. And mark the utter folly of such a thought: as if the sacrifice which the Lord Jesus Christ offered himself in the shedding of his blood by the eternal Spirit was insufficient to put away sin, or to cleanse our consciences by faith in it; but the sacrifice which men offer without blood does that which the former did not do!
Ah! brethren, why will you be kept from the faith of the Son of God once dying for us?
I further show you, that it is contrary to express testimony of the Spirit of God, not merely as to the sacrifice, but as to their claim of being priests; and that both one and the other are in fact a denial of Christianity. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, (chapter 7:22) the Spirit of God thus testifies, “By so much is Jesus Christ made a surety of a better testament; and the others” (referring to the Jewish priests,) indeed “were made many priests, because by reason of death. they were not suffered to continue; but this” (that is, Christ as a priest), “for that he continueth forever, hath an everlasting priesthood, whereby he is able also to save forever them that come to God by him, always living to make intercession for us, for it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; who needeth not daily [as the other Priests], to offer sacrifices, first, for his own sins, and then for the people's; for this he did once in offering himself.” Now, brethren, if you feel any interest in how you may rightly come to God, if this be the express teaching of the Spirit of God, is not the claim of priesthood, and the offering of sacrifice, which is the proper office of a priest, (Heb. 5:1) directly opposed to the truth of the Gospel, and the mind of the Holy Ghost?
It is fitting, that we Christians should have a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily to offer sacrifices, for this he did once in offering himself. What room does this leave to one who believes in it, that accepts the mercies of God in His Son, set forth by the Holy Ghost, to look for constantly repeated sacrifices, and a multitude of priests on earth? For if that which the Holy Ghost declares to be fitting has been done, as it certainly has, there can be no truth in that which is contrary to it; and the supporting the earthly priesthood and sacrifice is not only against the honor, but is really a denial, of the sacrifice and priesthood of the Lord Jesus our Savior; which is the hope, the support, the comfort, of every believer in him, and the blessed earnest of their being with him in glory, seeing, as the Apostle speaks, Jesus, in entering into the heavens, has entered for us as a forerunner.
In a word, Jesus Christ is the priest of the Christian Church and its sacrifice; nor is there the least ground whatever given by God, for any man to assume the character of a priest, that is, a sacrificer; and whoever does it, does it on his own authority, and in opposition to God and his Christ.
The repetition of the sacrifice shows its total inefficiency to cleanse the conscience from sin. By this the Apostle shows the inefficacy of the Jewish sacrifices, and afterward asserts that to which I would earnestly entreat your attention, as the great center of truth in this matter—I mean, the perfect remission of sins, wrought for believers by the death of Christ. Speaking of the sacrifices under the law, he says (Heb. 10:1), “The law, by the self-same sacrifice which they offer continually every year, can never make the corners thereunto perfect; for then they would have ceased to be offered, because the worshippers once purged would have no conscience of sin any longer; but in them there is made a commemoration of sins every year;” and then verse 10, “In the which will” (i.e. of God) “we are sanctified by the oblation of the body of Jesus Christ once.” And again, verse 12, “But this man offering one sacrifice for sins, forever sitteth on the right hand of God.” Verse 14, “For by one oblation he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified; and the Holy Ghost doth also testify this to us; for after that he said, and this is the testament which I will make unto them after those days, saith the Lord, I will give my laws in their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities I will remember no more. Now, where there is remission of these, there is no more an oblation for sin.”
So that, my friends, either there is not remission of sins by Jesus Christ, or there is no more oblation for sin, and if the Holy Ghost hath testified truly that there is remission of sins by Jesus Christ, and that the sins and iniquities of those within his testament are remembered no more; then the sacrifice which you pretend to offer for sin is false, and not merely a harmless error, but one amounting to a denial of the remission of sins by Jesus Christ, the preaching of which in his name was the great commission given to the Apostles. Luke 24:47.
I shall copy another passage without any observation: I speak as unto wise men; judge ye what is said. The Apostle had said, (Heb. 9:22) “Without shedding of blood is no remission of sins,” and then (verse 24) “For Jesus is not entered into the holies made with hands, the patterns of the true, but into heaven itself, that he may appear now in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holiest every year with the blood of others, for then he ought to have suffered often from the beginning of the world; but now once at the end of ages he hath appeared for the destruction of sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment, so also Christ was offered once to exhaust the sins of many. The second time he shall appear without sin, to them that expect him unto salvation.”
In a word, my friends, (Rom. 5:19) “as by the disobedience of one man many were made sinners, so also by the obedience of one man many shall be made just;” and I solemnly warn you, in the name of him who shall judge the quick and the dead, that if you are not partakers in the righteousness of Christ, you have no hope in you; all your works are vain delusions, unacceptable, nay, an abomination to God; they can give you no peace, nor have they any fruit unto life eternal, while you despise the work which God has himself wrought in the gift of his own Son.
Brethren, brethren, my heart's desire would be to preach the Gospel simply to you, and not touch—why should I desire it?—upon those things in which you are kept in error. My own hope and comfort, and, through the mercy of God, my joy too (blessed forever be his holy name, who hath called me in his mercy to the faith of his Son,) is in the knowledge of the perfect and gracious salvation wrought by Jesus Christ, so that all fear is taken from him that believeth; and in the knowledge we are given of the glory of the Lord, of God our Savior in it. Of this I earnestly desire that you may be partakers; we are all equally unworthy of it; it is free grace to all. The prayer of my soul is offered up to God for you, that through that grace, you may be brought to the knowledge of salvation by faith in Christ Jesus. But, brethren, it is an awful time for you; your errors in ignorance would be freely forgiven and put out of remembrance, if you repent and believe the Gospel. But judgment comes upon those, who when “light is come into the world, love darkness rather than light.” John 3:19. Read the whole chapter down to this, The fear of men will be no excuse in that day; for if you had thought rightly of God, you would rather have feared him. I have anxiously, according to the grace given to me, thought of the state you are in, and the testimony of the Spirit of God in his word concerning you. And I earnestly and affectionately entreat you to consider your own souls, and see what real ground you have for hope of acceptance, which you know God sanctions: you will find you have none, and that the rejection of the Gospel now declared to you is the rejection of your salvation.
You are in the extremity of danger, where you are, of being involved in the judgment which shall fall upon those, who, from willful corruption of the truth, will have their portion appointed with unbelievers: and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
May God Almighty, by the power of the Spirit of truth, deliver you from the power of darkness, and lead you into all truth, that you may know the glory of his grace, whereby he has made us accepted in the beloved, aged give you a place in the flock of the great Shepherd, who loved us, and gave himself for us, and liveth for evermore, our great and merciful high priest.
Your affectionate friend and servant in Christ Jesus, J: N. DARBY.
I have purposely refrained from controverting errors; but you will find all those things which are peculiar to your system tend to the robbing Christ of his glory, and the denial of the completeness of his work: and this, if any wish, can be shown them. Where I have made any direct quotations, I have quoted from the Douay to satisfy you; in your translation and ours the sense was the same.
Second Address to His Roman Catholic Brethren by a Minister of the Gospel: Part 1
Men And Brethren,
I consider often within myself, when I write these things to you, what motive have I for doing it? Ah! if you can find any but love to Christ and your souls, that, by the truth, coming to Christ, you may find the holy liberty of Christian obedience, then blame me. I consider further—is the way in which I do it according to the will of God and the Spirit of Jesus Christ? If you can show me that in anything it is not, I will acknowledge it with sorrow.
In my intercourse with you I am conscious of no fault, unless it be not having spoken the truth to you in love sooner: I pray you to forgive me this—I will endeavor to repair it towards you.
Yet is it in no righteousness of my own, brethren, I am or seek to be justified, but in the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ. I know that some of you count me to have turned your enemy, because I tell you the truth—show me wherein. It is because I love you, and would have you to know the blessings of Christ's grace, that I am willing to sacrifice my good name amongst you, that I may win your souls for Christ. That is my whole and sole desire: my allegiance is to Christ; the rule of my faith, the word of the living God. My object is in no way to gain proselytes to any outward human system, but to bring you (if God will please to accept and bless my humble endeavor), in the acknowledgment of sin, to the truth of God, and the pure faith of the gospel, your souls to a hearty confession of it unto salvation, and your lives unto the way of his will, and the rejection of everything that is contrary to it.
Here, brethren, I find the rest of my own soul, which was once as far from God, and consequently without hope, as any of you, till I found the good Shepherd, Christ Jesus, who gave His life for the sheep, and has gathered me, as I trust undoubtingly, into His fold, and whose best and proper mercy and grace I count it, till He gather me to Himself, or rather while we wait for His appearing, to be the humble instrument of gathering others into the same place of security and blessing.
I am led to some of these remarks by the little book called “Reasons which Roman Catholics offer why they cannot conform to the Protestant religion.” I shall make some observations on these, in the hope that they may lead you to inquire diligently on what ground the hope of your souls rests. One reason given is the impossibility of the Church of Christ erring from the true faith; and I know this weighs much with many sincere persons amongst you. Now, brethren, I freely admit this, for rightly understood as to the true Church, it is a self-evident truth; for this reason, that where there is no true faith, there could be no Church, for the Church thus understood is properly an assembly of believers, that is, of people that have a true faith. And I further freely admit, as the promise on which my soul rests, that from Christ's first coming in the flesh, till His second coming in His glory, there undoubtedly has been and will be such a company of believers, and this company of believers are all witnesses to the faith, and maintain in and to the world the profession of faith, and thus the honor of the Redeemer's name! And this is what the Apostle Paul means by the Church of God being the pillar and ground of the faith. And my assurance of this, which makes me full of joy and gratitude, is rested on the promise of God in His word, (and its actual fulfillment at this day,) and, amongst others, on the very texts given in the little book I have mentioned: so that they are proving what I joyfully confess and praise God for. And more, brethren, I say that it is the Church of Christ who have the only hope of salvation; so that this is not the question between us at all. The question is, who is able to say that he is in that Church, and keeping the sayings of the great Head of it? So that they should show, which they do not, and it is absolutely impossible that they should do, that the Church of Rome, and none else, is the Church of Christ. On the contrary, brethren, I affirm, and call upon you to search the Scriptures whether it be so or not, that every true believer is a member of Christ, that is, one of His true Church; as the Lord Christ says Himself, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman." And here I think I am bound to notice an argument which is given publicly amongst you, and which I heard also from one of yourselves, and that is this— “If you say 'that every one that is a true believer in Christ will be saved, why may I not stay in the Church of Rome and still be saved by being a true believer; especially as your divines say that a man can be saved as a Roman Catholic, and we say that he cannot be safe as a Protestant!”
Now I must say, that this is not like the objection of one that fears God, for such an one seeks with a willing heart what the whole will of God is; and does not say, if I am safe here, why should I not stay? And, brethren, I should have awful fears for the safety of a soul that should willfully use this argument at all, instead of seeking to follow Christ with all his heart, in whatever He showed him to do: it is the spirit of a true believer to say, “Lo, we have left all and followed thee;" so that a person cannot be safe willfully continuing in that which is contrary to the truth and will of God, for every true believer takes the will of God as the rule of all he does; so that if a man continues in what he sees to be contrary to it, he is not a true believer. And I honestly confess to you, that this seems to me not only an unsound but a very wicked argument.
The reason then, why it does behoove men to separate themselves from the communion of the Church of Rome, is this one, given by our Lord Himself, that they make the word of God void, and that their worship is vain, because they teach for doctrines the commandments of men. You say you hold the fundamentals; if you do, this proves nothing, for, as James says, “The devils believe and tremble." The question in which your souls are concerned is—Have you believed the Gospel of the Son of God with the heart unto righteousness?
But our Lord declares that there is such a thing as making void the commandments of God by traditions: it was this very thing that our Lord charged upon the Jewish teachers. You boast in traditions: should not this sentence of our Lord's teach you to reflect on such a boast! And accordingly, what is looked for from a Roman Catholic, who desires to become a Protestant, is to renounce those doctrines and commandments which have no warrant in the word of God, avowing his faith in that which is found there, and to receive the word of God as the warrant of his faith, and Christ himself as the only hope of his soul. And the name of Protestant was received from protesting against practices contrary to his will and goodness—against laying on men's consciences the burthen of things which God had not laid, and thereby keeping them from the knowledge of the exceeding riches of God's grace, in His kindness towards us by Christ Jesus. And thus making Him seem to men a hard Master, instead of a tender Father to those that believe in Him. As the Scripture says, “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you." Again, “Every word of God is pure. He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
They teach things, brethren, which have no warrant in the word of God, and (by offering remedies for sin which God has not offered, and therefore will not accept) prevent men from being led to true repentance and faith in Christ Jesus for remission of sins and salvation, which is expressly offered by God as the remedy for sin, and the only one. There is therefore, in the present doctrines of the Church of Rome, no real remission of sins at all; and not only so, but it is expressly denied. And they say that the doctrine which God has set forth in His word about it, tends—dreadful thought!—to sin. The doctrines they teach, and the character they assume—I speak it, brethren, with deep sorrow, directly dishonor the Lord that bought us with the price of His own most precious blood, by assuming to themselves the honor and authority which belong to Him alone, whose glory is the believer's satisfaction.
They teach and command things which have not only no warrant, but are in truth contrary to the word of God.
You who have ears to hear are called upon by the voice of the Lord's love to separate yourselves from them, that you may find the true grace and truth of the Gospel for your soul, and lest the judgment and plagues which will come upon them for these things should find you amongst them, and fall upon you also.
Brethren, I presume not to say when that hour of judgment will come. It will come suddenly and with terror upon those who have lived carelessly and at ease, saying, We shall see no sorrow—we are safe. But I could, brethren, earnestly desire to see you, having believed the testimony of God, watching as men prepared for your Lord, as those that are of the day, so that it should not come upon you unawares, but “when these things begin to come to pass,” you may be among those who shall “lift up their heads, because their redemption draweth nigh;” who have put their trust in Christ, and the promises of God in Him, so that when He appears, ye may rejoice before Him with exceeding joy. Oh! how differently will that man feel, who has trusted in His word and promise, and acted upon faith in Him alone, when He shall appear, from one, who not relying upon His word, that He would save all that trust in Him, has trusted in his own works, has put his hope in man, and man's word, and man's work.
Look unto Him, I beseech you, that cares for your souls, while He calls, “Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found, and call upon him while he is nigh. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." And if it bring reproach upon you, and trouble, dearest brethren, and they cast out your name as evil, is not this very thing rather a mark of truth! “For all,” says the apostle, “that will live godly in Christ Jesus, will suffer persecution:" nay, as our Lord Himself said, “Rejoice and be exceeding glad (that is if ye suffer as witnesses of God's truth), for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." And when Paul went round the churches he had planted among the Gentiles, he went “confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God,"
I say, then, that the whole hope of the Gospel is denied by the doctrines of the Church of Rome—I mean the free, full, entire redemption purchased for us by the blood-shedding of Christ, and laid hold on by faith; that consequently there is no saving faith amongst you at all; and this is why I am in earnest in speaking to you on the subject. I own to you, brethren, that though I was firmly convinced that you were utterly in the wrong in every point in which I was acquainted with the differences between us, I never felt the deep necessity that now lay upon you of coming to Christ out of the system of Popery, as I do now. I entreat every one, with my whole soul, who loves our Lord Jesus Christ and his honor, to come out from among them and be separate. I would lead you to the discovery that you have not Christ amongst you, and that you are given “another Gospel” than that which the Lord and the Apostles preached, “which is not another, but there are some that trouble you, subverting your souls;” but the Lord will judge them in his own time, when he hath gathered his own sheep. I know not, brethren, the hour when the Lord will call me, and I solemnly assure you, that you will find in Christ, and in Christ alone, by faith in Him, that which your priests falsely pretend to give you, and yet which none of you have—the solid comfort of Christ's Gospel. I ask you if you have, yourselves; and I tell you it is expressly promised in God's word, and the power of it is brought to a believer's soul by the Spirit promised to them that believe in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. Why will they not even let you read it? Brethren, they keep you in bondage, because you know not the glorious promises of the Father of mercies; and they are enemies, and try to make you enemies of all that have them; but the voice of the Gospel is gone abroad, and His sheep will hear it: yes, brethren, salvation by the blood of the Lamb of God, free, undeserved—reconciliation to God by the death of His own Son, come amongst us in the flesh to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, is proclaimed, and He will see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied. His own word shall not fail— “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.” Will you count yourselves unworthy of eternal life Hear, I beseech you, brethren, and save yourselves from this untoward generation, who hate and oppose the knowledge of Christ by the Gospel. Ask any real believer of any denomination, of the Established Church, of the Presbyterians, of the Independents, or by whatever name they may be called; and see if they do not agree in the faith, that “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin;” but why do I say, ask a real believer?—Ask the word of God, in which they find the promises on which their faith is founded. What infatuation is it of your priests, under the name of Christianity, to deny all the efficacy of God's promises in the Gospel!—the cleansing of the blood of Jesus Christ, and the renewing, enlightening power of the Holy Ghost, and to lead you—to what? To that which is not to be found in His word, and has no warrant but the word of men like yourselves: if they can show any authority for it, it were all well; but they show none but of men like themselves, or perhaps none at all; and they will not suffer you to have God's word to see if it be there or not. Oh! they are heaping up wrath against the day of wrath in a way they little know. They say you cannot understand it, and yet the Lord says, “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." And he declares, that He Himself was anointed to preach the Gospel to the poor; and who were His disciples?—Were they rich or poor? They were fishermen; and I tell you why they understood it—they were taught of God: as it is written, “They shall be all taught of God: whosoever, therefore, hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." The Jews of that day said they were the only children of God, and yet those only who left them and came to Jesus, were saved from the judgment that came on their nation. Brethren, the Lord Jesus is not now amongst us in the flesh, but the Scriptures of God declare the truth and power of His coming in the flesh; and they keep these from you. They hide the glory of His free and glorious salvation to the utmost of their power; and when those actuated by the Spirit of truth would declare it to you in love, and appeal to these Scriptures, they do all they can to prevent your hearing the one or searching the other. Why could not you understand when you read it by the teaching of God, as well as the poor of that day, when they heard it by the teaching of God? —Is God less powerful, or less near us than He was? and so far from saying that the Jews could not understand the Scriptures, He says the greatest of all wonders would fail of convincing them if the Scriptures did. “If they hear not Moses and the prophets” —that is the Scriptures of the Old Testament, which was what the Jews had— “neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."
Hear too what Paul says— “It is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise?—Where is the scribe?—Where is the disputer of this world?—Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For the Jews require a sign” —as your teachers ask for miracles— “and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God"—them which are called, brethren, when the power of Christ's voice reaches the heart so that it feels the call. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is proclaimed to you: some are daily hearing the voice of the good Shepherd: who among you will follow Him, and who will count himself unworthy of eternal life? “By me (says he) if any man enter in, he shall go in and out and find pasture; and I will give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no man shall be able to pluck them out of His hand." Mark by me, as he says, “Come unto me." We preach to you Christ, brethren—Christ crucified, the good Shepherd laying down his life for the sheep—we preached Christ all in all, as Paul preached him. What will they add to him? Can the offerings of men, or the works of men, add to Christ? Or has he laid down his life in vain, and done half his work? You say you believe in Christ; yet those that lead you deny his work, the power and efficacy of his blood to cleanse from all sin! What!—I repeat it, brethren—the blood of the only-begotten Son of God, come in the flesh for our sakes, be insufficient, and your priests can do what He cannot!—Oh! here is the iniquity of these men keeping the sheep of the great Shepherd from the comfort of his love. I will copy for you a passage in the Scripture, which declares his saving love in his own words— “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep: to him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out; and when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice; and a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers.” — “Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep: all that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy; I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. I am the good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine: as the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” Again— “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.”
Oh! brethren, dearly beloved, I pour out my heart to God for you, and I know that He hears my prayer; and herein I find comfort in the thought of declaring these things to you, that you should be gathered unto Him. Brethren, there is not one doctrine of those which are peculiar to yourselves, on which you are taught to depend for your souls for present grace or future glory, that has the least warrant of God's word: and, moreover, there is not one of them which is not the invention of Satan to hinder your souls from coming to Christ. Ask those who have had their eyes opened by reading the Scriptures, whether they found them there, or free salvation by Christ? Nay, read rather, yourselves, dear brethren, and see; and oh! when you see, confess Him with your mouth unto salvation, for His own love's sake, for the sake of your brethren who may be still in darkness, and as you would find mercy yourselves in that day.
I shall go on to mention some things, not for their own sake, but because they use them to keep you in darkness.
They tell you Luther was a bad man. How does that change the truth of the Gospel? I firmly believe I shall meet Luther in heaven, through the free grace of God: but, brethren, did he tell the great truths of the Gospel, which had been hidden or corrupted? But though I have not the least doubt that his name was written in heaven, our faith is in no way founded in him, but in Scripture, where his was in all its main points founded; and the reading of which made him, by the teaching of God, wise unto salvation, as they will every one partaker of the same grace, and that by leading him to that entire and unmixed dependence upon Christ, which can alone give peace to the soul “Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you;” even the full treasure of the unsearchable riches of Christ, freely, “without money and without price,” as says the word of the Lord: “Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why spend ye your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not?"
Brethren, I had thought of some arguments as to this matter, but I will not lead your souls from the word of the living God the Savior, to human arguments: I pledge myself to satisfy, out of the word of God, every one who in sincerity of heart will take the word of God for his authority: and, brethren, will you dare to deny the authority of the Word of God? Your teachers wickedly say, that Luther held communion with Satan; tempted by Satan, no doubt, he was; but you know, brethren, this is the lot of every man, as it was, for our sakes, of the sinless Son of Man himself. For the rest, neither you nor I are his judge: and more, if they loved the truth, they would not, if there were faults in the teachers of it, seek to overthrow the truth by means of those faults: if they loved God's word, they would not defame the instruments by which God has made it known; and, I must add, brethren, that denouncing the enemies of God's truth and righteousness where they show themselves such, in a spirit of zealous faith, is not contrary to Christian faith.
(To be continued)
Second Address to His Roman Catholic Brethren by a Minister of the Gospel: Part 2
Luther honored the truth and loved it, and we love him because he loved it, and the Author and Giver of it—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and we are thankful to God on his account: he was a man, and we accordingly reject everything he held which we do not find according to the truth of God: acting according to the direction of the apostle, “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." And so far from asking you to believe Luther, we entreat you to trust in no man implicitly. And it was to the Scriptures Luther and his companions appealed, and to which we appeal, and by which God will judge us all at the last day. If you accept grace, He will deal with you accordingly; you will be freely forgiven; your sins blotted out and remembered no more; and you will find, what you have trusted in, that God is love. If you will persist in seeking to be saved by your works, God will judge you accordingly, and you will be found wanting in that day; for “in his sight shall no man living be justified.” But it was not flesh and blood, much less the enemy of all truth, that made Luther cleave to and preach the Scriptures of truth. And if you read them, you will find so, to your souls' everlasting comfort. Or if the gospel of eternal love, and the truth in them be hid, when they are brought before you, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the hearts of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine into them.
Moreover, brethren, Luther was not alone, but it pleased the God of all grace to raise up, in order to give to the world the fullest testimony that it was his own work, at the very same time, at a distant place, the monastery of Einsedeln, a member of that monastery, named Zuingle, to preach the truths of the Gospel, and protest against the wickedness of the Pope and practices of Rome. And God was pleased so to order it, that these two men, Zuingle and Luther, were never united in sentiment to the day of their death. And so far was Luther from agreeing with Zuingle in his opinion on one point, that he was so angry with him about it that he would never join churches with him. And the truth is, that it rather seems that Zuingle began to preach the Gospel before Luther. The cause of the Reformation was God's mercy and grace, the time for which was now fully come; the occasion of it, under God's providence, was this: Pope Leo the Tenth wanted to finish a very splendid church in Rome, commonly called St. Peter's: and in order to raise money for it, he set indulgences for sin to sale without limit. And this it was which made Luther and Zuingle both at the same time begin to protest against the conduct of the church: though Luther at first did not charge the Pope with it, but only preached against the indulgences. When they tried to silence him, he went on to search the Scriptures in order to defend himself, and find out Where the truth of the matter lay; and there he found that the Papacy of Rome had no foundation for its assumed authority, and afterward was persuaded that it was indeed that Babylon which it is expressly foretold should rise in the Christian Church, and corrupt everything herself, and persecute all faithful witnesses to God's truth. Would to God, brethren, and it is my earnest prayer and trust, that many amongst you may be led by the same means of searching the Scriptures to discover the same truths; and above all, that your souls may find their way by the teaching of God's Spirit, by the means of God's word, to the full power of eternal life and unfeigned holiness of heart and life through the knowledge of Jesus Christ therein revealed; that you may enter with unmixed joy into the presence of your God.
I have added, brethren, a few distinct texts, which show in direct terms the falseness of the doctrines on which you have been taught to depend. They do not deny that the Scriptures are the word of God. And then judge you, whether those men are to be trusted who teach those things, and keep the Scriptures from you, which they must own to be true.
They say that men who are forgiven their sins must nevertheless pass through the fire of Purgatory, in order to be cleansed from them.
The Scripture says, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin."
They say that men ought to address the Virgin Mary and the Saints as Mediators.
The Scripture says, “There is one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus."
They say that the Mass is a propitiatory sacrifice, an offering or oblation for the sins of the quick and the dead.
The Scriptures say, that “by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified” —that remission of sins is obtained by the new covenant in his blood; and that “where remission of these is, there is no more an offering or oblation for sin."
They say that salvation is obtained by men's works.
The Scriptures say, “By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast."
I take notice of these here, not to enter further upon them as points of controversy; and indeed where the Scripture has plainly spoken on a subject, I do not see what room there is for controversy, but to lead you to this point: the priests would have you trust blindly in them; at the same time they cannot deny that the Scriptures—take your own Douay, I am content—are the word of the living God. Now I ask you, do they not teach you the things I have mentioned I and are not the Scriptures, your own Scriptures, flat contrary? How can you give the salvation of your souls into the hands of men who acknowledge, the Scriptures to be the word of God, and yet teach things flatly against them? But not to show you error merely, and what you have reason to distrust, but to set before you truths upon which your souls may rest, if God shall give mercy to you that this may reach you, and open your hearts to the acknowledging the truth, I add-
Christ, and Christ alone, is the true sacrifice.
Christ, and Christ alone, is the great High Priest.
Christ, and Christ alone, is the Mediator between God and man.
Christ, and Christ alone, is our righteousness in the sight of God.
Christ, and Christ alone, is our perfect pattern.
Christ, and Christ alone, is the great Head of the Church, and the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls.
Christ, and Christ alone, is the true vine, in which every branch finds life; while every believer incorporated into His mystical body by faith and baptism, thus by the communion of his Spirit becomes one with Him, and partaking of His fullness according to the measure of the gift of God, fulfills in his sphere the same offices which he fills as the first-born amongst many brethren, ministering to the completeness and perfection of His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.
Brethren, the Scriptures contain all things necessary to your salvation, because they reveal the fullness of Christ Jesus, “God manifest in the flesh.”
The Apostle Paul says, “By grace ye are saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast; for we are God's workmanship, created again in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
What we want, then, is to know the way of salvation, and how to be perfected in good works, in which believers walk.
Both are found in Christ by faith-He is our Savior and our pattern.
[The author would now say, no doubt, by the baptism of the Spirit.-ED.]
Both are revealed in the Scriptures, as to which Paul says to Timothy, “From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
Further, brethren, that the minds of any of you who love the truth, may be undeceived, I add some farther points.
First—You rely upon being Catholic. Catholic means, as your catechism, I believe, tells you, universal, and that it is universal in different ways.
Brethren, the fact is, the Church of Rome is universal in none, except by the antichristian assumption by the Pope of what belongs to Christ alone. A large portion of professing Christians have no communion with the Church of Rome, and have never, at any period, admitted its supremacy. Its faith is not universal; it totally differs from, and is opposed to, “the faith once delivered to the saints;” and for this we appeal to the Scriptures, which they cannot deny contain that faith.
Not only, brethren, are they opposed to the Scriptures, but the articles which we renounce have been added to the creed, in express defiance of the authority of the primitive Church itself. In the year 449, the Third General Council, which sat at Ephesus to maintain the truth against heresies, expressly decreed, that no innovation should be made on the creed then settled. In the eighth century after Christ, Pope Leo the Third wrote to his Legate, (who was attending assemblies of German and French Bishops,) in answer to an inquiry from him, stating, that no addition should be permitted to be made in the creed, which the French and German Bishops were thinking of making; and he set up, out of the archives at Rome, silver tablets in St. Peter's and St. Paul's, with the creed engraved on them, as a memorial of what it was then, for the very purpose that nothing should be changed or added. This happened a thousand years ago. Now the great difference between the Greek Church (which denies the supremacy of Rome, and is separated from it) and the Roman (which calls itself Catholic) is the addition which this tablet was put up to prevent, and which the Greeks have not agreed to the insertion of. And most of the great points in which we, who deny both the Catholicity and the Supremacy of the Church of Rome, differ from you, are, twelve new points added at the time of the Reformation to the creed by Pope Pius the Fourth and the Council of Trent. So that, far from their being Catholic in point of faith, we are sanctioned in our separation from them, not only by the Scriptures, which these new doctrines of theirs are quite contrary to; but they are, in adding them to the creed and attempting to impose them on us, expressly condemned by a General Council, which they receive and declare to be of divine authority, which sat fourteen hundred years ago. And the Greek Church, which they also condemn as schismatics, to say the least, are justified in their separation by the authority of one of their own Popes, who took the pains of fixing up a silver tablet to prevent that which after Popes did or acquiesced in. So utterly unfounded are they in the pretensions which they set up in order to keep you in bondage.
And this fact is as strong against their pretense of Infallibility as Catholicity; for we have the Church, four or five hundred years after Christ, expressly decreeing that no article shall be added; and we have those who call themselves the Church, fifteen or sixteen hundred years after Christ, adding twelve articles as matters of faith, and rejecting all who deny them. Was the Church in the first ages, or the Church of Rome at the Reformation, in the right? or how can that be infallible which contradicts itself? But the true Catholic Church, brethren, that seed of God, which shall indeed never fail, the body of Christ, the real communion of saints, the one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, subsists in the company of true believers, in every age united to the great Head, Christ Jesus, by His Spirit dwelling in them, and incorporating them into His mystical body. And while the power of the Lord lasts, even to the end of the world, while the influences of the divine Spirit show to souls His glory in hope, so long will there be a Church upon earth. But to say that this is any particular communion or body of professing Christians (and that too without inquiring whether they hold the faith once delivered to the saints) is nothing else but the spirit of Antichrist.
And now, brethren, see what sort of arguments they use to keep you still in bondage.
Luther did not give scriptural advice in some instances; therefore do not you read the Scriptures, which would have hindered him giving the advice if he had read them properly. Isaiah that sound reason?
Again, King Henry the Eighth was a bad man, and acted contrary to good morals: therefore do not read those Scriptures which condemn his immorality. What reason is there in such an argument as that? Do we say that all Protestants are good men, or under the vital influence of the Spirit of God? Alas! no, brethren; but we do say, that they have the truth and faith and kingdom of God amongst them. But the fact is, Henry the Eighth, though he was an instrument in the hand of God to overthrow Popery in England, never, I believe, even to the time of his death, cordially submitted to Protestant truth, and during some part of his life burnt people for believing it, even after he had thrown off Popery. For Henry the Eighth, although we leave him to God's final judgment, was corrupted by power, and wealth, and pleasure, so as to love his own will rather than either Popery or Protestantism; and the fact is, we have nothing to do with him, nor will his crimes be any answer for your souls in the day of judgment.
The point, brethren, is this—there are certain doctrines in which the faith and hopes of a professor of the Christian religion are deeply concerned. You are told you ought to believe these doctrines. We say there is no foundation for them, and not only so, but that the belief in them precludes the faith by which we find the power and comfort of the gospel of the Son of God come in the flesh; and we appeal to the Scriptures, confessed by all to be inspired and given to us by God for our edification in the truth, written by apostles and evangelists commissioned by God, so that they might say, and none could deny, “He that is of God heareth us.” And we declare to you as honest men, that a person reading them with the assistance of God's grace will find none of these doctrines in them, but what is entirely inconsistent with them, and your teachers while they dare not deny that the Scriptures do contain the truth of God, will not let you read them to see whether these things be so, as we say; while we know that the Bereans are expressly commended for so doing: “they were more noble, searching the Scriptures daily whether those things were so."
Another common difficulty in the mind of a person beginning to see the truth of God, amongst you, is this Protestant faith is a new faith; or, as they are accustomed to say, it came 1500 years too late. I mention these arguments as things which might hinder a sincere soul from receiving the truth. They will tell you, the first religion must be the right one. Undoubtedly, brethren, it must; the first religion must be the right one, and the only one, not because it is the first, but as coming from the Lord. And that is exactly the ground we go upon. And it must be so for this reason, that that is the true religion which came from God Himself—in a word, the only true religion is that which was “once delivered to the saints,” which came from the lips of Christ and His apostles—so much so indeed that Paul is bold to say, that he wished “they were cut off that troubled the Galatians, perverting the gospel of Christ. But,” says he, “though we, or an angel from God, should preach to you any other gospel than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel than that ye have received, let him be accursed." And now, brethren. where will you find the first religion? Hear Paul — “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son:” and then, after declaring the glory of the Son of God, he goes on, “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him, God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?” So that we may put the case thus: we agree that the first doctrines are the true ones, as coming from Christ and the inspired apostles: the question is, how we are to find what they are? You take it at the priests' word, who come 1800 years after them. We appeal to the Scriptures, which record Christ's sayings, as none of you deny, and contain the apostles' writings, as none of you deny: is not this a good way of finding out what that first religion was which they taught? And not only do we show that we use the right way to follow the first religion, which I agree we are bound to do; but we show you as a matter of direct history, that they have added twelve articles to the creed which was in use in the primitive or old church, and which is Commonly called the Nicene Creed. I take for granted you know the creed. Now will you tell me what there is in that about the Virgin Mary, or that the saints are mediators? Ought not this to make you doubt whether you are not misled in being made to believe things which are not in the creed, when they refuse you the Scriptures to see if they are there; and when, too, a General Council prohibited any new creed to be made, beside what is called the Nicene Creed?
There is one thing more, brethren (which I should never mention; I should in truth be ashamed to mention it, but that it is commonly said amongst you) that is, that St. Peter stands at the gate of heaven with the keys, and lets in the Romanists as belonging to the true Church, and keeps out other people. Now, brethren, you will not deny that, as Paul says, “we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." Keep this in mind: good and bad, we are all to stand at the judgment-seat of Christ. Now this is quite out of the question if that be true about Peter; for, according to that, they will never get to the judgment-seat of Christ, or perhaps you will say it is after they have been judged. But then Peter need not be there at all, for those that the Lord rejects He sends away to hell: as it is written, “Depart ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."
Brethren, I have spoken of these things for your soul's sake, with sorrow of heart. We are all sinners, and under just judgment in the sight of a holy God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; nor can there be any sound, real hope to see His face, unless we are cleansed from all sin. It is the very truth and purpose of the gospel to assure us, that there is perfect and entire remission of them in Christ Jesus, for those that believe in Him, and that His blood cleanses from all sin; and also this further blessing to those who by the work of His grace have been brought to desire holiness, that He “will put his law into our hearts, and write it in our minds.” Instead of saying to us, “If you do not do so and so, to keep my law, you will be condemned;” he says, “I have mercy upon you; I will put the love of my law in your hearts; I will give you a new heart; and your sins and iniquities I will remember no more." This is what God has said, brethren, and why should you not believe Him? Oh! comfort to a soul weary in itself, to a heavy burdened conscience, to hear the Lord from heaven saying, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” And again, “Your sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” —Think of this.—Yours, with many prayers, J. N. DARBY.
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