IT is, alas! necessary in many parts of England to ask this question! Under Papal rule the Sacrament comes first as Savior, and under a great deal of Anglican sacerdotal teaching Christ is not acknowledged in His absolute glory as Savior, sacraments being regarded as necessary to say the least—unto salvation. Now Christ is our personal Savior: it is His glory to be this, and in this glory none may share. Christ died once to save us, and now "Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more," and it is the sinner's privilege to deal with Christ, ascended in glory, and in Him alone the sinner finds the Savior.
Let the reader peruse the following little story, and he will own that there is teaching abroad respecting Christ as Savior which proves that the language we have just used is none too strong:—
R. C. was brought up by her kind mother, her father having died when she was a very little child. When old enough she was educated in sacramentalism, but this gave her no peace of soul before God, and she was convinced that all was not well with her for eternity. Occupying a humble position in life, R. C. entered into domestic service, and as one of her fellow-servants was also anxious, about salvation, the two girls would talk together, both longing to know their sins for given, and that they were saved.
At this time R. C. met with a simple man, who knew in his own heart what God's salvation is, and he pointed her to Jesus. He showed her that Christ and His finished work on the Cross forms the only ground of the sinner's salvation, and the girl saw dimly the light of truth shining before her. After a while she had to leave her situation and come home, and then the Lord caused the light of His Word to shine so clearly into her soul that she was enabled to rest simply, but firmly, upon what He had said: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.”
Her health was failing, and as she grew weaker she was able only to be brought down for a little time in the middle of the day.
On one occasion, while in this state, the "priest," as the parish clergyman loved to be called, visited her. He told her people could not go to heaven without partaking of the sacrament—that is, the Lord's Supper. This upset her very much, for she knew her father had been brought to Christ, and had borne a bright testimony on his dying bed to the power and willingness of Jesus to save the lost and guilty, and she knew that Christ, and not the sacrament, was his confidence.
In reply to her words about her father, the "priest" said, "If there are any who go to heaven without it, it is as by a miracle; and he sought to shift the dying girl from her resting-place in Christ, and to make her build her hope for eternal salvation on partaking of the sacrament. However, she clung to words such as" He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life," for she had learned that the "salvation" and "eternal life" come direct from the Lord Jesus Christ.
God, who had given her grace to cling to His Word, increased her desire to know more and more of that Word. She suffered much, but she enjoyed peace, rest, and joy, which the believer in Jesus only knows.
God has but one foundation for the sinner to rest upon, and that foundation is Christ. God has but one answer to the question, "What must I do to be saved?"—that is, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." By trusting to ordinances and sacraments the true place of the lost, ruined, and guilty sinner before God is lost. In this land of ours there are "blind guides," who tell lost, perishing sinners that life and salvation are obtained through sacraments; but the Scriptures teach that to have "life" we must have Christ, the Life; that to be saved we must have Christ, the Savior. "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."