y friends, in these dangerous days, for dangerous they truly are--
like those of the Scribes and Pharisees of old; days in which
bigotry and hardness of heart, hypocrisy and lip-profession stalk
triumphant; days, in which men, like the Scribes and Pharisees of
old, boast of the Bible, worship the Bible, think they have eternal
life in the Bible, spend vast sums every year in spreading the
Bible; and yet will neither read the Bible honestly, nor obey its
plain commands--In such days as these, what prophet shall we fall
back upon? What preacher shall we trust?

We can at least trust our Bible. We can read it honestly, if only
there be in us the honest and good heart; we can obey its plain
commands, if only we hunger and thirst after righteousness, and
desire really to become good men. Read your Bibles for yourselves
with a single eye, and with a pure heart which longs to know God's
will because it longs to _do_ God's will; and you will need no false
prophets, under pretence of explaining it to you, to draw you away
from the Holy Catholic faith into which you were baptized.

But if you must have a commentary on the Bible; if you must have
some book to give you a general notion of what the Bible teaches
you, and what it expects of you; go to the prayer-book. Go to the
good old Catechism which you learnt at school. There, though not
from the popular preachers, you will learn that God is just and
true, loving and merciful, and no respecter of persons. There you
will learn, that Christ died not for a few elect, but for the sins
of the whole world. There you will learn that in baptism, by God's
free grace, and not by any experiences or feelings of your own, you
were made children of God, members of Christ, and inheritors of the
kingdom of heaven. There you will learn, that the elect whom the
Holy Spirit sanctifies, are not merely a favoured few, but _you_--
every baptized man, woman, and child. That the Holy Spirit is with
you, every one of you, to sanctify you, if you will open your hearts
to his gracious inspirations. And there you will learn what
sanctification really means. Not a few fancies and feelings about
which any man can deceive himself, and any man, also, deceive his
neighbours. No, that sanctification means being made holy,
righteous, virtuous, good. That sanctification means 'To love your
neighbour as yourself, and to do to all men as they should do unto
you--to love, honour, and succour your father