land. Where the
Church was rising up into energetic action, in too many cases it had a
sectarian, and not a catholic object--that is to say, it was aiming to
make Churchmen and communicants, or members of guilds, instead of
proclaiming the Gospel for the salvation of souls.

The sovereignty of God, the responsibility of man, and the work of the
Holy Ghost, were frequently altogether overlooked, although this is the
true catholic teaching. In this I comprehend not only the bringing of
souls from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive the
forgiveness of sins, but also that believers might go on to have "an
inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus."
Churchism, with its sacramentalism, is as sectarian as any form of
Dissent, Romanism included; for it falls short of God's object, as
declared in the Word.

When the work at Golant church abated, I had more time for looking
about; so I proffered a visit to the High Church rector, who had asked
me to come over and tell him the secret of my success. He readily fixed
upon a day, so I went over to luncheon; after which we began to talk.
The curate, who was present, and who had heard some ranters shouting and
screaming in the "shires," kept on every now and then putting in a word
of caution to restrain the rector from admitting too much; for little by
little he was yielding to me. I spoke of letting down the nets for a
draught, and catching men, not to smother and kill them in some Church
system, or by some erroneous teaching, but to keep them alive. "This," I
said, "is the meaning of the word in the original;" and we looked it out
in the Greek. It was very interesting. We then talked over the
difference between the Church system and that of the Bible. The one, I
said, makes apostolic succession and the sacraments the channel of
salvation; the other the Word of God, as applied by the Holy Ghost.

We had a great battle on this point, two against one; but having the
Word of God on my side, I stood by my experience. I had myself been on
the other side, and was then ten times more zealous and earnest than
these two were. I said, "I used to preach salvation by Church and
sacraments once, but I was not saved that way. I used also to teach that
the new birth was by Baptism; but I was not born again when I was
baptized. Were you? Are you quite sure that, with all your faith in
Baptismal Regeneration, you are born again of the Spirit? Are you
satisfied