See, then,
1. What need we have to get our minds duly en- lightened—
[Suppose, for a moment, St. Paul had proved as ignorant or unstable as St. Peter, what evils would have accrued, both to the Church and to the world at large ! In fact, the whole faith of Christ would have been subverted ; and, if God had not in some other way interposed to prevent it, the whole world would have been ruined. Yet how little is this point consi- dered, by many who nevertheless call themselves Christians ! The whole Church of Rome has set aside the faith of Christ,
x Gal. v. 2. y Gal. v. 4. ' ver. 11.
a Acts iv. 12. 1 Cor. hi. 11. b Exod. xx. 25. Deut. xxvii. 5, 6 c Gal. i. 6—8. d Jude, ver. 3.
by uniting with Christ other objects of faith and other grounds of hope. It is right, therefore, that every enlightened man should protest against it, and depart from it. But shall we, therefore, justify those who depart from our Church? No; for the faith of Christ, as maintained by our Church, is pure and unadulterated: and we have shewn, that, in matters of minor and subordinate importance, to indulge an unreason- able stiffness and pertinacity is not well: and we ought to have our judgment well informed, so as to discriminate clearly between the foundation and the superstructure. In the super- structure there may be somewhat undesirable, and yet no material injury accrue: but an error in the foundation will be fatal to the whole building: and this is the consideration which alone justifies a determined and uncompromising resistance to the established order of our Church. St. Paul has drawn this line of distinction, and adopted it as the rule of his own con- duct ; as indeed did James also, and all the other Apostles : and the more we get our views and habits assimilated to theirs, the better members we shall be of the Church of Christ.]
2. What need we have to get our spirit and con- duct duly regulated —
[That same pertinacity which, under some circumstances, is necessary, under others is unbecoming the true Christian. A yielding spirit is lovely : and perhaps we may say, that a yielditig temper should be the rule, and a pertinacious spirit the exception. Perhaps too we may say, that men will do well to mark the natural bias of their minds, and in their con- duct to lean rather to that side which is opposed to it. A person of a very gentle and yielding spirit should rather lean to the side of firmness in doubtful matters ; and a person of a naturally bold and determined spirit should rather cultivate a spirit of compliance : because we are not in danger of erring much in opposition to our natural inclination ; and if we do go too far, we have always something within our own bosoms to bring us back : whereas, if we err on the side of our natural bias, we may be precipitated we know not whither, and have nothing to bring us back again to a due equipoise. But, under any circumstances, we must take care not to plead conscience, where, in fact, it is our own will that guides us ; and, on the other hand, not to plead Christian liberty, where the path of duty is that of self-denying firmness. But " who is sufficient for these things?" If such men as Peter and Barnabas erred, we had need to cry mightily to God to " direct our feet in the right way," and to " uphold us in our goings, that our foot- steps slip not."]