There was a Simon Magus, who believed and was baptized, though shown afterwards to have been still in the gall of bitterness, and in the bonds of iniquity.' In Galatia there were 'false brethren unawares brought in.'* Peter speaks of some as 'false teachers, who should bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bringing upon themselves swift destruction.' Jude speaks of others who had crept in unawares; ungodly men, who turned the grace of God into lasciviousness, and denied the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ;' while in John's days men had left the church who were really not of it.'§ Nay more, from the parable of the wedding garment, and from the startled exclamation of the men¶ who had preached in Christ's name, it is clear that deception of ourselves, or of others, may remain to the very hour of judgment; and that the revelation of a man's true character may be reserved to add to the awfulness of the disclosures of that day of terrors. Alas for us! 'All are not Israel that are of Israel.' Dead men's names too often stand upon the roll of the living-' names to live that are dead.' Even church-members will be among those who go away into everlasting punishment. Then I saw,' says the matchless Dreamer, 'that there was a way to § 1 John ii. 19. * Gal. ii. 4. + 2 Peter ii. 1. || Matt. xxii. 12. ‡ Jude 4. Matt. vii. 22. All Christians not Holy. 27 Hell from the gates of Heaven, as well as from the City of Destruction.'* Nor is the holiness of all true Christians complete. 26. Nor is the holiness of any of its members complete. Christian character is a growth and a victory; a growth in spite of the deadening influence of the world, and a victory after incessant conflict. The Apostles confess their imperfections. Paul had not attained-he found it needful to keep his body under, lest having preached unto others, he should be himself rejected. † For his personal humiliation, and to aid him in his struggle against spiritual pride, there was given to him a thorn in the flesh. John rebukes all assumption of sinless+ ness, as self-deception and falsehood. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.'§ The facts of all Apostolic history correspond with these confessions. James admits that the apostles and prophets were men of like passions with us. The dispute between Paul and Barnabas was very sharp, and upon one side, at least, unchristian. || The inconsistency of Peter at Antioch is wellknown, though the meekness with which he bore the rebuke of a younger apostle,¶ and afterwards commended the very epistles in which he was himself condemned, and praised the 'beloved brother' *Pilgrim's Progress. + Phil. iii. 12-14. 1 Cor. ix, 27. ¶ Gal. ii. 11. who condemned him, ought always to be remarked in connection with his weakness.'* 27. In the churches there were evils much more serious. Jewish converts were prone to an anxious, slavish piety, and to uncharitable prejudices against a free Gospel; and when the Epistle to the Hebrews was written, and the overthrow of the Jewish polity and state drew near, they showed a strong tendency to turn away from the faith. Among some of the Greek converts at Corinth there was a sectarian spirit, a fondness for human philosophy, an inclination to unchastity, a love of worldly distinction between rich and poor; and that in the very feast which was intended to commemorate their oneness in guilt and in redemption. Among others, at Ephesus and Colosse, lax morality, doctrinal error, lukewarm indifference, had each begun to do their part in the subversion of the truth. There was also seen, even in those early times, and when nothing seemed likely to be gained by the profession of the Gospel, the sin of hypocrisy: John finding it needful to distinguish between an inward and a merely outward fellowship with the church,† * 2 Peter iii. 15, 16. "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us." (1 John ii. 19.) "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit He taketh away." (John xv. 2.) "If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." (1 John i. 6.) "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can (such) faith save him?" (James ii. 14.) The Actual assimilated to the Ideal. 29 and James, between a false and a true faith, as Paul had already confessed that the Lord alone knows them that are His, though indicating that there is one mark as decisive to us as God's knowledge is to Him-Let him that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.'* On the one hand, therefore, the mixture of error with truth, of sin with holiness, is unavoidable; yet on the other, holiness is essential to the idea and design of the church. The actual similated to 28. But how are these facts reconcileable? And what is the church's duty in relation to them? Clearly she is to guard the gradually asentrance into her fellowship, and then the ideal-in afterwards she is to maintain its discipline. what way. By the first she expresses her conviction of the necessity and reality of Christian life in all her members; by the second she is ever purging herself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, the evils incident to her present state. Neglecting care in admitting members, she helps men in their selfdeception, confounds the church and the world, and receives into her communion those whom she will have soon to expel. Neglecting discipline, she implicates herself in the sins of her members, fosters a poisonous element in her body, and so ultimately works her own ruin. Recognising both duties, * 2 Tim. ii. 19. and fulfilling both, she preserves her proper character as the body of her Lord. 29. The whole of this brief statement, in both Care in ad- parts of it, is sustained by the New mitting to her Testament; and even if not, it follows fellowship from the very nature of civil society and of the Christian church. Citizenship is always sacredly guarded, and the greater its privileges, the greater care is generally taken to verify the title of those who claim it. The church, moreover, is a body of men recognised by one another, and by the world, as possessing a certain character. If this character is not avowed, the church ceases to answer to the inspired description; and if any kind of avowal is accepted as sufficient, the avowal itself will cease to have meaning. But, of course, the appeal on both questions is rather to Scripture than to the nature of the case. Scripture proofs. 30. Our Lord, we find, began His ministry by making disciples. Some He called, and they, leaving all, followed Him, giving therein the proof of their sincerity and love. Others who offered to follow Him, He questioned; and if, through love of wealth, or a mistaken view of earthly duty, He found them unprepared for the self-denial His cause demanded, He pronounced them 'unfit for the kingdom of God.' When Christ's kingdom was founded, the apostles |