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 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL 
 
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 THE FOUNDATIONS OF UNSECTAEIAN AND CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 
 
 A SEEMON 
 
 PEEACHED AT ST PETER'S, EATON SQUARE 
 On the First Sunday after Trinity 
 
 AND AT 
 
 THE PARISH CHURCH OF BEDDINGTON 
 On the Second Sunday after Trinity 
 
 BY 
 
 EGBERT GEEGORY, M.A, 
 
 CANON OF ST PAUL'S 
 
 LONDON 
 
 PARKINS & SONS, CHURCH STREET, WESTMINSTER 
 
 AND MAY BE HAD AT 
 
 NATIONAL SOCIETY'S DEPCt, SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTER 
 
 1877
 
 This Sermon was prepared for preaching in St Peter s, Eaton 
 Square, and at Beddington. A friend at the latter place asked 
 me to print it, which at his request I do. 
 
 B. G. 
 
 2 Amen Couet 
 
 29th June 1877.
 
 SEEMON. 
 
 Revelation xxii, 12-14, 
 
 ' And, behold, I come quickly ; and My reward is with Me, to give 
 every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the 
 begimiing and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do 
 His commandments, that they may have right to the Tree of Life, 
 and may enter in through the gates into the City.' 
 
 We are all anxious for men to be virtuous and wise, patriotic 
 and public-spirited. We wish them to be good citizens, 
 good parents, exemplary in the discharge of their public 
 and private duties, honest, just, and true, diligent and 
 earnest in doing their own work, thoughtful and considerate 
 for other people. 
 
 But whilst there is great unanimity of opinion about 
 the end desired, there is much diversity of view as to the 
 means by which that desired end may be secured. It would 
 be unprofitable from this place to describe, or even to 
 enumerate, these differing views. There are, however, two 
 modes of working out this great problem, from the considera- 
 tion of which I hope we may derive some advantage : those 
 two modes have been placed before us by Divine revelation in 
 the Old and in the New Testament. For we know that one 
 object of both dispensations was to lead men ' to do justly, 
 and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with their Grod' 
 (Micah vi. 8); 'to redeem them fr<mi all iniquity, and to 
 purify a peculiar people, zealous of good works ' (Titus ii. 14). 
 
 Under the Old Testament, Grod revealed Himself to man 
 as his Supreme Ruler and Guide. He is set forth as a great
 
 God, and a terrible, as showing mercy unto thousands, and 
 also as visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children unto 
 the third and fourth generation (Exodus xx. 5). In the Old 
 Testament Grod's greatness as the Creator, and His power in 
 signally punishing the transgressions of His creatures, is pro- 
 claimed. With sovereign voice He commands, ' This do, and 
 thou shalt live ' (Lev. xviii. 5) ; with fearful iteration His 
 judgments announce, ' This fail to do, and thou shalt die.' 
 Keligion in the Old Testament consists of a law enjoining 
 certain moral and ceremonial observances ; whilst the Grod 
 whom it would lead men to worship is a Being shrouded in 
 mystery : ' Verily, Thou art a Grod that hidest Thyself, 
 God of Israel, the Saviour' (Isaiah xlv. 15). The path of 
 obedience was smoothed by the promise that therein 
 they should enjoy every earthly blessing; that if they 
 would hearken to the voice of the Lord their God they 
 should be blessed in the city and in the field, and in the 
 fruit of their body, of their ground, and of their cattle, in 
 all contests with their enemies, in the enjoyment of an 
 abundance of all earthly good things (Deut. xxviii. 3, &c.). 
 Whilst, on the other hand, if they would not obey, but be 
 disobedient, that then they should be cursed in the city and 
 in the field, in their basket and in their store, in a blight 
 falling upon themselves, their cattle, and their ground ; for 
 the Lord would 'send upon them cursing, vexation, and 
 rebuke, in all that they set their hand unto, until they were 
 destroyed and perished' (Deut. xxviii. 15, &c.). And what 
 God threatened befel the people of Israel. Experience 
 proved the truth of His warnings. But what were the 
 moral results? The whole history of Israel is an almost 
 unbroken account of revolts from God, and of sorrowing- 
 repentance when the rod of punishment was sent against them. 
 To read what God designed His people to be, and then to 
 examine what they were, is one of the saddest stories in the 
 world's history. It shows that desire for what God promised,
 
 and fear of what He threatened, did not suffice to make them 
 obedient to His laws. It proved that there was an infirmity, 
 and an aversion from Grod natural to man, which had more 
 influence over him than any hopes or apprehensions con- 
 cerning the future could exercise. 
 
 If we look at that which attracted His first people away 
 from serving Grod, we find what is very instructive. Tliey 
 wanted something near to them which they could admire 
 and love. Thus they made images to typify that strength 
 and courage which they especially prized, or that power 
 and magnificence, that beauty and sensual enjoyment in 
 which they delighted : and substituted these representatives 
 of those good things of earth on which their hearts were 
 set, for the Lord Grod of Israel. The purity and excellence 
 of the moral commands given them to obey were powerless 
 against the natural inclinations of their own hearts. Even 
 the Majesty and Grreatness of the God who had revealed 
 Himself to them by signs and miracles, and by an out- 
 stretched arm, could not wean their affections from deities 
 which could make no such appeals to their hopes or to their 
 fears, but whicli more nearly resembled that ideal of good 
 which they had set up in the chamber of their own hearts. 
 Very oppressive we know this first dispensation was felt to 
 be. This is clearly shown by the narrow literal interpreta- 
 tion of the Ten Commandments enjoined by the authorised 
 teachers of the law, but which in the Sermon on the Mount 
 our Lord swept away as inadequate. 
 
 If we turn from the Old Testament to the New, we find 
 Grod's dealing with man wholly changed. It is no longer a 
 moral law with a Sovereign Author which is the chief thing 
 set before us, but the Person of One who is Grod as well as 
 Man. The Christian religion does not centre round a law but a 
 Person. It insists upon man's inability to do what is good 
 and right if left to himself, and points to that Person as 
 able to give the power required to enable man to become
 
 such as God would have him to be. The Gospel seeks to 
 teach man what is good and holy, not by setting before him 
 a law which describes what is virtuous and well pleasing to 
 God, and by warning him against what is evil and unholy, 
 but by showing him the Person of Jesus Christ. It sets 
 before him the evil of disobedience to God, not by denun- 
 ciations and threats, but by pointing to its consequences in 
 the suffering and death of Incarnate God. It strives to draw 
 man to desire to be what God designed him to be, not by 
 promises of immediate advantage, or by threats of immediate 
 sorrows, but by telling him of all which that Holy Person 
 did and suffered in his behalf. The whole scheme of salva- 
 tion set forth in the Gospel rests upon the Person of In- 
 carnate God, upon what He has done for us, and upon what 
 He will do in us ; upon what He has accomplished in our 
 behalf, and upon what He will enable us to do through the 
 strength and power which He will impart to us. 
 
 It will help us to realise this the better, if we think of 
 what is set forth in the Creeds. They really contain what 
 may be called the motive power of religion : that is, they 
 set forth what is to influence us, what is to draw our hearts 
 to serve and obey God, what is to make us fear to do that 
 which would be displeasing in His sight. And the manner 
 in which they do this is not by assuring us that God is a 
 great God, and a terrible ; that His Omnipotence orders 
 and controls our destiny ; that His Providence is always 
 watching over us to reward or to punish — to multiply 
 blessings if we do what is in accordance with His Will, and 
 to inflict upon us every sorrow and affliction if we are dis- 
 obedient. But instead of that, the Creeds speak of the 
 Persons of God ; of the Father as the Source of all exist- 
 ence ; of the Son in His special relations to man as the 
 Redeemer of our race ; and of the Holy Spirit as the 
 Sanctifier of the chosen people of God. And then, after 
 setting forth the objects of our worship, they express in
 
 briefest terms some of the effects which follow from what 
 has been told of the God whom we adore; some of the 
 provisions which a Divine Eedeemer has made for com- 
 municating Himself and the power of His Grace to us. All 
 our duties, all our moral and spiritual obligations, all that 
 God requires us to be, and the influences by which we are 
 to be converted into that which He designs His people to 
 become, are drawn from what we are taught concerning 
 Jesus Christ, not from the law of a carnal commandment 
 such as was given to His people under the elder dispensa- 
 tion. If you compare the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy, 
 which was to be in a manner to the Israelites, as the motive 
 power of moral action, what the Creeds are to us, you will 
 more clearly see the vast difference between what was set 
 before God's first people to guide and to influence them, to 
 lead them into the paths of holiness, and to preserve them 
 from evil, and what is given to us for a like purpose. 
 
 If we turn from the Creeds to the teaching of our 
 Blessed Lord, we find further illustration of such instruction. 
 Thus there are several parables which are designed to show 
 how men are to become good and holy. The parable of the 
 Sower is an instance of this kind. Its object is to teach 
 how some men waste their lives, and bring forth no works 
 or fruits such as God can approve, whilst others ripen, in 
 varying degrees, those fruits of holiness which God can 
 bless. And what in this parable is set forth as the source from 
 which all that is good originates, the germ and root from 
 which springs whatever in man is fit to be gathered into 
 the garner of Heaven ? It is seed sown by the good Hus- 
 bandman ; and all agree that this seed represents power or 
 grace from God. The seed is the Word of God — the Word, 
 i.e. the Son, or that which proceeds from Him ; so that the 
 whole of the direct application of this parable is to those 
 who have received this Divine gift. In like manner, in 
 another place, our Lord sets forth the same truth by likening
 
 8 
 
 Himself to a vine, and His people to the branches. The 
 life, the vigour, that which produces flowers and fruit, is 
 the sap in the vine, which, by rising into the branches, 
 causes them to be productive. But it is from the vine, 
 which is Christ, and not from the branches, which are His 
 members, that there flows the sap which furnishes the sub- 
 stance of the good fruit that God will own and bless. And 
 so in like manner, when man's responsibility is inculcated, 
 the point specially insisted on is the account which he will 
 have to give of the gifts or talents committed to him by 
 Grod. In the parables of the talents and the pounds, we 
 have our Divine Lord representing Himself as a man placing 
 his property in the hands of His servants. This property is 
 committed to them that they may use and improve it : it is 
 entrusted to them, not for their own personal or selfish 
 advantage, but that they may so employ it as to bring large 
 fruits of increase to their Lord. And thus we are taught 
 that our ability to do good is derived, not from something 
 inherently good in ourselves, but from something given to 
 us by God ; whilst we are also taught that we have the 
 power of improving, or neglecting, what is thus committed 
 to us, that we may make it produce certain fruits of increase 
 which God will own and bless, or cause it to be unproductive. 
 On the one hand, without this talent or pound from God, 
 our moral nature would be incapable of doing anything good 
 or right in His sight; and on the other, when we have 
 received this trust from Him, it will not fulfil the end 
 which He designs it to accomplish without our earnest 
 diligence and hearty efforts. 
 
 Then, to look a step further : our Lord declares in no 
 doubtful terms, that man must be brought into certain 
 mysterious relations to Himself before he can be just and 
 good, holy and acceptable, in His sight. Thus He says : 
 ' Except ye be converted and become as little children, 
 ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven ' (Matt.
 
 9 
 
 xviii. 3). ' Except a man be born again, he cannot see the 
 Kingdom of Grod ' (John iii. 3) ; and what is meant by this 
 St. Paul explains when he says, ' If any man be in Christ, he 
 is a new creature : old things are passed away ; behold, all 
 things are become new' (ii. Cor. v. 17). 'We are buried 
 with Christ by baptism into death : that like as Christ was 
 raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so 
 we also should walk in newness of life ' (Rom. vi. 4). And 
 to impress still more deeply upon our hearts that these 
 blessings result from a true and living union between us and 
 the Person of Christ, the apostle writes : ' We are members of 
 His Body, of His Flesh, and of His Bones ' (Eph. v. 30). It 
 would take time to show more exactly what is meant by these 
 words of Holy Scripture, and my present object only re- 
 quires that I should remind you of the manner in which they 
 speak of the nearness and intimacy of our relations with 
 Jesus Christ. In some real but mysterious manner we are 
 to ' Grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even 
 Christ ' (Eph. iv. 1 6) ; and by a renewal in the spirit of our 
 mind we are to ' Put on the new man, which, after God, is 
 created in righteousness and true holiness' (Eph. iv. 24). 
 And then it is distinctly declared that the imperfection of 
 earth cleaves to whatever does not spring from the power 
 conferred upon men, through this union between them 
 and their Divine Lord. For it is said, ' That which is born 
 of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is 
 spirit ' (John iii. 6) ; and our Blessed Lord assures us in the 
 plainest possible terms that He is ' the Way, the Truth, and 
 the Life,' and that ' no man can come to the Father but by 
 Him ' (John xiv. 6). 
 
 To make somewhat more complete the evidence furnished 
 by Holy Scripture of the reality as well as the necessity of 
 this union between us and our all-atoning Lord, I would 
 ask you to consider what revelation tells us of our own state 
 by nature. Thus St. Paul writes : ' I know that in me ' {i.e.
 
 10 
 
 in my flesh) ' dwelleth no good thing : for to will is present 
 with me ; but how to perform that which is good I find not ' 
 (Kom. vii. 18). 'Now the works of the flesh are manifest, 
 which are these : adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lascivious- 
 ness,' and so on (Gral. v. 19). 'We all had our conversation 
 in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of 
 the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of 
 wrath, even as others' (Eph. ii. 3). 
 
 We have, therefore, the clearest testimony to enforce 
 what St. John says in our text, ' I am Alpha and Omega, the 
 beginning and the end, the first and the last.' To sum 
 up how Jesus Christ is this to us : From Him proceeds 
 the desire to do good, and the power of doing it : the 
 longing for help to fulfil God's Will, and the help which is 
 sent down from on high ; the pardon which sets us free from 
 the chains and fetters of our old sins, and the strength which 
 enables us to go forward in obeying God's Will, and fulfill- 
 ing His commandments. Whatever we do of good, must be 
 begun, continued, and ended in Him. He is ' the Author 
 and Finisher of our faith' (Heb. xii. 2). And thus it is that 
 all our religion gathers round the Person of our Incarnate 
 Lord. What we believe concerning Him becomes of the 
 greatest practical importance ; because, as we derive so much 
 from Him, as we are so dependent upon Him, what we receive 
 from Him will depend upon what He is. If He were not 
 truly God He could not have offered that full, perfect, and 
 sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction which was needed 
 to atone for the countless sins and offences of the whole 
 human race ; He could not have provided that power which is 
 needed for the re-creation of every member of the family of 
 man ; whilst, on the other hand, if He is not truly Man, we 
 could not be re-created in Him without in some measure 
 ceasing to be the men whom God had created at the begin- 
 ning. He suffered as Man for man, that man might from 
 Him receive that which he had lost through Adam, and
 
 11 
 
 through Him be restored to perfect holiness. And so it were 
 very easy to point out the relation between the various Articles 
 of the Creed and what Jesus Christ effects for His people. 
 
 The consideration of the manner Christ ordained for the 
 conversion and edification of His people has necessarily the 
 deepest interest for us, my brethren. For if we would be 
 His, we must seek that salvation which He has purchased, 
 in the manner which He has appointed. It is not for us 
 to set aside and to reconstruct the revelation of Grod in 
 order to adapt it more conveniently to our political necessi- 
 ties, or to the passing fancies or preferences of the hour. 
 And yet that is what has been done. The real and 
 cardinal objection to what is called an unsectarian system of 
 religious education is, that it substitutes a religious teaching, 
 new in itself, but fashioned upon the model of the Old Testa- 
 ment for that of the New ; that it virtually makes of none 
 effect the power of the Gospel, and seeks to take in its 
 stead a system, or rather the characteristics of a system, 
 which God permitted to exist (Gal. iii. 24) as a school- 
 master to bring men to Christ, but which was to be for ever 
 cast aside when the Sun of Eighteousness arose with healing 
 in His wings. I will endeavour to prove what I have just 
 asserted, though I fear that in doing so I must be guilty of 
 some repetition. 
 
 The foundation of Christianity, as I have already striven 
 to show, is Jesus Christ. Its doctrines are the events of His 
 life. Its teaching gathers round His Person. Its attraction 
 is to be found in His humiliation and love, which owe their 
 greatness to His being God ; in His perfect character and 
 sympathy, which lose their special value, if not their existence, 
 if He is not Man. Its power is derived from that grace which 
 proceeds from Him, and which needs for its being imparted 
 to man channels of His appointment. Its instructions 
 become worse than unmeaning if they are separated from the 
 strength to obey them which it promises, because it expressly
 
 12 
 
 says that (John xv. 5) without such strength no man can 
 obey th,em. The morality of the Gospel is much more perfect 
 and exacting than was that of the law; if, therefore, the 
 morality demanded by the law was much more than Israel 
 could obey, what will the morality of the Grospel be without 
 power derived from some new source whereby to fulfil it ? 
 
 This beino- so, it necessarily follows that the very founda- 
 tions of Christian teaching must rest upon Jesus Christ ; 
 upon what He is, and what He has wrought in our behalf; 
 upon the grace and power which are hidden in Him, and 
 upon His manner of dispensing these high gifts to mankind ; 
 in other words, upon what constitutes doctrine or dogma ; 
 and it is equally certain that such points are the very points 
 about which differences of opinion arise. To exclude them, 
 therefore, from teaching — professedly religious — is virtually 
 to exclude all that is distinctively Christian, all that makes 
 Cliristianity to differ from the religion of the Old Testa- 
 ment. 
 
 And when these are excluded, what have we left ? We 
 have our Blessed Lord as a great moral Teacher : we have 
 His Words, telling men how they ought to act : we have His 
 Life, showing men how they ought to live; but that is all. 
 Now this is just what Israel had. It had Moses as a 
 great lawgiver ; it had the law which God gave by him ; it 
 had Moses as an example of a holy life, subduing his natural 
 temper, dedicating all his powers to carry out God's pur- 
 poses, and only once letting his anger get the better of his 
 sense of obedience. It is quite true that the moral law 
 given by Jesus Christ is more strict, more severe, more 
 searching than the moral law given by Moses ; and it is also 
 quite true that the character of Jesus Christ, viewed simply 
 as a man, is very far more perfect than was the character of 
 Moses ; but then they only differ in degree ; if this was tlie 
 whole account of the Gospel it would substantially resemble 
 the law ; it would only differ in being less attractive to
 
 13 
 
 men's fallen nature, less likely to win their love and their 
 reverence, less adapted to the wants of their condition. For, 
 do remember what we mean by man's nature being fallen. 
 "We mean that, naturally, he is disposed to obey his own 
 preferences, passions, appetites, desires, and not God's com- 
 mands ; that, naturally, he is weak of will, infirm of purpose, 
 selfish and self-seeking ; disposed to make himself, and the 
 gratification of his own master-passion or inclination, the 
 guide and controller of all he does ; that, naturally, he sets 
 his affections on things earthly and sensual ; and is slothful, 
 revengeful, proud, and does not find his happiness in sub- 
 mission, pleasing God, and love for others. How can men 
 so constituted love the moral law of the New Testament, 
 which runs counter to the whole bias of their moral nature? 
 It is obviously impossible. No promises will persuade them 
 to love it. No threats will terrify them into fulfilling it. 
 We should have a spiritual law, and a fleshly heart ; holy com- 
 mandments, and unholy inclinations ; self-sacrificing require- 
 ments, and selfish promptings. And yet this must be our 
 state if Jesus Christ was only a teacher, and a law-giver ; for 
 then we must put out of sight the power of His grace, the in- 
 fluences of His Spirit, the efficacy of His atonement, the love 
 of His offering on the Cross, the sufficiency of His redemption. 
 If you examine into the bases on which rest the schemes 
 of religious instruction given in our primary schools, you 
 will find them representing what I have said. The Church 
 Catechism sets forth what ouglit to be the teaching of our 
 Church schools ; and from beginning to end it rests upon 
 the Person of our Divine Lord : upon the covenant relations 
 into which we have been brought with Him, and the conse- 
 quent duties which are demanded from us ; upon what 
 He has done for us, and what He requires from us in 
 return ; upon what He is and what He insists upon our 
 becoming by the power of His grace, and the help of His 
 Spirit. Children are not tauglit in it their duty to God and
 
 14 
 
 their neighbour, until they have first learned that they are 
 members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the 
 Kingdom of Heaven : they are not instructed in what they 
 liave to do until it has first been impressed upon them that 
 the power by which they can fulfil what is required from them 
 proceeds from God the Father, "Who made them, God the Son 
 Who redeemed them, and God the Holy Ghost, \\lio waits to 
 make them holy. On the other hand, from Board schools 
 creeds and catechisms are excluded ; the teaching, as a rule, 
 will follow the principle thus laid down, and will avoid all 
 the definite and dogmatic instruction which creeds and 
 catechisms are specially designed to impart. They will 
 teach children that they ought to be virtuous. They will 
 not teach them how to become so. They will teach them that 
 they ought to avoid all vicious habits, dishonest inclinations, 
 lustful desires, temptations to untruth, selfishness, or wrong 
 doing; but they will provide them with no power by which 
 they may resist and overcome the stirrings of all such evil ten- 
 dencies when they arise within. You will see, if you consider 
 the matter, that this must be so, if what we profess to 
 believe as Churchmen is true. For what can teachers say of 
 Jesus Christ, which is not a dogma, if they speak of His 
 being Incarnate God ? What can they tell of the powers of 
 His grace, if they are to avoid all instruction which is not 
 distinctive of the Church or of some religious body ? 
 
 Whilst saying this, I feel bound to add that I fear many 
 of our Church schools have fallen short of fulfilling their 
 high mission ; and I attribute their want of complete success 
 to their having neglected to impress upon the minds of their 
 scholars those great truths which they were founded to 
 inculcate. On the other hand, it is not impossible that some 
 Board schools, through the zeal of their teachers and the 
 connivance of their managers, may have impressed a measure 
 of Divine truth on the minds of their scholars. But I am 
 dealing with principles, not with their application ; with
 
 15 
 
 systems, not with the mode in which they are carried out. 
 And of this we may rest assured, that principles do vindicate 
 their power, and compel men to feel their force sooner or 
 later. The underlying principles on which our two systems 
 of education are founded may not as yet have manifested 
 their full power and tendencies ; but we may depend upon it 
 that they will do so, and that at no distant day we shall 
 find ourselves at the goal to which their natural tendencies 
 point. 
 
 I feel it is necessary to insist upon the great opposition 
 between the principles on which the two kinds of schools 
 rest, because it is such opposition which compels us to make 
 great efforts to sustain our voluntary schools. The world 
 whispers into our ear, ' It is not worth while to trouble 
 yourself; after all, is there such a great difference between 
 the two kinds of schools ? Is not the religious teaching in 
 Church schools often very inferior ? Is not the religious 
 teaching in Board schools often very good ? Let us try to 
 improve the latter, and then all will be right.' And so it 
 cozens men by its soft words of deceit ; it cheats them into 
 believing what men who do not believe in Christ's mission 
 know to be false ; it saves them from trouble and from parting 
 with their money if they will accept this view ; and so, as 
 many as will not take the trouble to examine the principles 
 on which the two systems rest, contentedly acquiesce. My 
 brethren, are we of that number? Do not be satisfied 
 whilst giving no answer, but face the question, ' What is 
 the principle for whicli the advocates of Church Scliools 
 contend ?' It is that Christianity is a religion founded upon 
 Christ, and not upon a mere moral law. Is that worth 
 fighting for ? Is that a difference of opinion so great, so 
 vital, so truly important to us that we will make sacrifices 
 to uphold it ? You know what Jesus Christ is to you, and your 
 answer will depend upon that. If you are comfortable and 
 easy in your mind and in your circumstances, satisfied with
 
 16 
 
 the world, content to have your portion in it, then you will 
 
 be hard to persuade that religion is more than a law to 
 
 secure to us the continuance of the things we prize, and to 
 
 free us from all anxiety about the future ; but if you crave 
 
 for something better, if you know what it is to labour and 
 
 be heavy laden, and to long for a Deliverer, then you will 
 
 never be content for the children of the poor of the land to 
 
 be denied a knowledge of that salvation for which you have 
 
 yearned and struggled, and which has been your stay and 
 
 support in life. For my part, I feel that it is difficult for 
 
 a man to be really a Christian, and not to contend to the 
 
 very uttermost to base the religious instruction in every 
 
 school with which he has any connection, upon the Gospel of 
 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 The question which I have just put is a very practical 
 
 one. As you are aware, in this great Metropolis of ours, the rich 
 
 and poor, to a great extent, live in different quarters. AMiere 
 
 the poor live there necessarily must be the greatest demand 
 
 for primary schools, and the feeblest power of sustaining 
 
 them. The action of the School Board has been to increase 
 
 greatly the cost of supporting these schools ; and now we find 
 
 ourselves face to face with this important question. Will 
 
 Churchmen make a sacrifice to sustain their Church schools? 
 
 Will they give liberally to secure Christian teaching for the 
 
 children of the poor in this great Metropolis ? Many schools 
 
 find the extremest difficulty in upholding their position ; 
 
 many come to us at the National Society and assure us that 
 
 a little help for a short time will enable them so to adjust 
 
 their shoulders to the burden, and enable them to sustain it. 
 
 But without this help they must succumb.'^ Few, very few, 
 
 Church schools have as yet been surrendered ; but many are 
 
 in danger. For the most part, Church managers have fought 
 
 * Tlic Ecport of the Education Department, just issued, gives the numher of 
 Church schools as 10,046, and the number of Church schools surrendered to 
 School Boards in the nearly seven years since the Education Act was passed 
 as 379.
 
 17 
 
 valiantly ; but they cannot perform impossibilities. And so 
 they ask us, not to bear their burden, but to help them to 
 bear it. They will struggle on, but to struggle successfully 
 they must be assisted. Brethren, will you help them ? Will 
 you, in this hour of trial, remember that the Church is one, 
 and that we are really as much concerned in what is being- 
 done by the Church in Stepney, and Bethnal Green, and 
 Shoreditch, and Bermondsey, and Eotherhithe, and South- 
 wark, and Lambeth, as we are with what is being transacted 
 in our own parishes ? Depend upon it that the only influence 
 which can stay the flood of profligacy, and vice, and dis- 
 honesty, and irreligion with which we stand face to face, is 
 the influence of Christianity. And what is Christianity without 
 Christ ? It is a delusion and a snare ; it is baseless and 
 worthless ; it may send us to sleep in contented apathy ; it 
 can never rescue the nation, or save a single soul. It may 
 make us comfortable in this world, but what will it do for us 
 on the morning of the Resurrection? 
 
 Such, my brethren, is our argument. I believe that the 
 contest is between the religion which Christ came down from 
 Heaven to reveal, and a religion which, in its present form, 
 was invented yesterday. Would that I possessed the power of 
 him who in days of yore asked assembled Israel, ' How long 
 halt ye between two opinions ? If the Lord be God, serve 
 Him : and if Baal, then serve him' (1 Kings, xviii. 21). But 
 without that power, I would urge the prophet's words upon you, 
 and implore you to realise the issue which is before us. If you 
 do this, you must strive to sustain the cause for which I plead ; 
 if you believe that Jesus Christ is Alpha and Omega, tlie 
 beginning and the end, the first and the last ; if you believe 
 that He will come quickly and bring His reward with Him, 
 and that He will give to every man as his work shall be, 
 then you must labour to impart to others what you prize for 
 yourself; then you can never doubt about tlie call which God 
 makes to you to sustain Christian education in tlie land.
 
 "Bizr ornE sj^iMiE J^■u■TH:oI^. 
 
 PRAISE. A Sermon preached at the Third Annual Festival 
 
 of the Midhurst Choral Association, 1865. (Jas. Parker & Co.) 
 
 ARE WE BETTER THAN OUR FATHERS ? Lectures 
 
 in St. Paul's Cathedral. 1871. (Jas. Parker & Co.) 
 
 SOME OF THE BONDS OF SOCIETY. Lectures in 
 
 St. Paul's Cathedral. 1872. (National Society's Depository.) 
 
 THE COST OF VOLUNTARY SCHOOLS AND OF 
 
 BOAKD SCHOOLS. 1875. (National Society's Depository.) 
 
 IS THE CANADIAN SYSTEM OF EDUCATION RATES 
 
 POSSIBLE IN ENGLAND? 1875. (National Society's Depository.) 
 
 POSITION OF THE CELEBRANT. A Speech in Con- 
 
 vocation. 1875. 
 
 THE POSITION OF THE PRIEST ORDERED BY THE 
 
 EUBRICS IN THE COMMUNION SERVICE INTERPRETED 
 BY THEMSELVES. 1876. (Simpkin, MarshaU, & Co.) 
 
 THE CHURCH'S NEED OF MORE WORKERS. A 
 
 Sermon. 1876. (Rivingtons.) 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS OF PRIMARY 
 
 EDUCATION. A Lecture delivered in the Town Hall, Manchester. 
 December 1876. (Parkins & Son.)
 
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