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PHOT ESTA NT'S
WARNING AND SAFEGUARD
IN THE PRESENT TIMES:
THE SUBSTANCE OP

A SERMON,

PREACHED BEFORE THE
MAYOR AND CORPORATION OF OXFORD,
AT ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH,
On SUNDAY, Nov. 7, 1841,
BY THE
REV. BADEN POWELL, M.A.
SAVILIAN PROFESSOR OF GEOMETRY, IN THE UNIVERSITY.

(Published at the request of the Congregation.)

OXFORD,
HENRY SLATTER, HIGH STREET;
SEELEY AND BURNSIDE, FLEET STREET, LONDON ;
T. STEVENSON, CAMBRIDGE.
MDCCCXLI.

I rt A ! Price Ninepence.

TO THE WORSHIPFUL
CHARLES TAWNEY, ESQ. MAYOR,
AND THE REST OF THE
CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF OXFORD;
TO THE
REV. W. HAYWARD COX, M.A.
RECTOR OF ST. MARTIN'S ;
AND TO THE PARISHIONERS, AND OTHER MEMBERS
OF THE CONGREGATION,
(At whose request this Discourse is pubUshed),
IT IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,
BY THEIR FAITHFUL SERVANT
THE AUTHOR^

TO THE READER.

In preparing this Discourse for the press, in accordance
with the general request of those to whom it was ad
dressed, I have expressly entitled it " The Substance of a
Sermon," &c., in order to obviate any misapprehension,
should it not be found to stand literally as delivered. I
have also, in some few parts, introduced additional illus
trations, so as, I trust, to render it less unworthy the
perusal of those who, in so gratifying a manner, testified
their interest in the subject of it ; and so as further to
promote the great object which alone I had in view,
whether in the original delivery, or in committing it to
paper.
New College Lane,
Nov. 14, 1841.

COLOSS. CHAP. HI. V. 11.
« CHRIST IS ALL, AND IN ALL,'

This passage may be regarded as a specimen of the
teaching of the New Testament. In a few striking and
comprehensive words there is suggested a wide view of
Christian doctrine ; — words, such that they come home
at once to the mind and conscience of the most ignorant,
if but simple-hearted, and speak with all the plainness of
Divine authority to the humblest apprehension ; so that,
falling on the soil of an honest and good heart, they will
not fail to produce fruit an hundred fold. While, at the
same time, they have a fulness of meaning, to satisfy the
enquiries of those who, by the aid of greater learning
and in the way of rational investigation, would contem
plate the truth in its " length, and breadth, and depth, and
height." In the first place I will endeavour briefly to illustrate
what appears to have been the original intention of the
Apostle in this passage, as referring to the parties whom
he was addressing ; from which we may the more profit
ably advance to its application to ourselves.
The Apostle is primarily referring to what was the
main question in men's minds at that day, viz, the dispute
between the Jewish and Gentile converts ; which, in the
particular case of the Colossians, had also been mixed up
with some further difficulties, owing to the monstrous
doctrines of a prevalent " philosophy," which he calls
" vain deceit." These strange tenets vvere inculcated,
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6
along with those of the Judaizing teachers, who contended
that the Gentile converts were not only to be subject to
the Gospel, but to the Old Testament also.
The Apostle, therefore, at once opposes and condemns
all these pretensions, and upholds the purity of the Gospel
of Christ, its independence of other dispensations, and the
sufficiency and completeness of a simple and practical
faith in Him.
The Jewish convert had been now taught that, even if
he kept the law, he was not thereby justified. A better
law had now been revealed, and he was to be brought to
confess, notwithstanding his high privileges as one of the
chosen people, that he was, nevertheless, a sinner, and
must seek effectual justification on a higher principle,
namely, in faith. If then he was still allowed to continue
in those observances in which he had been brought up, he
was yet not to trust in them, much less was he to think
of attempting to enforce them upon his brethren of the
Gentiles. These indeed were now, as well as the Jew, brought to
acknowledge themselves sinners, and to learn that there
was but one and the same way of salvation, through faith
in Christ, held out to them also. On that simple ground
of acceptance they were therefore exhorted to hold fast.
For them, as well as for the Jew, the real and spiritual
service was to be one and the same : all former distinctions
were done away. " In Him ye are circumcised in the
circumcision made without hands, in putting off' the body
of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ :
buried with Him, in baptism, wherein ye are also risen
with Him" — (chap. ii. v. 1 1 , 12). " And you, being dead
in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he
quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all
trespasses. Blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances

that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it
out of the way, nailing it to His cross" — (v. 13). " Let
no man, therefore, judge you in meat or in drink, or in
respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the
Sabbath days : which are a shadow of things to come, but
the body is of Christ"— (v. 16, 17).
These distinctions were the signs and badges of former
dispensations, but they were inconsistent with the spiritual
system now manifested. Henceforward no kind of meat
was more clean or unclean than another, no one day
more holy than another. The disciples, then, of this
spiritual religion were not to submit to those who would
enforce such things upon them. " Wherefore, if ye be
dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why,
as though living in the world," (that is, under a worldly
or outward system of religious observances) " are ye
subject to ordinances ? touch not, taste not, handle not" —
(v. 20).
Under this new dispensation, then, the Apostle con
tinues, in the next chapter, " Ye have put on the new
man, which is renewed after the image of Him that cre
ated him : where there is neither Greek nor Jew, Barbarian,
Scythian, bond nor free ; but Christ t* all, and in all" —
(chap. iii. v. 10, 11).
Now the grand truth here conveyed is one of universal
import, if rightly considered, and applies directly to our
selves as it did to them. Those earlier dispensations,
suited to the infancy of the world, the new dispensation
has entirely superseded and set aside. Higher and purer
motives and principles are now suggested, through the
word of, Christ's Gospel, adapted to d\ men, even in the
highest stage of civilization and intellectual advancement.
Yet there has been too strong a tendency in human
nature, in a« times, to corrupt the purity and pervert the
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simplicity of those glorious truths, whether by a return to
the precepts of the old Testament, or to inventions to
human, perhaps heathen origin, with which men have
mixed up and confounded the pure doctrine and practice
of the Gospel.
Now against all such erroneous notions and practices
the Apostle's censures, in this passage, are plainly directed ;
and more especially we may find, in the short but striking
expressions which I have chosen as the text, the key of
the whole — a summary view of the real Gospel, which
in itself may serve, when fully considered, effectually to
guard us against all such corruptions of it.
In meditating on the fulness of the instruction summed
up in these few words, and looking to the more precise
exposition of the text from the context, we may in the
first place observe, that the expression " Christ" is here
used, as in many other places, comprehensively for the
whole Gospel or doctrine of Christ — the teaching of sal
vation only through Him. The Apostle, in the foregoing
part of this Epistle, had declared Him to be " the image
of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature" —
(chap. i. v. 15). " The head of the body, the Church" —
(v. 18). And again, " In Him dwelleth all the fulness
of the Godhead bodily ; and ye are complete in Him" —
(chap. ii. v. 9, 10). And, more pointedly, this he says
is " the Gospel" — (chap. i. v. 23). . . " The mystery
now made known". . . " Which is Christ in you,
the hope of glory" — (v. 26, 27).
And further, the inestimable blessings and benefits
which are derived in every way from Him, in His person,
office, teaching, life, death, and resurrection, include all
things needful ; or, as it is elsewhere expressed by the
same Apostle, " He is made unto us wisdom, and right
eousness, and sanctificatlon, and redemption" — (I. Cor.

9
chap. i. V. 30). And the partaking in these benefits is
the true knowledge of Him, through His word : and thus,
in saying that Christ " is all" is implied the entire suffi
ciency of the New Testament revelation alone.
Again, the expression Christ is in all, i. e. all believers,
is singularly forcible. He is not only all things needful
to all believers, but is emphatically in them. That is, all
the benefits obtained through Him and His Gospel, are
here affirmed to be communicated and brought home in a
way the most direct, immediate, and intimate, to the feel
ings and conscience of the believer ; so that he enjoys
those blessings in himself directly from the Divine source.
The expression is similar to that used on many other
occasions, in the New Testament ; and more especially to
the gracious promise of our Lord Himself, that He would
manifest Himself to those who should believe in Him —
that He would be present with them, and dwell in them,
by His Holy Spirit — (John, chap. xiv. 17, 20, 23).
Now the Gospel of Christ, the faith in Him, the
knowledge of Him, can be conveyed, and made known,
and brought home to us, only in and by His word. Once,
indeed, that word was dispensed in His own living
instruction, and the Spirit given to His Apostles ; but, at
the present day we are taught solely through that same
word, left in written records by them, for this very pur
pose ; and in which we consequently drink the same
heavenly stream, pure from the fountain head. I would
dwell especially on this point, as most material to be borne
in mind at this time. The written word of the New
Testament, if it have any truth in it, is the sole authentic
account we have of those things on which our salvation
depends. "These things are written that ye might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that,
believing, ye might have life through His Name" —
B

10
(John, chap. xx. v. 31). In other words, we have our
part in him solely hy faith ; and that faith can only be
rationally grounded on the testimony of the written word.
Upon the whole then, we may learn from this passage,
1st. The completeness and all-sufficiency of the Christian
doctrine, which at the present day is to be found solely
in the New Testament, described in one word as " Christ*
who " is all." 2ndly. The direct, immediate, communi
cation of this doctrine and all its benefits to believers,
emphatically expressed by " Christ" being " in all"
In other words, the Christian is privileged to have
direct access to the source of Divine truth, in Scripture,
and as direct access to the source of all grace, in the
Saviour. In the one without the appeal to any other
authority ; in the other without any other mediator,
whether in heaven or on earth.
But in saying this I do not, of course, intend that
appropriate means and aids are to be neglected ; but only
that they are not to be confounded with the end, the " one
thing needful." We must avail ourselves, for example,
of human teaching, to introduce us to the knowledge and
understanding of the word of God. But such teaching
is not the word of God, but only a help to bringing it
home to us.
Again, the establishment of Churches — forms of wor
ship — an order of Ministers, and the like, are things
valuable and useful, in proportion as they tend to higher
spiritual ends. But in the New Testament I can find no
institution of a priesthood, to dispense Divine grace, or
to intercede between the sinner and his Saviour — the
one High Priest ; no sanctificatlon of days, but of the
heart and life ; no self-denial (in the sense of penance)
but the denial (that is disowning) of ourselves.

11
And the few and simple outward ordinances which are
appointed in the New Testament are to be most highly
valued, and carefully employed, for their spiritual uses ;
not as having any virtue or efficacy in themselves, but as
the signs or emblems of the real blessings conveyed in
Christ. " Baptism," says St. Peter, '* doth save us ;"
" not the puttiug away the filth of the flesh, but the
answer of a good conscience towards God" — (I. Pet. chap.
iii. V. 21). And St. Paul, " The bread which we break,
is it not the communion" (or fellowship) " of the body of
Christ ? for we, being many, are one bread and one
body" — (I. Cor. chap. x. v. 16, 17).
Thus, I conceive, the text points, in one word, to the
real Evangelical religion — " the true preaching of Christ ;"
and in this broad principle, so plain and acceptable, even
to the most illiterate apprehension, we may, I think, find
sure guards against all pretensions which may be set up
to corrupt its simplicity by an appeal to any other autho
rity than that of the written word alone, or any other
real and effectual way of grace and salvation than that
which is found only " in the nam^* of Jesus Christ —
(Acts, chap. iv. v. 12), applied directly to the conscience
and conviction of the individual believer by faith.
Now, as I have said, there are, and have been, many
sorts of pretensions set up in the world, as the true form
and establishment of Christ's kingdom and Church.
Even some scheraes, professedly relying most exclusively
on Scripture, have overlooked the simplicity of the New
Testament religion. But, for the present, we will con
sider an application of the principles here laid down, which
may much concern us in these times.
We make a common profession of being Protestants :
let us look more particularly to the real nature and mean
ing of this profession. We protest against certain cor-

12
ruptions of Christianity. On what ground do we venture
to call them corruptions ? I answer, on the ground of the
New Testament, and that alone. That alone can tell us
authentically what Christianity is : by that standard alone
can we judge of its purity or of its corruptions.
What are the corruptions against which we more espe
cially protest ? Corruptions of the simplicity and purity
of the Christian faith, in fact, began in very early times.
They all crept in gradually. Successive ages of darkness
and general barbarism were marked by a corresponding
ignorance and disuse of Scripture ; this opened the door
to all kinds of human inventions, received as Divine.
Hence a multitude of doctrines, forms, rites, and observ
ances, came to be taught and received as what they called
the traditions of the Church, which had equal authority
with Divine revelation.
Thus they " made the word of God of none effect
through their traditions ;" " teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men" — (Mark, chap. vii. v. 7> 13).
The appeal to the written word was lost : another authority
was set up. To this men's minds were made to bow in
abject submission. And such authority once established,
of course became supreme and uncontrolled : there could
now be no check, no limit to the inventions which might
be successfully imposed on the people, ignorant and wil
ling to be deceived, by a designing and skilful priesthood.
It is not my purpose to enter on any details of the
doctrines thus inculcated ; it will suffice (especially in
accordance with the main topic of this discourse) to look
simply to one broad, distinguishing principle of these cor
ruptions. The multitude of forms, observances, prohi
bitions, and inventions, ceremonies, and austerities, in
which the practical perversion of all Gospel simplicity
was manifested, might indeed be found pointedly con-

13
demned, in the very letter of the passages already referred
to in the portion of the Epistle from which the text is
taken, (see especially v. 18, 20 — 23).
But, as I said, let us confine ourselves to the broad,
plain ground which is suggested by the text. It is the
grand characteristic of all these corruptions, however
ancient, (in what was called the Catholic Church), to
exalt the ministration and power of the priesthood
above the spiritual privileges of the individual believer ;
to place the authority of the Church above that of
Scripture. Thus such a system stands directly opposed
to the simplicity of the religion of the New Testament,
as we have above considered it. It takes away the imme
diate appeal to the written word : it restrains the believer
from drinking directly at the fountain-head of the waters
of life : it interposes the ministrations of a priesthood
between the sinner and his Saviour : it converts the use
of the outward signs or emblems of grace into the
effectual act of conferring it : and invests uninspired
men with the powers of the Apostles.
The Reformation cleared away a vast mass of these
corruptions. But its main and most invaluable fruit was
the establishment, on a basis never to be shaken, of the
one high and paramount privilege of the immediate resort
of the believer to the Divine source of truth ; the direct
appeal to the vvritten word, which was placed iu the hands
of all. And thus, in the full sense of the words, the
Reformation was the restoration of the true preaching of
the Gospel, the doctrine of Christ all and in all.
And this, I believe, was the great secret of its success
among the less educated classes. Such great truths are
of a very plain and simple nature ; when seen by the
light of Scripture they require no learning to render
them intelligible, they are, in fact, often most powerfully

14

felt and understood by the most unlearned. The simple,
comprehensive declarations of the written word often
(we may hope widely^ make their appeal even to the
most uninstructed minds with a degree of force and
freshness which the most exalted attainments fail to sup
ply. Yet there must be, at least, a desire for such
knowledge ; and the more the spirit of enquiry is called
forth, the more will the simple view of Scripture truth
prevail. The people had long been held in ignorance
of the word of God, which was shut up from them in a
foreign language.
But in the age of the Reformation there was a faint
dawn of more general enlightenment, which opened the
eyes of the many to the spiritual despotism under which
they had been so long enslaved. It was especially evinced
in the increasing desire for a knowledge of the Scriptures
in their own language.
And thus the spread of knowledge and general en
lightenment will always be eminently favourable to true
Protestantism ; that is, in other words, to pure Scriptural
Christianity. Let not Protestants, then, forget their main
ground of trust. Let them not perplex themselves, and
waste their strength in vain disputes on lesser matters ;
but hold resolutely to the broad principle of the Bible, and
every man's right to search it and think for himself, on
which alone the Reformation proceeded, or was, in fact,
justifiable. Let them consider well, and remember that,
in one word. Protestantism is Scripture.
The peculiar circumstances of the present times, the
state of religion araong ourselves, are such as call loudly
upon all true Protestants to be on their guard, and to
rally round their Scriptural standard ; to see the necessity
of well surveying their real position, and assuring them
selves of its security.

15
Popery is said to be on the increase. It may be so,
it is not from this that I apprehend danger. It is not by
a senseless clamour against Popery — it is not by party
violence, or intolerant condemnation of those who have an
equal right with ourselves to follow their own mode of
worship, erroneous as we may deem it, that we shall
consult our own religious interests. It is against danger
of another kind that my warning is especially directed.
There are other perversions of the simplicity of Gospel
truth besides those properly designated as Popish. There
are corruptions of Christianity, which, if not Popish, are
not the less at variance with the Scriptural principles of
Protestantism. There were corruptions in other ages,
before those strictly belonging to the Church of Rome
began, and in which, in fact, these errors were fostered
and nourished.
Tenets of this kind, in my opinion not less calculated
to endanger the siraplicity of a Gospel faith, at the present
time are widely propagated among us in this place, and
within the pale of the Established Church. Against that
system, as both in doctrine and practice greatly at vari
ance with the plain teaching of the New Testaraent,
striking, indeed, at the very root of Scriptural faith, by
setting up the authority of tradition, I have on other
occasions protested ; and I anxiously seize the public
opportunity now afforded me of holding forth a warning,
which may reach many who cannot but have heard much
of these things, and who may be led aside by the plausible
representations of them, while I endeavour to supply to
the unlearned believer a simple and plain safeguard against
such errors.
Such tenets have been called Popish, or accused at
least of a tendency to Popery. This is literally

18
place, by Ministers of the Established Church, to enforce
this very practice on those under their influence.
Such facts speak for themselves, and must, I think,
open the eyes of the most incredulous or indifferent.
Many, perhaps, may be startled by what they may deem
pushing things to such extremes. For my own part, I
think it is merely following out the principle to a small
extent of its legitimate consequences.
Far be it from me to mention these things in the spirit
of controversial uncharitableness, and still less of personal
reproach. But they ought to be exposed as a warning ;
they are a clear sign of what we may expect : and
they should be tumed by those who hear them to a
serious use, in carefully guarding against the first admis
sion of errors in principle, which can terminate in such
practices. Such has been simply my object in bringing these points
before you. Such the aim of this whole discourse : and
I will conclude by briefly exhorting all who value their
advantages as Christians and Protestants, to look to
themselves and to the grounds of their faith ; to consider
how precious and invaluable are their Scriptural privileges,
and the enjoyment of such knowledge of, and such com
munion with, the " one mediator" as those referred to in
the text.
If the present be an age of increasing knowledge, let
us be careful that our religious knowledge increase in
the same proportion, by careful study, according to our
several abilities, of the Divine word. The spirit of the
Reformation is the spirit of enlightenment and free
Scriptural enquiry. Our boast and privilege is our
unrestricted access to the source of Divine truth, accom
panied, as it must be, if we eff"ectually avail ourselves
of it, with an increasing " growth in grace and the

ly
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ" — (II. Pet. chap.
iii. V. 18). But there is much highly pleasing to human
nature in rather resigning ourselves into the hands of
others, and yielding to the claims of an infallible authority.
There is a strong propensity in human infirmity to turn
away from a spiritual service to a religion of forms and
dogmas — from rational truth to superstitious formalities.
Let us (in conclusion) take instruction from the case
of some disciples to whom our Lord announced the more
high and spiritual truths of his religion. We read, when
they heard these things they were offended, and fol
lowed him no more : — " Jesus said unto the twelve, will
ye also go away ?" " Then Simon Peter answered Him,"
(and in the full sense of that answer may we have grace
truly and practically to join), " Lord, to whom shall we
go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life" — (John, chap.
vi. V. 66—68).

THE END.

f rinted by J. MuiiUay, jun. Queen-street, Oxford.

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