Page:Tracts for the Times Vol 1.djvu/439

Rh Mark viii. 11, 12, where his feelings and judgment upon it are also told us:—"And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with Him, seeking of Him a sign from heaven, tempting Him. And He sighed deeply in His spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? Verily I say unto you, There shall no sign he given unto this generation. And He left them."

We are warned against the same hard, intractable temper in the book of Psalms:—"I will inform thee, and teach thee in the way wherein thou shalt go; and I will guide thee with Mine eye. Be ye not like to horse and mule, which have no understanding; whose mouths must be held with bit and bridle, lest they fall upon thee." Ps. xxxii. 9, 10. This stubborn spirit, which yields to nothing but violence, is determined to feel Christ's yoke ere it submits to it, will not see except in broad day-light, and like the servant who hid his talent, is ever making excuses, murmuring, doubting, grudging obedience, and stifling docile and open-hearted faith, is the spirit of ultra-Protestantism, i. e. that spirit, to which the principles of Protestantism tend, and which they have in a great measure realized. On this subject the reader may consult Nos. 4, 8, and 19, of this series of Tracts.

Now to apply this to the doctrines, at present so much undervalued, which it is the especial object of these Tracts to enforce.

When a clergyman has spoken strongly in defence of Episcopacy, a hearer will go away saying, that there is much very able and forcible, much very eloquent and excellent, in what he has just heard; but after all, there is very little about Episcopacy in Scripture. This is the point to which a shrewd, clear-headed reasoner will resort,—"after all;" we come round and round to it; the doctrine advocated is plausible, useful, generally received hitherto;—granted,—but Scripture says very little about it.

Now it cannot be for a moment allowed, that Scripture contains little on the subject of Church Government; though it may readily be granted that it obtrudes on the reader little about it. The doctrine is in it, not on it; not on the surface. This need not be proved here, since the subject has been variously considered in former Numbers of this series. But it may be useful in a few words to shew how the state of the argument and controversy concerning Episcopacy, illustrates the above remarks, and how