Page:Tracts for the Times Vol 2.djvu/512

2 Church, as confessed in the Creed, and maintained by the Church of England, in her Prayer Book and by her great Divines, at this day. It seems to have been written in consequence of a noted religious disturbance of the day, called the Novatian Schism

"Forasmuch as our Lord has given us these words of admonition, 'Ye are the salt of the earth,' and commands us not only to maintain an innocent simplicity of character, but to be prudent as well as simple; ought we not, therefore, my beloved brethren, to keep ourselves ever on the watch, and by anxious and active vigilance to detect and disarm the treachery of our spiritual foe? Let not us, who in Christ have been clothed with wisdom from God the Father, yet prove ourselves to lack wisdom for the protection of our eternal interests. The servants of God have other species of hostility to fear, besides that which would overthrow them by direct opposition, and undisguised assaults. It is easy to be cautious if the danger is before our eyes; for when the foe declares himself, the mind is forearmed for the battle. But fear and caution become more needful, when the enemy steals upon us in a lurking way, and deceives by pretence of amity: an enemy that moves towards his ends by gestures of so subtle a description as to have acquired therefrom the name of Serpent. Such ever have been the arts of that being: such the dark and insidious plots, by which he makes man his victim; by such, in the beginning of the world, he wrought his deceptions, and deceived, with the blandishment of lying flatteries, the incautious credulity of simple souls. And so too he tried to tempt the Lord Himself, approaching Him by stealth, as if, for the second time, he would gain his end by evading suspicion: he was however detected and overpowered, his repulse resulting from his detection. Here, then, we have a lesson before us, of avoiding the way of 'the old man,' and treading in the footsteps of our victorious Saviour; lest we fall back, from incaution, into the