Sermons for the Day

Transcribed from the 1866 Hatchard and Co. edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
BY REV. EDWARD HOARE, INCUMBENT OF TRINITY CHURCH, TUNBRIDGE WELLS.
LONDON: HATCHARD AND CO. 187 PICCADILLY, Booksellers to H. R. H. the Princess of Wales and the Royal Family.
1866.
LONDON: Strangeways and Walden, Printers, 28 Castle St. Leicester Sq.
Heb. x. 12. “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.”
We live in very anxious times. Different phases of error are following each other with great rapidity, like waves before the gale on a stormy sea. A very short time ago we were deeply distressed by the sceptical tendencies of certain able writers,—tendencies still in rapid progress, though public attention has been recently directed into another channel. Now we are startled by the open declaration of Romish doctrine, and open practice of Romish ceremonial, by men who have accepted office in a church which declares these very doctrines to be “blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits.” It has become, therefore, absolutely necessary that we should understand the reasons why the Church of England has separated from that of Rome, and why it is that we raise our voice against these innovations. I am well aware that such a subject is distasteful to many minds. Some shrink from the trouble of controversy, and would rather have their whole attention fixed on that which they find helpful to their own souls. Others think it uncharitable; and maintain that, provided a person be conscientious in his practice, we need feel no anxiety about the truth or error of his creed. But I am persuaded that it will not do so to deal with truth. These are days in which we must know what we believe, and why we believe it. If we desire to stand fast, we must know our standing-ground. And if we desire to see our young people growing up as witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ, we must not merely strive to call forth in them a religion of feeling, but must train them in sound Scriptural principles, that they may be able to give an answer to every one who asketh them a reason of the hope that is in them. The Romish question is forced upon us by the enormous efforts which the Church of Rome is making for the recovery of its ancient supremacy in England; and I must say, and say it with the deepest grief and humiliation, I fear we have been betrayed, in many cases, by men who, as clergymen of the Church of England, have pledged themselves to the very principles they are betraying. It is high time, therefore, that we should understand the ground of our solemn protest against Rome, and that we should not merely study truth in its simplicity, but study it likewise in its opposition to Romish error. I purpose, however, God helping me, to direct your thoughts this morning to one point of the controversy. I cannot attempt the many points on which we are at issue. I confine myself, therefore, to one; and that is, the teaching of the word of God with reference to our exalted Saviour, in opposition to the teaching of Rome in the doctrine of transubstantiation. May the Lord direct our studies, and write His own truth most deeply on our hearts!