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THE CANDIDATES

ORDAINED AT CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL, DUBLIN,

ON SUNDAY, THE 22ND AUGUST, 1847,

THIS DISCOURSE,

PUBLISHED AT THEIR REQUEST,

IS DEDICATED,

WITH EARNEST WISHES FOR THEIR PRESENT AND ETERNAL WELFARE,

AND FOR THE DIVINE BLESSING ON THEIR MINISTERIAL LABOURS,

BY THEIR SINCERE FRIEND AND FELLOW-LABOURER,

THE AUTHOR.

THE

SEARCH AFTER INFALLIBILITY.

Acтs, xx. 29, 30, 31.

"I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night

and day with tears."

THIS parting admonition of the Apostle Paul to the Christian ministers of the Churches of Miletus and Ephesus, cannot be read by any careful student of Scripture without deep interest. But it will be found, on attentive reflection, to suggest even more matter for profitable meditation, and even more of instructive practical lessons, than might at first sight

appear.

And to some of these I propose now to call attention.

your

I. In the first place you will observe, that what the Apostle here says to the clergy whom he is addressing, is of a piece with much that we find in several of his Epistles. In his Epistles to the Corinthians, especially the Second, he warns them against "false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ, and ministers of righteousness;" even as "Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light:"-men seeking to disparage Paul's apostolic authority, and to introduce doctrines opposed to his. "There must be," says he, "heresies among you, that they which are approved [Sokiμo] may be made manifest among you."-1 Cor. xi. 19. The Epistle to the Galatians, again, is almost made up of similar cautions. The Philippians also are warned [chap. iii.], in like manner, to be on their guard against teachers who corrupted the Gospel. Cautions of the same kind are addressed to almost all the other Churches to which he wrote; and both Timothy and Titus are earnestly and repeatedly exhorted to watch against the inroads of these corruptions. The Apostle Peter also cautions the disciples against those "unlearned and unstable" persons, who "wrest," he tells them, "the Scriptures to their own destruction."

The Apostle John, again, in his Epistles, is chiefly occupied in warning his hearers against those false prophets, those "wolves, in sheep's clothing,"-of whom his Master had prophesied, and bid His disciples beware.

years.

And here we find Paul, in his farewell address to the Elders, earnestly reiterating the solemn warning of this danger, which, he tells them, he had been continually repeating for three "From among themselves," he tells them,-" from the very bosom of their own Church,"-men will arise teaching perverted doctrines (a), "to draw away [the] disciples(b) after themselves."

such

Now it might seem wonderful, or even incredible, if we had not these records before us, that any thing should have taken place; I mean, that in the very times of the Apostles themselves, whose authority from Heaven was attested by their miraculous powers, any false teachers should have not only arisen, but should have gained a hearing, and been able to draw away the disciples by pretending to an authority equal or superior to that of the genuine Apostles. And if we had not providentially pos

(α) διεστραμμενα.

(6) τους μαθητας.