Nevertheless, how clear Scripture is upon the subject ! The
Bishop of Carlisle says :-
" Bishop Gore says that preachers of the Gospel are bound not to strive and please men. True ! But are they not equally bound to strive to please God ? Yet how can it be pleasing to the Founder of the Christian Faith to equate His Faith with ecclesiastical order and to teach as necessary to salvation doc- trines not even alluded to by Him or by His Apostles ? In the collection of Christ's sayings, commonly called the Sermon on the Mount, the traditions and principles, which Bishop Gore calls ' Catholic,' are not only not approved, but by implication are severely condemned for their pride and partiality. . Moreover, Christ said that whoever built the house of his life on His sayings, which contain none of these Catholic traditions and principles, would find that he had built on rock. But whosoever built on any other foundation would find that he had built on sand."
This splendid passage expresses. all that we feel about the true authority of the Church of England. We have never seen the case better stated. It would have been impossible to- denounce
—for the Bishop of Carlisle's words are really a noble denun-
ciation—in more courteous yet more shattering language the sacerdotal argument that it is necessary in the Divine interest to shut the gates of mercy on mankind.
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