TRANSFIGURATION DAY OF THE CHURCH

ARCHBISHOP THOMAS CRANMER - On Holy Scripture:

JOHN BUNYON, Pilgrims Progress

 

 LEARN TO DIE

THE FAMILY ALTAR 

August 6.

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether

they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into

the world." 1 John 4:1.

There were many false prophets, or false teachers of religion,

in the days of the apostles, as there are now. And they were just

as dangerous then as they are at present. They all came in "sheep's

clothing," in the guise of great sanctity and of love for their

fellow-men. But whoever believed and followed them was robbed

of his saving faith in Christ and perished. Hence the first Chris-

tians had to be on their guard against them, as we must be. They

could and did "try the spirits." They had an unerring standard

by which they could discover every false teaching and teacher.

That was and is the clear and all-sufficient Word of God. The

curse of our age is that the great majority of Christians have

grown indifferent to the Word of God, no longer making it their

only rule and guide in matters of religion. Hence they fall such

an easy victim to the popular heresies of our age. No more vicious,

no more dangerous false doctrine could the arch-enemy of Christ

and His blessed Gospel have invented than the one we hear

preached from countless pulpits to-day: "It does not matter what

a man believes; as long as he is sincere in his belief, God will

save him." But it does matter. It mattered very much when

an engineer on a fast express mistook a red signal for a white

one and killed and maimed dozens of his passengers. All his

sincere belief did not prevent the disaster. As we love our soul's

eternal salvation, let us obey the warning voice of our Savior:

"Beware of false prophets," and, "Try the spirits" — all teachers

of religion — according to the divine rule of God's enlightening

and saving Word. Only then are we safe.