Untitled - Electric Scotland

1 86o-68] CONSECRATION OF ALL SAINTS 421
could at all times approach similar questions in St. Paul s spirit,
free from all strife and uncharitableness, yet never flinching from
maintaining the paramount majesty
of Christian truth. . . .
This building which we are met to consecrate to-day, during its
time of erection, has been a sort of rallying-point for two sorts of
persons, who have sought the one to exaggerate every point in its
ornamental details, as if the richness of its ornaments was neces
sarily connected with unsound doctrines and a dereliction of the
the other, as if this beautiful
pure Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ ;
and expensive adornment secured a holier worship and more last
ing impression of spiritual truths on wavering human souls.
My friends, I appeal to all of you, as you shall answer to God, in
soberness to consider that the costly beauty of this house in
which you worship does neither of itself secure nor endanger
your Christian faith. . . . There are, of course, two kinds of
minds within our pale, one of which takes great pleasure in such
costly ornaments as now surround us ; the other, which finds in
them no help to its earnest aspirations after spiritual truth. The
latter class, I presume, are not
the worshippers
likely to be found often amongst
in this place. To the former I would say, in all
affectionateness, while you thankfully acknowledge the munifi
cence with which this church has been prepared to suit your
peculiar tastes, be very careful, I beseech you, that in all your
worship here, you surround yourselves, through the Lord Jesus
Christ s help, with a beauty far above that of outward adornment
-the beauty of a pure Gospel faith, and of a simple, earnest, self-
denying Christian life. I truly believe that in these days, both
amongst High Church and Low Church, there are persons who
are tired of the miserable controversies that have long divided
Christendom, and who simply desire, while using the liberty
allowed them to follow their own tastes in things indifferent, to
worship the Lord Jesus Christ faithfully, and to follow Him in
their lives. God grant that the church opened this day may be
no cause of any fresh dissensions, but a fresh help to those whose
tastes it gratifies to serve the Lord faithfully according to the
form they love. . . . Beware also lest, in your zeal for antiquity,
you be not ancient enough going back to the wavering followers
of the Apostles, and not to the Apostles themselves. Alas ! we
must speak in this language of warning, for the age in which
we live has produced many sad examples of very many persons,
trained in the pure Gospel teaching of our Apostolic Church, led