It may be added that the doctrine of the Apostolic Church is eminently practical.  The great object of the mission of Jesus was to “save His people from their sins;” [198:4] and the tendency of all the teachings of the New Testament is to promote sanctification.  But the holiness of the gospel is not a shy asceticism which sits in a cloister in moody melancholy, so that its light never shines before men; but a generous consecration of the heart to God, which leads us to confess Christ in the presence of gainsayers, and which prompts us to delight in works of benevolence.  The true Christian should be happy as well as holy; for the knowledge of the highest truth is connected with the purest enjoyment.  This “wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.” [199:1] The Apostle Paul, when a prisoner at Rome, had comforts to which Nero was an utter stranger.  Even then he could say—­“I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content.  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound; everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” [199:2] When all around the believer may be dark and discouraging, there may be sunshine in his soul.  There are no joys comparable to the joys of a Christian.  They are the gifts of the Spirit of God, and the first-fruits of eternal blessedness; they are serene and heavenly, solid and satisfying.

CHAPTER III.

THE HERESIES OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE.

The Greek word translated heresy [200:1] in our authorised version of the New Testament, did not primarily convey an unfavourable idea.  It simply denoted a choice or preference.  It was often employed to indicate the adoption of a particular class of philosophical sentiments; and thus it came to signify a sect or denomination.  Hence we find ancient writers speaking of the heresy of the Stoics, the heresy of the Epicureans, and the heresy of the Academics.  The Jews who used the Greek language did not consider that the word necessarily reflected on the party it was intended to describe; and Josephus, who was himself a Pharisee, accordingly discourses of the three heresies of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. [200:2] The Apostle Paul, when speaking of his own history prior to his conversion, says, that “after the strictest heresy” of his religion he lived a Pharisee. [200:3] We learn, too, from the book of the Acts, that the early Christians were known as “the heresy of the Nazarenes.” [200:4] But very soon the word began to be employed to denote something which the gospel could not sanction; and accordingly, in the Epistle to the Galatians, heresies are enumerated among the works of the flesh. [200:5] It is not difficult to explain why Christian writers