Rose,

Your description of salvation-by-sacrament in the Church of England reads like a description of the Federal Vision heresy that masquerades as "orthodoxy" in my own denomination.

I have heard more than one knowledgeable seminarian theorize that it takes only about 40 years for a denomination to become apostate, no matter how pure it was at the start, and it seems that the "good guys" are always the ones who have to separate and start over while the "bad guys" remain in control of the denomination, it's seminaries, it's physical and financial assets, and most of it's clergy.

It really makes Pilgrim's "remnant" remarks come to light in a new way. But the wonderful, glorious thing is that God always has a people who remain faithful to Him, scattered (often among the membership of those apostate "churches") and small in number at any given time, yet when counted cumulatively across the centuries of time, a huge multitude from every race, tribe, language, people, and nation. What a reunion that is going to be!

-R