good will and to those who honestly seek the truth, and conscientiously act according to their judgment, though they do not belong to our communion, let us conduct ourselves with forbearance and courtesy, with charity and respect. But in tenderness for the persons of those who separate themselves from the Church, let us not forget the essential character of the act ;-let us not forget that religious discord and disunion are positive infractions of the Divine law!-let us not forget that by that law religious agreement and unity are commanded! Be it then, my brethren, our earnest endeavour and prayer, that "we all may be one;" obeying the will, and hoping for the commendation, of that gracious Being, whose favour above all things we should seek to procure, as we should be above all things studious of his glory; whilst we labour to promote the welfare of that Church, in which we continually pray "that He will deliver us from all false doctrine, heresy, and schism;" and which we continually beseech Him to visit with "the healthful Spirit of his grace" that Church, which we humbly but confidently believe, to be an Apostolical, a Scriptural, a Spiritual, and a Holy Church; "the Church," in its national capacity, "of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."

O Almighty God, who hast built thy Church

upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the head cornerstone: grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their doctrine, that we may be made an holy temple acceptable unto Thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen1.

'Collect for St. Simon and St. Jude's day.

DISCOURSE V.

THE CHURCH'S JUDGMENT ON THE NECESSITY OF HOLDING THE CATHOLICK FAITH.

MARK XVI. 15, 16.

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Ir is the judgment of the Church, established by the good Providence of God in this country, that wherever the Christian religion is made known to mankind, it is necessary for all persons to believe it; to believe it "whole and undefiled," in its integrity and in its purity, as they value a participation in that salvation, which Christianity announces and confers. The truth of this judgment should seem to be unquestionable with all those who admit the authority of holy Scripture: for it is the obvious result, or rather it is the very purport itself, of our blessed Saviour's declaration :

when, having commissioned his Apostles to "go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” He apprized them of the twofold consequence of their preaching; "he that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved : but he that believeth not shall be damned." As however there are some even amongst the professors of Christianity, who dispute the truth of this judgment; as the subject itself is evidently one of the greatest moment; and as the character of the Church is involved in the decision of the question; your attention, I think, will be not ill bestowed upon a more particular consideration of the scriptural authority upon which this judgment rests.

Different ages are distinguished from each other by peculiar modes of thinking and acting. This variety is exemplified, not only in things indifferent and variable in their own nature, but in others, the obligations of which are peremptory, and the character fixed and permanent. The doctrines of religion and the requisitions of morality are not exempted from its influence. In these also there is a fashion, with which, according to the common propensity of human nature, we are more or less inclined to comply.

The peculiar character of the present age is sometimes denoted, perhaps not unaptly, by the term liberality: a term of ambiguous import, and therefore denoting a quality of questionable price.

For if by liberality be intended a generous freedom from irrational prejudices in the forming of our opinions, or a courteous and benignant manner in maintaining them, it is a quality highly to be prized, and diligently to be cultivated. But if by liberality be intended a licentiousness of sentiment, careless about the grounds of the opinions which it adopts, and indifferent to the essential distinction between right and wrong, truth and falsehood, it is a quality worthless in itself, and noxious in its consequences. In the former sense liberality is strictly agreeable to the spirit and the dictates of the Christian religion. In the latter sense it is no less manifestly at variance with them. Liberality in the former sense is exemplified in the "nobleness" of conduct of those Bereans, who, when St. Paul laid before them the truths of the Gospel, "received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily whether the things" preached to them "were so1:" or in the resolute and impressive, but temperate and respectful, language of St. Paul himself, when to the accusation of Festus, that "much learning had made him mad," he replied, "I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness 2;" or when he answered the avowal of Agrippa, "Almost thou

1 Acts xvii. 11.

2

Acts xxvi. 24, 25.