of the Apostles in their office and ministry. It is the appointment of God, that they should do this, and who is there to darken his counsels or to contend with him? Not the preacher of to-day, who upon diligent examination of his word, perceives the angel of the Church at Ephesus to be commended in these words, "thou hast tried them which say they are Apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:" Who discovers in the short epistle of Jude, that the crime, just recited from the old dispensation, may be and was actually committed under the new. "These," he declares, “speak evil of things which they know not." "Wo unto them! for they have" "perished in the gainsaying of Core." Who finds St. Paul proclaiming to the holy Brethren among the Hebrews concerning the priesthood, "No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also," he continues, “Christ glorified not himself to be made a High Priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee." For "though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered."

It is not then a light thing, as some persons are fain to imagine, to take upon themselves the office of an ambassador for Christ, un certain or careless, whether they have or have not obtained it through the right channel, and from the requisite authority. It is rather a most solemn and serious transaction. One, that cannot be too intensely studied, or too ardently desired to be received according to the appointment of heaven. A slight research will almost invariably result in the opinion, that one denomination is as lawful as another, and one set of ministers, as duly authorized as another. But this is not the language of the bible, and when ye consider the multitude of evils springing from our numerous divisions, our endless heresies and schisms; can ye wonder that it is not? Can ye wonder, when that bible is thus strangely perverted, and every whim of man is but the precursor of new efforts to rend the body of Christ, that the evil days are not shortened, and that the dawn of millenial union and glory still refuses to appear?

Such wonder exists not with me. I look for no good thing that can come out of schism. I look for no millenium, until sectarians, after the future manner of the wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the kid, shall dwell and lie down together in the courts of the same house of our God; until, like the predicted nations, they shall beat

their partisan swords and spears into real spiritual ploughshares and pruning hooks, and learn the art of polemick war no more. And therefore, do I justify myself for embarking in these discourses, sustained as I am, by the hope of gaining some converts upon principle to the Church and ministry of the Lord's Anointed. And having embarked, "For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth." Wherever there is a true Christian, let him erect what banner he pleases, I will bid him, with regard to his internal religion, his experimental faith and practice," God speed." But nevertheless know ye Brethren assuredly, that union should be the watchword of all believers in Jesus, and at the same time, that so far as the general religious prosperity is concerned, all professed union is no better than schism, until there be but one visible Church, as there is but one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.

Hasten then, we beseech thee, gracious God, a union so fervently to be implored. Hasten the arrival of that day, when light shall come upon Jerusalem, and thy glory rise upon her; when the Gentiles shall come to her light and kings to the brightness of her rising; when her sons shall come from far, and her daughters be nursed at her side; when the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto her, and a multitude of precious offerings shall come up with acceptance on thine altar, and thou shalt glorify the house of thy glory. These things would we pray for, with one accord. These things, out of thine infinite mercy, do thou grant; and to thee, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three persons and one God, shall be ascribed all glory, and honour, and dominion, and praise, world without end. AMEN.

SERMON V.

ISAIAH lxii. 1.

For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.

IN introducing the testimony of the fathers of the Church, in relation to the government and ministry established therein, by the holy Apostles, I have already represented, that the principles upon which the inquiry should be conducted are very important and even essential, and that to be understood, they should be explained with the utmost clearness and precision.

You are doubtless aware, that all the various denominations of protestant Christians are exceedingly tenacious in holding up the bible as the sole rule of their faith and practice; and not one of them has been more plain and explicit, on this very material point, than the Church to which we profess to belong. According to her sixth article, "Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation." With this doctrine I most cordially concur. have not the remotest idea of recognising any religious system whatever, as a standard of authority, independent of that blessed volume, which alone contains the written revelation of God's will. To this alone I bow with reverential awe, and in the spirit of a rational and confiding faith.

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And yet, who does not know, that from this one inspired source are drawn a vast variety of opposing creeds? It is the common standard of Catholick and Protestant, of Churchman and Dissenter, of Trinitarian and Anti-Trinitarian, of Calvinist and Arminian. All these, with many more entertaining opinions diametrically at variance, the one with the other; all these appeal to the same divine revelation, and thence deduce their respective rites and dogmas.

Under such circumstances, to pretend that the several sects are alike just and right, in their different views and inferences, would be to deprive the scriptures of all harmony and all certainty. The same passage would be made in one mouth, to assert the everlasting, and in another, the limited punishment of the wicked. And certainly, by no process of reasoning, with which I am acquainted, can it be made to appear, that these discordant assertions are both true, and that a most palpable contradiction in terms is in fact no contradiction. The same may be said of all other debatable opinions. If both sides are to be considered equally entitled to credit, there is an end to the unchangeable character and consistency of God and his word. We are at perfect liberty to believe what we list, and to construct a thousand forms of doctrine, no matter how great may be the contrast, how irreconcilable the sentiments. But conscious as I am, that nothing of this kind can be justly imputed to the scriptures, it is with me a solemn and serious truth, that they speak but one language, and impose upon us the obligation of endeavouring to interpret them in singleness of heart and unity of mind.

Where then are we may refer our differ

Still however we differ; we cannot agree. to look for a competent tribunal, to which we ences, and consent to abide by its decision? In this life I know of none, unless it be the uninspired writings of those, who first believed in Christ. Some of them were cotemporary and personally acquainted with the Apostles, and consequently in possession of much greater advantages, than we can possibly enjoy for ascertaining, if not the precise doctrines, at least the precise institutions of those immediate companions and servants of Christ.

Suppose, for example, that one of our age had constantly associated with the Apostles, and by the good providence of God had been permitted to remain to this time; suppose, that as a Christian of blameless life and conversation, he was every way worthy of our confidence in his veracity; would he not be able most satisfactorily to settle such questions, as these: Did the Apostles admit infants to baptism? Did they in celebrating the rite sprinkle or immerse? Did they recognise a change of the sabbath from the last to the first day of the week? Or to come more immediately within the design of these discourses: Did they establish the one single order of presbyters in the ministry, or the three distinct orders of

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bishops, presbyters, and deacons? Most clearly there can be but one opinion upon such a statement. We should all be willing to admit the superiour accuracy of his knowledge to our own, and as readily agree to be governed by the decisive testimony he would be enabled to bear.

This then, as 1 conceive, is the very attitude occupied by the primitive fathers, with the single exception, that being dead they yet speak by the works, which they have left behind. They either lived with the Apostles, or in some instances soon after; they enjoyed all the facilities for information, connected with that early age and their peculiar situation; they were humble, pious, and holy men of God; they evinced their faithfulness unto death, in cheerfully submitting to the pains and penalties of martyrdom; they committed their knowledge of the Christian Church to paper; their writings have been preserved pure and unadulterated to our age, and are at this moment as credible and authentick, as they were at the moment, they were first composed.

And now I demand, in what light are they to be regarded? Not as divine authority, not as equally binding and imperative with the letter of the Scriptures; but as the declarations of so many impartial and disinterested witnesses of facts, which came under their own observation, and about which, they could be no more mistaken, than you can be of the nature of the government under which you live, that it is republican, and not monarchical; that its institutions are free, proceeding from the will of the people, and not arbitrary, from the nod of a despot. In determining the true sense of those passages of the scriptures, which relate to the ministry of Christ's Church, and concerning which, there is so much controversy existing at the present day, growing out of sectarian feeling and prejudice; where then can you discover another tribunal, in all respects, perfectly fair and impartial, as the tribunal furnished by the fathers? It may not, cannot be. I would far sooner disbelieve, that Alexander erossed the Hellespont, and Cæsar, the Rubicon, than deny all credibility to those numerous attestations, with which they prove episcopacy to have been universally established in the Church, by the Apostles of Christ.

I will here present you with a few of the most decided and unequivocal character. To begin with Ignatius, the successor of Peter in the Apostolick office at Antioch, appointed by him, and whose