The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-06-01 00:00:00

VISITATION OF THE LORD BISHOP OF

CHESTER

The lord bishop of the diocese held his visitation at St.
Peter's Church, yesterday, which was attended by a large
body of the clergy. The Rev. Jonathrn Brooks, senior
rector, read prayers, and the sermon was preached by the
Rev. W. W. Ewbank, incumbent of St. George's Church,
Everton. The rev. gentleman selected as his text the 26th
verse of the xiv. chapter of St. John-7-" But the Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my
name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to
your remembrance whatsoever 1 have said." The sermon
was peculiarly appropriate.
After the sermon, the names of the clergymen in the
Liverpool division of the deanery were called over by the
diocesan registrar.
The lord bishop, having taken his seat, then delivered the
following charge :
My Reverend Brethren,—The course of years has glided
quickly on, and I am again permitted to come officially among
you as a witness of your exertions, the adviser of your diffi-
culties, and the encourager of your labours. Many whom I
see around me, I now meet for the fifth time. whilst others
who once filled up our number, and had all our company,
are gone to their great account. I feel convinced that in the
nearer prospect of this change, they did not repent of their
work of faith or their labour of love ; that their zeal did not
seem to have been too rigid, their devotedness too complete,
their labours too unsparing. May God give us all grace to
remember that Re remain still entrusted with that steward-
ship which in many cases has been brought to a close, and
that it is required from stewards that they be found faithful !
The years to which we look back as having been united
together in the duties of the ministry have been eventful
years, not marked indeed with such outward changes in the
history of nations as many of those which preceded, but dis-
distinguished by domestic occurrences more important to the
church, and more affecting its various interests. Some of
them were thought even to endanger her constitution as a
national establishment. Upon the one side there have been
fears, and upon the other side hopes, that the time was ap-
proaching when her 'vantage-ground would be cut away, and
her outward and earthly barriers overthrown. By God's
blessing, the fears and the hopes have been alike disap-
pointed ; and the clouds which are now fast passing off have
not been without their use, for they have cleared the atmos-
phere' and enabled us to perceive upon what alone the secu-
rity of the church as a national establishment must depend.
Being ordained of God for the eternal welfare of the people,
it must fulfil the purposes of its appointment. As the people
advance in knowledge, and the collision of many minds
sharpens intellectual acuteness, its ministers must advance
together with their Hocks, and maintain their lead ; as the
country grows in population, the church must widen the
shelter of her tent, and extend the exercise of her ministra-
tions till they be commensurate with the charge entrusted to
her,. There have been, and with justice, complaints of hard-
ship, when with means diminished rather than increased fresh
and-unlimited services are required. Ciur case may be com-
pared with that of the Israelites in Egypt, when public
expectation is little more reasonable than Pharaoh's task-
masters ; but this we do not plead, except in extenuation
of failure, or in reply to an unjust accusation.. The church,—
we limit her services by no bounds except the bounds of the
poWer that binds her. She will meet the fresh demands
upon her by prayers that increased strength may be supplied ;
in going forth in the name of the Lord, she will trust in his
blessing to fulfil the pnrposes intended by His sovereign will.

Our own diocese, brethren, may well lie cited to encourage
our hopes, if encouragement were needed, and to desperse our
doubts if doubts were entertained. The diocese presented
some years ago a specimen of religious destitution, which
might well be deemed in every point of view appalling; and
there are large districts—large and populous districts, still re-
maining, where darkness yet covers the land, and gross dark-
ness the people. But, then, there are various portions where
the picture is very different, and where the prospect so
greatly brightens as to justify a sanguine belief that God has
still mercy in store for us, in designing that our church shall
remain as a blessing to the land, even to those sections of it
which would seem from circumstances to be furthest re-
moved out of its reach and influence.

Since our first meeting,now twelve years ago, the measures
already commenced for increasing the efficacy of the church
have come into fuller operation, and the spirit which excited
them has spread in many unexpected directions. Our in-
ward strength has been increasing in an unexampled degree.
Our hundred and fifty churches have opened their doors to
admit our overgrown and still growing population. Thus,
in many a spot where hundreds of families were congregated
without any regular pi °vision for their spiritual culture, mi-
nisters are now permanently settled in their parsonage, the
children are collected in schools, and what was a moral
desert bears the aspect of a christian community. In other
places if there is not yet a church there is the threshhold of a
church ; there is that in a double sense, if I may use the
term, in those licensed buildings, which are alike preparing
the way for churches, and serving as substitutes for them, in
which thousands of the poorer classes are receiving instruc-
tion, which they cannot obtain elsewhere, at the hands of
curates, supported partly by private liberality, but chiefly by
the two noble societies which have relieved our urgent wants
by supplying the salaries of curates. Through this united aid
the church has gained a vast accession of strength in those
districts where her weaknes had been previously most promi-
nent, and where the existing clergy were hopelessly struggling
against a multiplying population, in attempting to fulfil the
task assigned to them.
Another important means of usefulness and influence has
advanced with corresponding success, the department of
education. Through the indefatigable exertions which have
established the diocesan board for this object, we have
returns approaching to perfect accuracy from every division
of the diocese. It would be tedious to enter here into de-
tails; but the exertions which have been used to provide the
machinery of education for our increasing population, may
be estimated from the fact that, during the last ten years,
within the parish of Whalley alone, forty-three school-rooms
have been erected, at an expense of £13,000. I will not
here allude to what I have before alluded, the exertions made
in the place from which I now speak for the same great ob-
ject. And if we were to estimate what has been done
through the whole extent of the diocese, and calculate it
from the example I have just been -citing, we should fall
below the truth if we thought that the result would be less
than 350 schools, and the expenditure, including grants from
the National Society, and from government, not more than
£lOO,OOO. It is no less important that through the successful
institution of the training school at Chester, the character
of popular education bids fair to be brought within the reach
of as high a standard as the practice—l fear I must say the
increasing practice—if early labour will permit it to be, in
the way of education.

The effect of these various means is proved in a growing
attachment to the church, in an acknowledgement of its ex-
cellency, and, in a practical sense of the value of its services.
The number of attendants upon public worship, the number
of communicants, the number of candidates for confirma-
tion have increased far beyond the growth of the population.
In some of our most extensive parishes, and especially in the
two great towns of the diocese, the communicants have
nearly doubled since the first accounts I have received. The
candidates for confirmation have trebled, and thus our clergy
—especially those whom I am now addressing—have the re-
ward of knowing that the labour, the anxiety, and the per-
sonal sacrifices which have proc.tired an increase of means of
grace have not been employed in vain. Proofs, moreover,
are thus beginning to be given, that opposition and indiffer-
ence towards the estabiishment, and even separation from it,
have not generally arisen from any distrust of its discipline
or its doctrines, but from the difficulty, or rather the prac-
tical impossibility of obtaining instruction within its pale.
This has been so long suffered to exist that the effects cannot
be denied. Interest and prejudice have had time to take
deep root, and to ramify extensively ; and we must be
strangers to human nature indeed if we suppose these will not,
like the surf which disturbs the sea long after the storm has
subsided, sway the judgment, and influence the conduct,
though the cause has ceased to which they owed their origin.
Perhaps it is too much to expect, what, nevertheless, we
must desire, that there should be no schisms or divisions.
The church of Christ will ever be what it is ; and no con-
gregation of faithful men will ever be so strongly one as to
think alike, and believe unanimously upon all subjects, upon
such subjects, for instance, as episcopacy, or psedo-baptism,
or liturgical forms, or church membership, or national esta-
blishments. There must be always some minds, which,
upon questions such as these, will differ from the conclu-
sions which we believe to be justly deduced from the scrip-
tures and from experience. Just, as for example, a few ad-
venturous or impatient spirits may be found to leave their
native country, whatever advantage they forego, but the mass
of mankind will dwell in their native land ; so it is with those
who dissent from the church which authority has accredited,
antiquity bequeathed, and the judgment of succeeding ages
sanctioned. They will not abandon it so long as they can
Benefit by its blessings. I am firmly convinced that the
vast multitude of our community will seek instruction from
the Church of England, where it offers it to the people in
the substantive shape of an effective ministry and accepta-
ble ministrations. Her plain and scriptural articles,
her spiritual and comprehensive liturgy, are agreeable
to the earliest examples of Christian discipleship, and united
with the advantage which she possesses, and justly pos-
sesses, as the church of the nation, and the church of
our forefathers—these grounds of preference will combine
as they ought, to influence in her favour the great majority
of our population. They are grounds of preference which
can only be counterbalanced by the individual consideration—
" this church is not available to me, it is the best and purest
channel of divine truth, but no truth-can flow to me through
that channel, its forms of worship approves itself to my un-
derstanding, but I have no means of knowing it, its minis-
ters are in direct succession from those whom Christ him-
self commissioned, but I am out of the reach of their instruc-
tion." Where these considerations individually exist, they
must come with over-powering force to persons once awaken-
ed to the important concerns of their immortal souls ;
they are such as no reasoning can resist—they are such as
we cannot answer, who take our stand upon scriptures, and
argue with them in our hands. The only mode of meeting
them must be to remove the causes from which they spring,
not to deny the means of satisfying their thirst to those who
are eager for instruction, but to open fresh fountains and
wider channels, that all may partake of the waters of life
freely. No further attractions will be needed than the purity
and the sufficiency of this stream.

But thankful as I am for these encouragements, I should
be deceiving you, and deceiving myself, if I supposed every
difficulty overcome, or if I thought the time had arrived
when our exertions might be relaxed or dispensed with.
There is often an inclination to hope that this may be ulti-
mately achieved ; but, though we are only putting on our
harness, we must remember we have too long delayed it, and
we must now boast of those who have taken it of and ob-
tained the victory. There is proof, real proof, that the doc-
trines of the gospel, when faithfully taught, and diligently in-
culcated, will not be proclaimed in vain, but will enlist men
upon their side, and upon the side of the Saviour who teaches
them ; but there is no proof, and there never can be tat
the same effect can be produced without those means, nor by
any other means. The harvest will reward the diligent but
not the careless ; the sower of good seed, not of blighted
seed. The truth in Christ must be preserved, in its purity
and simplicity, or we shall look in vain for the fruits we de-
sire, and which the present state of things specially requires—
attachment to the preacher, attachment to the church to
which he belongs, generosity and active zeal in the cause of
God and man of which he is an advocate. It sheathes the
heart against the subtle arts of that adversary against whom
the church is set up, and whose power it is designed to over-
throw. His activity is in exact proportion to the activity
used against him. His vigilance never fails to seek an oppor-
tunity with which our weakness supplies him ; and no sooner
is the good seed sown than tares are thrown in, and are found
springing up among the wheat. That has been the case
throughout the whole history of the church ; it has been sin-
gularly and unexpectedly exemplified in the present day by
favour shewn to men which might seem inconsistent with the
advancement of righteousness, or by the revival of error
which might have been supposed for ever buried.
To enter upon this subject generally would be quite incom-
patible within the limits of a charge, and to treat it cursorily
would not be respectful to my bearers. I shall confine my-
self to a brief review of two points, in which the interests
commitied to us are especially concerned.
I shall first observe, that the principles by which in all
ages of the world the power of Satan has been most success-
fully assailed, and the human heart most strongly acted
upon, is that of simple reliance upon the Lord Jesus Christ,
the simple acceptance of the truth that he is made of God
wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemp-
tion. Accordingly, by this doctrine, lying under God's
wrath and condemnation, we are justified by faith in Jesus
Christ—this plain and simple truth has uniformly been
assailed by every instrument which the enemy could bear
against it. From the time that certain men went down from
Jerusalem, and troubled the church at Antioch, from the
time when Paul had to grieve over the disciples a't Galicea,
that were removed from the grace of Christ into another

gospel, which was not another, for it was no gasps at all,
from the earliest ages until now this has been the point of
attack. We are still experiencing the same and from the
like causes. Through the merciful providence of God
the true principles of the Gospel have been spread through
the length and breadth of the land, and effects were
flowing which they alone are capable of producing. Mean-
while the enemy is upon the watch ; he knows well there is
a danger, and he contrives to cast reproach upon the doctrine
which is the hinge of Christian truth and Christian practise,
to confound things which ought to be kept distinct, things
inherent in men with things extraneous, individual duties
with vicarious offerings, and so reduce all things to that state
of doubt and uncertainty which never has led, and never can
lead, to a consistent course of action. It is notorious that
this attempt, frequently made, has been unsuccessful where
the gospel has been faithfully preached ; and the will of the
Lord is, that all should know the truth—that the gospel
should be preached to every creature. Those have now risen
up who oppose the doctrines of the gospel, who affirm that
the propitiation made for sin is a doctrine too dangerous to
be openly disclosed, too monstrous to be generally admitted.
This would deprive the sinner at once of the motives to re-
pent, and comfort in repenting,
It has been another part of the same system to involve the
article of our justification in obscurity. What has been done
for us, and what is to be wrought in us are confused together,
and, practically, man is induced to look to himself and not
to his redeemer for acceptance with God. In all this there
is nothing unforseen. The Apostle has plainly warned us to
beware of philosophy and vain deceit, which turn aside from
the simplicity of the Gospel—that fair simplicity which fits
us for the reception of the benefit here, but which some men
profess to be afraid of lest mercy should be too free, or the
way of returning to God too open. This, in truth, the
offence of the cross renewed under form, the objection
which corrupt nature has always opposed under various
disguises to the apostolic doctrine. "By grace are
ye saved through faith, not of works lest any man
should boast." The scriptural truth is as clear as it is
true." When all were dead, Christ died for all ;" so that
" He that bath the Son bath lite, and he that hath cot the
Son, hath not life." By one way alone can man propitiate
the Son, and that is by believing on him; faith alone can
bring to us that remedy which God has appointed ; faith
alone can give us an interest in that security which God has.
accepted as the satisfaction for his Son. Thus being justified
by faith, we have peace with God, through Jesus Christ. It is
true, and it is never to be forgotten, that being thus accepted
with God. and embued with his spirit, man becomes a new
creature through that spirit dwelling in him ; but he is ac-
cepted with God, not because be is a new creature, but be-
cause Christ had made atonement for wrath which in his old
nature he had not. His faith in this atonement, which leads
to his acceptance, leads also to his doing work meet for one
that is accepted ; but the works which follow his being jus-
tified, and are its effects, can never be the cause of his justi-
fication. Suppose a remedy were proposed to a man lying
under a mortal disease, and by applying it he was restored to
health, it would be sophistry to affirm that it was not the re-
medy which saved him, but that it was the constitnrion
strengthened by the remedy; it would be unjust to the re-
medy and ingratitude to the Creator. So it is an
indignity -to God to depreciate the virtue of Christ's
justification by mixing it up with the religiousness of his
redeemed people. Let no misrepresentations, no false phi-
iosophy corrupt the wholesome truth that man is delivered
from the wrath to come, not by works of righteousness
which he has done or may do, but by Him alone who dicd
for our sins, and rose again for our justification. The state-
ment which came fresh from the reformers lips is the state-
ment to which we must still refer. " There is a justifying
and a sanctifying spirit. The righteousness which justifies is
not in either." In all the reformed churches this is the
corner-stone—that we are accounted righteous before God
through the merits of Christ's atonement, and not for our
own works or deserving: ; that a lively faith is known by its
works, as a sound tree is known by its fruits, though they
bear not the roots, but the roots them. Thus, we are
at no loss to see why the reformers were so diligent in
laying this foundation. They had seen the conseuuences
of departing from it. They knew how the corruption of man
had been first lost sight of, and the atonement made for the
sins of the world. How closely the two are connected we
have this morning heard. The reformers knew how the
satisfaction made by Christ had been set aside, and human
works substituted in its stead, even such works as were nei-
ther accepted by God, nor approved of man, till a system
overspread the word, which had neither God for its author,
nor salvation of man for its end—they were debased by what
was sent to purify them, and deceived by what was intended
to deliver.

If these facts have been forgotten, as they seem to have
been forgotten by the tendency of certain writings which
have lately been thrust upon our attention, it is high time
they should be brought back to our remembrance. But if
I endeavour to stir up your minds by this admonition, it is
not because I believe such admonition is necessary to you
who have not ceased to make the ruin of man by sin, and his
restoration through the sacrifice of Christ, the cardinal points
of all your preaching. God forbid you ever should, and so
close the door against your own ministerial usefulness.
There are many other subjects of instruction, but all must
proceed from this as from a centre ; many duties are to be
performed, but they must be inculcated so that the great
principle may be permanently preserved in all its integrity
and usefulness. If it is necessary to keep under the body
and to bring it under subjection by abstinence and mortifi-
cation, and by whatever means general or indldvidual ex-
perience has shown to be the most profitable; still for
what purpose ? Not that we may atone for the offences of
the body by the laceration of the body, but becanse this is
the will of God, even our sanctification. It is necessary to
cultiaate humility, to practise charity, to exercise kindness,
not, however, that we may be thereby justified, but because
we are justified by Christ, " for if any man have not the
spirit of Christ, he is none of his". In these days you
may find ingenious men to argue against this simple truth.
They who have studied reason and philosophy more than
the word, or who know more of the world's history than
the history of the human heart, may think we are leav-
ing the narrow gate too widely open, and making the road to
heaven too smooth. So it has been from the beginning. The
apostles were accused of encouraging sin by publishing the
abundance of divine grace; the Jews were jealous that the
Christian should be permitted to bear the burden that they
had borne themselves, and that he should have escaped out-
ward ordinances ; and the adversaries of the Christian faith
a few centuries back made it one pretence of their opposition
that it offered the divine Saviour to the profligate and male-
factor. But then those to whom the truth was committed
do not meet this imputation by denying or concealing that
they believe that Christ cleanses from all sin, by a false accu-
sation or by an abandonment of truth. They do not confound
the propitiation which atones with the santification which that
atonement works in the believer's heart : so far from it we
find St. Paul speaking in a vein unusual to him, and saying,
" that if any man preach any other gospel than that he have
received let him be accursed." Surely, we find here what we
might expect to have found, that God destroys the wisdom of
the wiseand brings to nought the understandings of the foolish.
While learned men are elaborately proving that outward acts
and services are only means of holiness upon which we de-
pend, and that bodily exercise and voluntat y humility are the
proper means in which a sinner should approach his God, the
preacher of the gospel is confuting them, not by words, but
acts, and the honest disciple is showing that they who have
believed in Christ will be careful to maintain good works. In
religion, as in other things, many a truth which the philoso-
pher passes by, is picked up by others, while many a thing
in which the philosopher prides himself, is contradicted by
ordinary observation; and thus, in the present question, ex-
perience proves that the only doctrine which conveys real
comfort to the soul, is the only doctrine which produces a
genuine spirit of Christian piety. The more we labour to
establish ourselves in the practice of holiness, the more need
we find of clothing ourselves in the righteousness, not of our-
selves, but of our God ; and the more firmly we trust to that
righteousness, not our own, the nearer we advance to that
personal righteousness which we are striving to attain, 'and
which we will not be content without.
The other error to which I purpose to allude is no less in-
jurious to the Saviour's glory. Practically he is treated with
dishonour when the church which he has established is made
to usurp his seat, to receive his homage, to perform his office,
to be virtually the author of salvation instead of the channel
through which salvation flows. This is in truth the deposing
of him from his throne, and to invest his subjects with the
authority which belongs to himself. It is convenient, no
doubt, in language to embody the multitude who believe in
Christ under one comprehensive term, and our Lord himself
taught us, for example, that we may do this safely and legiti-
mately ; but language may mislead. We may personify a
body for the convenience of discourse, and by degrees forget
that a community is not a person. It is still worse if the
body, which was first personified, comes afterwards to be
deified. Yet a process of this kind has gone on in regard of
the Christian church. When Christ declared that he would
build his church upon a rock, and that the gates of hell should
not prevail against it, he simply declared that there should be
ever hereafter a body of men, believing in him as the Son of
God, whom Satan might assail, but should never succeed in
destroying. He did not say he would set up a power on
earth which should possess his authority, act in his stead,'or
act as his vicegerent to dispense either his favour or his
anger. We look in vain for a single sentence which, without
the grossest perversion, could imply a purpose such as this.
But advantage has been taken of the obscurity of language to
nsaintain and encourage this view : the church has been made
first an abstraction, then a person, and then a Saviour. The
church thus invested with divinity has a ministry, and has
her visible representatives who, explaining her prophetic an-
ticipations, has assumed the place of God. We know what
opportunities this has given to the exercise of the worst of
human passions. We find it supplied in malice, hatred,
pride, covetousness, and ambition; so that one of the first
and most needed works of the reformers was to repress the
evil and divest the church of the mystery in which it was
shrouded and disclose it to the world in its true and scriptural
form as a congregation of believers. The church is that body
which assembled in the upper chamber at Jerusalem, and there
received the visit of their aisen Lord ; the church is that party
which abode together, had "all things in common," and con-
tinued in apostolic fellowship ; the church is that company of
faithful men in all ages and countries who maintained their
fealty to the doctrines and institutions of the gospel. The mi-
nisters of this churchare those called to serve the united world,
to perform the prescribed rites, to teach, to rebuke, to exhort,
to warn, to comfort, and to commit perpetually to their fel-
low men the things which they have themselves received.
Such is a simple analysis of the church—the Holy Catholic
Church—of which Christ is the head, and with which He
has engaged to be present by his spirit. to the end of the
wolll. We must beware of applying to the members of the
body, which members compose it, the power which really
belongs to the Head alone. If we speak of the ark of Christ's
church, we must bear in mind that we are still speaking me-
taphorically. That ark is not limited to any special locality
on earth, like the ark of Noah ; it extends as far as the
knowledge of Christ extends, for He is the true ark that
saves all that commit themselves to him. The ministrations
of the church are those through which the community on
earth enter, but Christ is the only door through which heaven
is entered; still many will be admitted into the visible ark
who may remain for ever excluded from the heavenly one.
The members of the church are branches of the vine • the
church is not the vine—that name belongs to Christ alone;
the church is the pillar and ground of truth, but the church
is not the truth, neither has it life in itself: Christ alone
is " the way, the truth, and the life" through which
every individual member of the church must seek ac-
cess to God. Vet all this, undeniable in itself, is
practically contradicted whenever the services, and the
ordinances, and the ministerial offices are magnified
beyond their due proportions or placed before the people with
a prominency, and we knew the importance of prominency,
to which they have no claim. Church principles in their
proper sense we must approve. All must approve of that
cordial agreement with the articles, that sincere preference of
the services, that willing conformity to the discipline of the
church which shows that our profession is honest and con-
sistent ; but upon the contrary, I must think that to set up,
as it were, church principles in opposition to the principles
of the gospel, and to place them in an invidious contrast is
unreasonable and unscriptural. It is to confound the means
of grace with the author of grace—to worship the thing made
and to dishonour the maker. It is to array against Christ
the instrumentality he has established against Satan. Heap-
pointed his ministry, and there must be a perpetual provision
made for opposing the powers of darkness and carrying into
effect the work of conviction, conversion, and sanctification—
his purpose on earth—and winning many souls to glory. He
instituted his sacraments that they who observe them might
be a visible body of witnesses in the world, and after the
usual manner of divine operation, that there might be a
manifest channel in which his spirit might avail to the edifi-
cation and comfort of believers. Therefore he ordained the
ministry, and therefore lie ordained the sacraments that there
might be a church—a continual congregation of faithful men;
and shall this church turn round and set up itself against its
author ? Shall the earthly members assume the authority if

their heavenly principal ? And yet such seems to be the fact
when they confound church membership with faith, or so
magnify the ministrations belonging to their office as to leave
it to be inferred that except through their instrumentality
there can be no salvation. .

n addition, the church has weapons enough raised against
her, warning us how .those who ventured on this course
wandered away, endangered their own safety, made wreck
of their faith, and left an example to future ages. The Jew-
ish nation has shown us what it is to make a boast of faith,
to ascribe undue importance to outward ordinances, to pride
themselves as the people of the Lord, to be satisfied that they
were Israelites, and that they were of the seed of Abraham.
The proof furnished by the Bornish church comes nearer
home. In their creed they hold their own, as we do.
Practically, their dependence was—shall I not say,
is ?—in their church. To be without that pale was the
loss of salvation ; to be within that pale was indispensable to
salvation ; to receive absolution from the priest was—might I
not say is ?—security. Having claimed the power of sanctifi-
cation, with the washing away of sins, and that church hav-
ing, in abort, placed herself in Christ's stead, we know all
that we will know of what would lead to confusion and ter-
rible consequences.
My Rev. Brethren,—l combat what I hold to be a mistaken
view of the church and ministry, because I believe it to be mis-
taken, and not because it is inexpedient to maintain. If the
doctrine I oppose be true, let it be upheld without reference to
expediency or inexpediency ; but certainly if it be not true, we
have every reason which discretion can furnish to forbid of our
preaching it. Had an enemy devised the plan, he could not
have fallen upon one more likely to effect his purpose. We
have to reclaim the population of the established church of the
land, which has been in a greater or lesser degree estranged
from her through causes to which I am unwillingto allude, that
I may not seem anxious to accuse my nation ; estranged at least
we may say through causes over which the present generation
are notaccountable, and which we are strongly endeavouring to
remove. Can we admit a doubt concerning the way in which we
should approach such a population? Must it not be on the
broad principles of the gospel, proclaiming the mercy of God
in not imputing their trespasses into them, but in reconciling
the world unto himself. Are we not to set before persons,
circumstanced as a large proportion of the people of this
country have been. the exclusive privileges of the church as
not the way in which we can expect to draw them within her
walls? If they are to be so drawn, the apostles must be our
models, who, whether towards the instructed or the unin-
structed people, exercised their office with meekness, raised
no unnecssary barriers against truth, which nature is but too
reluctant to conceive, and who even made personal conces-
sions, if by any means they might win souls. In this one
thing they were incessant, namelpf in proclaiming the only
name under heaven whereby man might be saved. Let this
be our example. Whilst weicannot avoid desiring to remove
the prejudices of our enemies, let us show that our first
anxiety is that they should be converted to God ; and, as our
God will not be evil spoken of, let not ourzeal be ascribed to
party spirit or private interest, which really spring from
honest and just convictions.
I am sure, my rev. brethren, you will judge me candidly
while I specially revert to other matters. .When so much is
being accomplished to render our church available to all
her people, I must not be suspected of disparaging her mi-
nistry, or undervaluing their sacred callings. How could I,
knowing, as I must, the disinterested duty, the self-im-
posed exertions, the self-denying labours, which prove to me
their election in God to the office they hold. Oh 1 can I think
light of a ministry of which 1 have so many opportunities
of seeing most instrumental to the highest purposes of
divine mercy, which I see so successfully employed in
enlightening the blind, civilising and fertilising the wilder-
ness, and which I see made able, through the grace given them,
to reclaim the profligate, to comfort the mourner, to strengthen
the weak-hearted, and to send light into the darkest re-
cesses of human indigence. What can I but admire the
man who, animated with no other feeling than a zeal for
God's glory and compassion for his fellow-creatures, goes
forth with his Bible in his hand to meet the contradictions of
the infidel and the sneers of the scorner, pursuing the service
of his Lord, not among green pastures or beside the waters
of comfort, but amid scenes of wretchedness and degra-
dations into which only Christian love could carry them.
And so again we love and revere our church, for we be-
lieve that it is founded on the prophets and apostles, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief corner stone, and also because
we believe that God has appointed her to great and peculiar
distinction. There are other congregations of Christians
which profess the same truth. We honour those also, rind
gladly say, " Peace be with all men that love the Lord
Jesus Christ with sincerity ;" but we attach especial im-
portance to the church of the English nation, and we rejoice
that it has pleased God to distinguish her as a witnesss to
himself. We are thankful that the reformed church, of
which most is known in foreign countries is the church
which has most strictly adhered to primitive doctrine
and discipline, and which most nearly approximates both
in her articles and creed, as well as in the order of her
ministry to scripture itself, and to what may be proved from
scripture. Let us, theJefore, be content with these advan-
tages, and let all boasting be excluded. It is no sign of great-
ness to vaunt of authority. In the sight of man as well as
God, he that humbleth himself is more likely to he exalted
Then he who assumes an air of autnority. which could never be
entrusted to man in after ages as it was to the apostles, unless
men like the apostles were enabled to read the heart. But
though none can forgive sins but God alone, and though rege-
neration is not of the will nor of the work of man but of God,
yet God ,whose spirit goeth where it listeth,has given much to us
which we may justly prizeas a talent, and esteem as an office
of infinite importance sufficient to give us cause to tremble
at the position we hold. It is much to sit in the apostle's
seat, and to‘hold the office they did. We, like the apostles,
are ambassadors for Christ. Our calling is like theirs. We
entreat men for Christ's sake to be reconciled to God. We
are stewards of
,his mysteries. We are overseers and
shepherds of his flock. As successful ambassadors, as
faithful stewards, as diligent overseers, and as watchful
shepherds of the flock, if we have the holy spirit work-
ing within us, enabling us to do of his great power, we shall
need no higher honour, and we shall want no greater dig-
nity. And is in no other way can we attain to real dignity.
so in no other way can we assure to ourselves the authority
to which we are called. We cannot in this land of light
maintain the fatal claims which the Roman priests assume,
and which nothing except the darkness in which they
enshrouded their people could enable them to take. We
pity them, whether deceivers or deceived. God forbid
that we should ever intimate thetn. The church, the
flock of the true shepherd, will not fail to be distinguished.
We will, at least, be as much distinguished as it is good
that frail and fallible man should be esteemed. We shall
have to the full as much honour as we can bear. The
greatest joy Christ experienced was when His children
walked after the truth, and the surest sign of an apostle
is when he is diligent in " works of faith, labours of love, and
patience of hope," which his disciples exercised, and were
known by exercising, and which . resulted frem the
knowledge that God was with them. "To turn many
to righteousness ;" that is real, pre-eminence; "to win
souls to Christ ;" that is lasting honour; "to take heed
to ourselves and to the doctrines ;" that is both to our-
selves and them that hear us ; "to preach the word ;" " to
be instant in season and out of season ;" to testify both
publicly and from house to house " repentance towards God
and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ ;" that is to be a
successor of the apostles—to be gentle unto all men ; " in
meekness instructing those who oppose themselves ;" that
is to be a man of God. While many who have been first
shall be last, those who adhere most faithfully, and " turn
ninny from darkness to light, and from the power of satan
unto God," will have the surest rejoicing, and shall wear the
brightest crown. .

His lordship then retired from the communion, and the
service terminated. We understand that at the request of
the clergy the charge will be published.