clergy. And by faithfulness, I mean a full proof of the ministry, which I conceive to consist in making known the will of God to men, delivering the terms of salvation, praying and reading the scriptures in the church. of God, administering the sacraments, and performing all the other duties, which are prescribed in our ecclesiastical canons and laws. And moreover, I conceive it to be the duty of the clergy to superintend the religious education of the poor; to see that the BIBLE is the great text-book, and the foundation of their instruction; that as the little children advance in years, they may advance in spiritual knowledge; that the seed sown may grow into the perfect tree, and bring forth its fruit in due season. And there is another duty incumbent on the clergy, viz. to oppose publicly every innovation that may be made upon the Church of Christ; to warn their congregation against the machinations of the wicked; to expose the shallow attempts of reforming that which is already pure; and to defend by

the power of God the Protestant faith as by law established, because that faith is derived from the word of God. The minister of the Gospel is bound to declare the whole counsel of God. When the spirit of innovation is strong, his voice should be stronger; when sin is raging, his reproof should be greater; when repentance is sincere, his encouragements should be urgent. Our Saviour, to the last, when in the midst of persecution, and violence, and death, continued to encourage his disciples. Neither the tempting of the Devil nor the fury of the Jew could move him. So should it be with us. No worldly influence should seduce us from the faith. We should neither fear the wrath of the tyrant, nor bow before the glittering of the crosier. Upon this determination, by the grace of God, we have endeavoured to act. And if we have fallen short in the exercise of that talent, which Heaven has entrusted to our keeping, we look not to the world for censure, but to God for pardon. My brethren, "judge not,

that ye be not judged," but rather give glory unto God for our high and valuable privileges; glory, in that we are living in the good old way, worshipping God as the apostles and noble army of martyrs worshipped him in the purest age of Christianity; glory, in that we have the privilege of performing the religious offices of the church; glory, in that we are instructed in all the articles of the Christian faith; glory, in that we have the sacraments duly administered by God's properly ordained clergy, according to Christ's holy institution; and last of all, glory, in that we have the way, the truth, and the life pointed out unto us, as Christ himself pointed them out, leading us through all the trials and chances of this mortal existence to immortality and blessedness for evermore.

SERMON II.

THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH.

EPHESIANS iv. 1-6.

"I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. "With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love;

"Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

"One Lord, one faith, one baptism;

"One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."

assurance

THE Apostle St. Paul gives us a most positive an assurance which he derived from inspiration, that it becomes the duty of men who profess Christianity, to preserve the unity of the Church in the bond of peace; because the Church, throughout the whole

world, is but one body, which ought to be guided by one Spirit of love; and that all the members of it have but one Lord to obey, one Creed to believe, and one Baptism or form of admission into the catholic communion; therefore those Christians egregiously err, who, to gratify their own vanity or interest, make Christianity appear in separate and opposite communions, as if there were many Lords, and many Faiths, and many Baptisms, and as many Gods as there are irreconcileable sects.

The universal Church was compared by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, to the natural body, which consists of many united members, " As we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." So in his Epistle to the Corinthians, "As the body is one, and hath many members, and the members of that one body being many, are one body:" so also is