Sketches: The Christian's Song.

do by means of a series of sketches, which we hope will be found to furnish faithful drawings and distinct views of the towers, and palaces, and bulwarks of the christian church.

Or, if the reader will allow us to return to our former metaphor, we propose to conduct him in our intended walk, gently and leisurely along from point to point, that he may catch here and there a view of the beauty, and strength, and safety of Zion, which is the church of the living God.

And as we walk on, I am sure we shall be able to begin that song of which the prophet speaks:-"In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city: Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in."

The melody and richness of this song, need not be impaired, nor its prolongued strains interrupted, by the noise and clangor of the arms of any of the militant forces, marshalled by the great 66 Captain of our salvation." Among the several religious denominations, which in our day compose "the mystical body of Christ"-"the sacramental host of God's elect," there need be no bitterness nor angry contention, whether Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim is the proper place of worship, as there was between the Samaritan and the Jew. The Saviour. himself has settled that question. The true worshippers "worship the Father in spirit and in truth."

This is what all they who profess christianity are to look to-to see that they "worship the Father in spirit and in truth"-to see that they connect themselves with a branch of the church of the living God—that they pitch their tent within the walls of the "city of the Great King." This is the special duty and business of all christians, to see, not that their neighbours', but that their own location is on Mount Zion-that themselves form a part of the inhabitants of that glorious city, of which it is said, "God is in the midst of her."

If all christians acted upon this principle, the apostolic precept would speedily be complied with, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another."

It does not form any part of the design of this volume to

B

Diversity of opinion about the Church.

discuss the abstract question, 'What constitutes the Church?" although the subject may be incidentally adverted to.

The very best answer that we have ever seen to that question, is contained in the nineteenth of the thirty-nine articles of the Anglican Church:-"The visible church of Christ is a con• gregation of faithful men, in which the pure word of God is preached, and the sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ's ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.”

I am aware that a diversity of opinion prevails even among men of profound learning and devoted piety, in relation to what may with truth be denominated the Church.

It is the opinion of a portion of the christian world, that all the various religious sects, who hold the great essentials of christianity, though as associated bodies, they exist, under different and distinct organizations-and though they have connected with them more or less of error, and of human invention, are nevertheless essentially parts of the visible church of Christ.

There are others who think, that most obviously but one of these variant and conflicting organizations can be right, and that it would be sin and sacrilege in them, to give the slightest countenance to an ecclesiastical organization, that had not its origin in divine appointment. There can be no doubt but that men of real piety, and of most conscientious principles will be found, holding each of these theories.

It does not appear to the writer, however, at all necessary to agitate this question. The church with which he has the happiness of being connected, has shown most commendable moderation in saying nothing decisive upon this point.* Hav. ing determined in her view, what is conformable to primitive and apostolic order, she simply requires of those who minister at her altar, that they shall submit to that order.

The writer, in his christian intercourse with others, has found it adequate to all needful purposes, to take precisely the same ground.

When the question has been asked, "Do you advocate the idea, that your church alone is right, and that all other christian bodies, who do not possess the essential elements of your

*See Bp. White's Lectures on the Catechism, p. 425.`

Peculiarities of the Church-how illustrated.

ecclesiastical constitution, are guilty of innovation and schism?"-he has uniformly replied "I have ample and satisfactory evidence that this church, of which I am a member, is constituted according to primitive order. In reference to the proposed question, my answer is, I have nothing to do with others. I wish all to act conscientiously. I dare not, I do not desire, to judge those who differ from us. For the Apostle has said—'Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth.' My business is to take care that I do not embrace error, and that I connect myself with a body of Christians, who are a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure word of God is preached, and the sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ's ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same."

It forms no inconsiderable part of the design of the present volume, to show that such a body of christians is found in the Episcopal Church.

The writer, however, at the very outset, desires to premise two considerations.

First-that he designs to accomplish the object now proposed, in a sort of desultory way, principally by means of a series of sketches, which will illustrate the distinctive features, and different peculiarities of the Episcopal Church. And,

Secondly that he hopes to do this in a way which, if this volume should chance to fall into the hands of those whose views are not in accordance with his own, will not be offensive to them, nor appear to bear any marks of heated sectarian zeal.-Most sincerely does he desire, in the execution of every part of this work, to be under the continual influence of that Holy Spirit, by which he, and his brethren who may dissent from these views, expect to be fitted to dwell together in sweet and everlasting communion in the presence of God and the Lamb.

The author takes this early opportunity to declare most distinctly, that he is thorough and entire in his attachment to the Episcopal Church. He believes it to be truly the Church of the Redeemer.

He has seen many things to wring his heart with sorrow in relation to the manner in which this eldest daughter of the

Mistakes in reference to the Episcopal Church.

reformation* has been treated. She has occupied, from a variety of causes, a singular position in this country. In many parts of the United States, the Episcopal Church has been looked upon somewhat in the light of one of the old and dilapidated Abbies, found here and there in European countries. The Protestant traveller who passes in their neighborhood, stops to contemplate the time-honored ruins, and, for a moment, feels rising within him an emotion of awe and veneration, but instantly experiences an abatement of that emotion from the recollection that these huge structures were the nursery of institutions that spread a baleful influence over the land, and were throughout Christendom, like a death shade to the Church of God. As he surveys these vast structures, and contemplates their size, and form, and appendages, he distinctly sees that they are the productions of a "by gone age," and totally unfit for modern use and occupancy!

Thus have many excellent christians looked upon our venerable Zion. So little have they known of the Episcopal Church, that they have supposed that it was "part and parcel" of the "mystical Babylon," embosoming almost every form of pestiferous error, and would be sure to exert a baleful influence wherever it was established.

Others who were too enlightened to embrace such absurd ideas, have nevertheless been so ignorant of the institutions of this Church, as to suppose that those institutions were not adapted to the present age, nor in harmony with the civil institutions of this country.

It is those who cherish these views, that we particularly desire should "walk with us about Zion, and go round about her, and mark well her bulwarks and consider her palaces.”

I must not here conceal the melancholy fact, that the members of the Episcopal Church themselves, have in many in

*It is true that the Lutheran Church was organized, and, as an entire church, severed from Papal influence before the Church of England-the Church under Luther having been organized in 1521, and the entire and final separation of the Church of England from all subjection to Rome, having been consummated in 1536. But the reformation in the Church of England had actually commenced and made great progress among its members, nearly 200 years before. For in 1360, Wickliff commenced his attack upon the Mendicant orders, and soon after influenced Edward 3d, to resist the Pope's claim of homage, and was summoned before parliament to defend it.

Faults of Episcopalians-Brighter day.

stances given strength to the prejudices and unfavourable opinion entertained of this church.

By departing from the spirit of the thirty-nine articles— yea, the spirit of the whole Prayer Book-and by adopting a low standard of piety, they have unwittingly contributed to depress the very church of which they were so ready to make their boast.

Amid all these difficulties-with the world against her— christians of other denominations looking with suspicion upon her, and regarding it almost as a sacred duty to oppose her establishment, and many of her own children proving untrue and treacherous in the hour of her need-the Episcopal Church in this country, for a long time was like a ship at sea in the midst of a storm-struggling amid contending billows, and every moment in danger of going to the bottom. And she might well have adopted the language of the Psalmist, and said, "All thy waves and thy billows have gone over me.”

But blessed be God, a brighter day has begun to dawn upon our Zion, in this land of freedom. The dark cloud of night is rolling away, and already do the tops of her towers and the roofs of her palaces begin to reflect back the rays of morning. Yet all along, in the darkest hour that came over her, her children, who held fast to her standards of doctrine, who abided by her discipline, and drank deep into the spirit of her liturgy, were able to look up and say, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble: wherefore will not we fear though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea: though the waters roar and be troubled; though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof."

The author is perfectly aware that many who truly love the Saviour have still very strong prejudices against this church.

It is with the hope of removing some of these prejudices, that he has undertaken the present work; and he would therefore ask the reader to give these pages a candid perusal. The writer and reader, if they are both christians, can have but one object in view-the attainment of truth. In this contemplated walk about Zion, the writer, in pointing out "her towers, and bulwarks, and palaces," desires to bear perpetually in mind that he is walking and acting beneath the piercing gaze