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ers, by the little interest manifested in them, and by contriving, in proportion to any influence which they may possess, to dispense with as much of the prayers and of the reading of the Scriptures, as shall be thought consistent with decorum, they manifest an unequivocal symptom of incorrect views of religion generally."

Q. What are the principal objects for which Christians should assemble ?

A. Bishop White says, "This Church like the Church from which she is descended, lays the greater stress on a judicious arrangement of forms of prayer; from the opinion entertained, that joint devotion, and the reading and the hearing of the Scriptures, are the principal object for which Christians should assemble. By the same track of senti

* Lectures, p. 490.

ment, they have been led to accommodate their offices, to the being used with or without the accompaniment of a sermon. It is not from the want of due esteem of the benefit of the latter, but from respect to the prominent importance of the other.”

Q. Is novelty possible in religious subjects?

A. Bishop White says,* "On religious subjects, it is difficult to find out, for persons habitually attendant in the House of God, either general arguments or appropriate remarks, which shall be entirely new to them. Besides, it may be affirmed of any preacher, with whom the doing so is a favorite object, that he will be less likely to feed them with the solid and wholesome food of evangelical instruction, than with the

*Comment. p. 137.

frothy garnish of some empty conceits; or perhaps with the deadly poison of some dangerous errors."

Q. What was the character of primitive preaching?

A. Bishop White says,* "It is said, that within the first two or three centuries, the usual practice of the Christian clergy was, after the prayers, to make a discourse in explanation of some part of Scripture, with an improvement of it, all in the utmost simplicity of style."

Q. Is "an extraordinary appetite" for sermons a certain test of a "well digested theory of religion?"

A. Bishop White says, "It would, however, be a mistake to infer that the use of the pulpit will be in proportion to the number of sermons from it. This is so far from being the case, that an extraordinary appetite for them, espe

*Comment. p. 164.

† Gen. Sem. Address, 1829, p. 16.

cially when it carries in quest of great variety, is seldom found in alliance either with an eminent adorning of the profession, or with a consistent and well digested theory of religion."

Q. Is reading the Holy Scriptures "preaching ?"

A. Bishop White says,* "He (the Minister) may be said more strictly and authoritatively to preach, when he delivers the same truths (of Holy Writ) in the form in which the Holy Ghost has been pleased to indite them. Accordingly, that reading of the Scriptures in Churches is preaching, may be gathered from what we find said by St. James, in his speech to the Apostles and Elders assembled in Jerusalem-'Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues (every Sabbathday.""

*Lectures, p. 499.

SECTION XXIV.

Of Insubordination and Irregularity.

"Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves."—Hebrews xiii. 17.

"Q. Will you reverently obey your Bishop, and other chief ministers, who, according to the Canons of the Church, may have the charge and government over you; following, with a glad mind and will, their godly admonitions, and submitting yourselves to their godly judgments?"

"A. I will so do, the Lord being my helper."-From the Ordinal.

"For where there is no right order, there reigneth all abuse, carnal liberty, enormity, sin, and Babylonical confusion."-Homilies, p. 104.

Q. What evil must be guarded against in connexion with the Church's laws?

A. Bishop White says, "It is that of a man's entering the Church, not contemplating the being subject to the Canons, and conducting his subsequent ministry in defiance of them, and of the authority by which they were ordained." *Comment. p. 21.

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