therefore it becomes the minister's duty to strive by every means to rescue his people from such a danger, from such a snare of Satan.

For nearly two thousand years a system of worship has been established in which you have engaged ever since you were born; for nearly two thousand years has this been the case in various parts of the world; the Gospel has been preached, and the same truth has been declared which you have been in the habit of hearing all your life long. For twelve hundred years such has been the case in our own favoured country: and when that system after a time became disturbed, (in consequence of the people's attending to it merely as a matter of habit, and so opening a door for Satan to enter in, and introduce false doctrine and error) it was by a great convulsion that it was restored; a great moral convulsion felt throughout the length and breadth of the land—a convulsion felt

in

every class of society- a convulsion however which, though terrible to those who saw it, produced the restoration of that system of worship to its original state of purity and truth. For three hundred years has that re-established and purified system -purified at the expense of the blood of our Reformers—gone on unchanged, the same system of truth even to this present day, when we are mercifully permitted to meet in this house, and to partake of the blessing and privileges of that worship.

My brethren, is this true, or is it not? That it is strictly true none can deny that it is true as a matter of history may be proved by the fact of our being in our present position. But is it a system established and grounded on the eternal truth of God, or is it not? Either it is a system that has gone on deceiving people, grossly deceiving them, young and old, of all countries, and of all classes, generation after generation up to the present day; or else it is a system of eternal truth; of such truth too as must have an effect, an eternal effect, upon the soul of every one who has ever come within

the knowledge of it. If it be a system of truth—of truth based upon the word of God;- (and here I would pause for a moment to say, that though I am speaking in this way for argument's sake; yet I declare it to be the very truth of God; and I warn you that it is the truth, the belief of which involves the safety or loss of your souls. Every soul of the past generations has found it out to be the truth of God—and every soul of the present generation either has already, or will hereafter find it out to be the truth of God. God grant that every one of you may discover this in time. But to return to the argument;) If it be a system of essential truth, how deeply important must it be that it should be attended to and acted upon as truth! how utterly foolish to act it out as a mere matter of form and custom, without energy or power or effect!

Oh my brethren, when the mind grasps this great thought, and we become convinced that the services of our Church are a system characterised by the eternal truth of God;-when I say this conviction takes hold of the mind, there is not a more affecting thing in the world than to see the way in which Satan has prevailed to make people go on in a careless, indifferent mode of using prayers and services which might be the breath of spiritual life in communion with God himself: daily using the most expressive prayers and the most humbling confessions before God without a sense of personal interest in them. My brethren, I have for years past, gradually, but constantly, from time to time as opportunity has served, developed to you the serious responsibility of attending the services of the Church; and warned you of the danger of neglecting them. My object has been to make you see, that it is not I who tell you what truth is; but that it is you yourselves who tell God what truth is; and that it is you who say what you believe, in the services of the Church. It is a fearful thing for any person to go on speaking truth with their lips

-professing a true faith in the public congregation-and yet at the same time to go on living a lie-acting the very contrary to that profession. Can any thing be more terrible? That a poor wretched creature who never heard what truth is, and goes on in evil will be beaten is quite true; but it will be with comparatively few stripes; and not as those who having heard the truth all their lives, and confessed their belief in it with their own mouths, yet go on living as if it were not the truth. Surely such will be beaten with many stripes.

The Church my brethren, is greatly misunderstood, and greatly abused; and that too by many well-intentioned men ; because they look to the inconsistent lives of some persons who profess themselves to be her members. They forget that all the Church pretends to do is to make the lips of those who profess to join her communion speak words of truth. The consequence of this is, that the Church must be seen in her services; not the lives of her professing members, but her doctrines must be examined, and her requirements compared with the Scriptures. If any of you had hired a servant, and you afterwards found that sometimes he did what you told him, and sometimes he did what your enemies told him, would you acknowledge that man to be your servant? Would you not take every means to give publicity to the fact that he was not your servant, although you once hired him?

The Church's profession, which every person who joins her is required to make, before he is acknowledged as a member, is scriptural; and is such a profession as every servant of Christ ought to make. But it is the profession which must be examined, and not the opinions of the individual members. There are four classes of persons in every parish. The first Class consists of "the little flock"-the true Christians, in whom the Spirit of God is ruling-working in them, and fitting them for glory. I do not say how many are in this class: I do not say who they are. But if it be not the case,

that there are some such, then there is no true member of the Church in that place. Besides these, there are persons who take up the language of the Church, speak as if they were true members, attend upon her services, and externally submit to all her requirements. There is nothing known as regards their lives which is scandalously or notoriously evil. These join in worship with the little flock, and do all that is required outwardly of the real spiritual members. They are persons who may or may not be hypocrites, or self-deceived. This is the second class. And these two classes of persons form the body of the Church. Mark well that these are the only persons whom the Church of England ever acknowledges to be her members. They communicate; they bring their children to baptism; they submit to the regulations of the body. The members of the Church then, consist of these two sorts of people.

Besides these, there is also a third class. They are the persons who do not communicate; but who come and sit and hear: who do not object to the worship, but do not care much about it: it is a matter of little concern to them. They fancy themselves to be Church of England people because they have got the habit of hearing a good deal about the Church, but without understanding or personally applying it. They do not like dissent; not because they think dissent to be wrong, but because it is contrary to their habits: it is what they have not been so familiar with as with the Church. These persons were baptized in their infancy-some of them ned their baptismal vows; but they never on-or, if they did, it might have been of confirmation-and they have thought t it since. Such persons do not form part door, however, is open to them; and ministers power to receive them whenever The opportunity is before them, but they

perhaps joine

remain out. This is the third Class. And the fourth Class consists of those persons who go on living to the world, enjoying all they can, never caring any thing at all about religion; never thinking about their souls, or God, or Eternity. I was about to say that they are poor unhappy heathens: but no-they are much worse than the heathen. The poor heathen were never baptized-the poor heathen never had the Gospel of Christ preached to them, nor the opportunity of knowing Him. The poor heathen will not have so terrible a condemnation, so deep a place in hell as these.

Now every Parish in England has these four classes of persons in it they together make the Parish. And every minister of the Church of England is commanded to go and preach to these people; and, as it is set forth in our Ordination service, "to seek for Christ's sheep that are dispersed abroad, and for his children who are in the midst of this naughty world, that they may be saved, through Christ, for ever.". This is what every minister has sworn he will do.

There is no difficulty at all in declaring the state of the fourth class-they cannot be saved: they must perish-fearful truth! With a mourning heart I must turn to the third class, and declare to you, that if God's word be true, they cannot be saved: they must perish. And beloved brethren, with still greater mourning and grief of heart, I must state the condition of the second class-they cannot be saved: they too must perish. These are solemn, fearful truths. With joy of heart I turn to the first class; and, praised be God, I can say to them, you shall be saved, every one of you. I cannot tell who they are, nor what their names: Christ knows them all. The Church forbids her ministers to judge at all of the members (the first two classes). The false and the true wheat grow so much alike, the minister cannot tell which is which; and thank God we are not allowed to attempt it. The Church, I say, forbids us to make a distinction