Saviour, and makes us one with Him and with the Father; you have heard also how He Himself committed this gracious and glorious ministration to chosen servants, whom He made stewards of His Mysteries. The Scriptures, your own observation, yea and your own hearts tell you, that the blessings of pardon and grace, and all other spiritual blessings, conferred upon mankind by such a ministration are quite as needful for us now, and always have been as needful to all the Sons of Adam, as they were to the first Christians. The Scriptures also tell you that the Apostles were enjoined to exercise their ministry "even unto the end of the world;" for when Christ sent them forth to baptize and christianize all nations he added "And lo! I am with you always even unto the end of the world.” But reason tells you that if the Apostles were to exercise their ministry "unto the end of the world," it could not be in their own persons, and in their individual capacity, seeing that they were to die like other men; therefore it must have been in their corporate capacity, as members and ministers of the Church, and in the persons of their successors, from age to age, that their Master's command and promise were to be

fulfilled. Accordingly, the Scriptures tell you that the Apostles, before they fell asleep, did commit this heavenly Treasure (the ministration of the Spirit) which they had received from their Divine Master to other faithful men ;-and that they left with the highest order of these men the power of transmitting the same, in their turn, to others. The Scriptures also speak of the Sacred Ministry as of an abiding ordinance; and rules are laid down, in the Scriptures, for the conduct of the ministers towards their people, and for the conduct of the people towards their Ministers. And history tells you that such a Ministry ever has abided; and you know that it does still abide. There ever has been, during the whole eighteen hundred years of Christianity,—and there is (thank God!) at this moment amongst us, a Sacred Band of Ministers who can trace up their ordination, through the holy Apostles, to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Surely if we be in earnest about our Salvation we shall not trifle with this fact; surely when we ask God to pour down upon us the abundance of His mercy we shall not despise and set at nought His own appointed channel of Mercy,-the Clergy of His Church.

For our own sakes then, and for the sake of those whom we may influence for good or for evil, let us never by word or look or deed, never on any plea whatever, give countenance to the sad indifference and unconcern which now prevails on this subject, through every walk of life; but let us consider Religion, (as it is indeed), a matter of infinite moment, and so let nothing tempt us to join a multitude to do evil. If our companions think that it matters not whether they go to Church or to a Meeting-house,—if they tell us, that all the persons, all the times, all the things, all the rites and ceremonies, and all the places, which have been set apart by our Spiritual Rulers, in the Name of our heavenly Father, are not thereby invested with any special and peculiar holiness, nor ought to be treated with unfeigned reverence, as the very property of God-if they treat our devotions with contempt, and prefer their own superstitions to the Divine Mysteries of the Gospel-if I say our neighbours act thus; why then let us, from the very bottom of our hearts, pray to God Almighty that they may see their error before it be too late; but above all things let us beware of bringing down the curse of bloodguiltiness upon

our own heads by becoming partakers of their sin and thereby confirming them in it. "Let thine eyes look straight on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee: ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand, nor to the left; remove thy feet from evil." If we were "sufficient of ourselves," and could trust in the powers and feelings of our own hearts, we might be content, as others are, with such things as in their own nature, (i. e. according to the flesh,) are best fitted to exercise those powers and stimulate those feelings to the utmost-we might seek for eloquence and talent, and judge of men's ability to help us by the boldness and bravery of their language and their looks; but if our trust is in God, through Christ Jesus our Lord, if we are indeed assured that our sufficiency is of Him, we shall muse on His ways and be diligent to walk in them, even though we should walk alone; we shall see the glory of His Spirit in the mysterious ordinances of His Church, though it be a glory which is hidden from the children of the world and manifested only to the eye of faith.

SERMON VIII.

TEMPTATION NO EXCUSE.

1 Cor. X, 13.

THERE HATH NO TEMPTATION HAPPENED UNTO YOU BUT SUCH AS IS COMMON TO MAN; BUT GOD IS FAITHFUL, WHO WILL NOT SUFFER YOU TO BE TEMPTED ABOVE THAT YE ARE ABLE; BUT WILL WITH THE TEMPTATION ALSO MAKE A WAY TO ESCAPE, THAT YE MAY BE ABLE TO BEAR IT.

THE Christians of Corinth, to whom these words were first addressed, appear to have been guilty of two great faults. They were puffed up with pride on account of the spiritual gifts and advantages which they had received: that is, they thought less of God who was the Author and Giver of all the blessings they enjoyed, than of themselves who had been called by His mercy out of heathen darkness into the light of the Gospel of Christ. This was one especial sin