in herself as the possessor of such treasures, and her God, the giver, would have been practically forgotten. Such views of the church's prosperity did, in point of fact, lead to the great apostasy whose characteristic language is, “I am rich, I sit as a queen, and shall see no sorrow."

But when heresies arose, and multitudes were led away into error; when false teachers prevailed, and gross corruptions were sanctioned by authority, when men of high station, and extensive learning, and exemplary character in all that met the eye of their fellow men, departed from the faith, so that the way of truth was evil spoken of; when but few faithful witnesses were found, and those few persecuted; when the prophecies of destruction seemed on the eve of complete fulfilment, and the promises of preservation seemed in jeopardy as ready to be falsified; then, in the contrast, the orthodoxy and faithfulness of a few became highly prized; they could not be considered as matters of course, for they were comparatively rare; they could not be considered as matters of church ordinance, for men in full communion with the church, baptized in due form, and in the weekly enjoyment of every outward service, had fallen away; they could not be considered as matters of education, for some of the most highly educated had departed from the faith : Whence then were they? Grace! grace! The hand of God was seen in these things.

Whence was it, that England and England's church were rescued from the apostasy of the na

tions, and kept faithful unto God; even as the election was kept from the apostasy of the baptized?

Attention was in a manner forced upon him who made the promise, and whose power and truth were exhibited in the continued fulfilment of it under adverse circumstances; and the church of Christ never shone more conspicuously to the praise and glory of her Lord, than when baptized professors became her deadly persecutors. She had been a witness against the polytheism of the heathen, when she was thrown to the lions in a pagan amphitheatre, and the contrast was glorious. But "that which was glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth ;" and the "far more exceeding glory" of the church's contrast was exhibited, when, surviving not only perils among strangers which were great, but also perils among false brethren which were greater, because more subtle and ensnaring, and becoming a witness against the idolatrous corruption of Christianity itself, she joyfully embraced the burning fagot, or was rent upon the torturing rack in the papal inquisition.

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LECTURE III.

THE CHURCH POSSESSED OF INSTRUMENTALITY WHICH REACHES TO RULERS, AS WELL AS SUBJECTS-RESPONSIBILITY OF RULERS WITH REFERENCE TO SUCH INSTRUMENTALITY-THE INSTRUMENTALITY OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND WITH REFERENCE TO THE END IN VIEWUNRESTRICTED USE OF THE BIBLE-THE VULGAR TONGUE IN WORSHIP-LITURGICAL FORMS OF PRAYER AND PRAISE -COMMEMORATIONS OF SCRIPTURAL FACTS-CONNEXION WITH THE STATE; SUCH CONNEXION NOT A MATTER OF CHOICE: INEVITABLE FROM THE NATURE OF THE CASE -THE QUESTION IS, OF WHAT CHARACTER SHALL IT BE -OF WELL-REGULATED UNION, SECURING MUTUAL LIBERTY?-OR OF USURPATION AND PROSTRATION, LEADING TO TYRANNY ON THE ONE SIDE, AND SLAVERY ON THE OTHER?

OUR attention has been called, first, to the great END or object of the christian church, with reference to which all instrumentality must be judged; and, secondly, to the character of the instrumentality appointed in the holy Scriptures.

as

We have seen in "intellectual conceit," Hooker expresses it, the church or body of Christ, the fulness (mystically) of Him in his human members, who (in his divine nature) filleth all in all, the

jewels, as the Lord by the prophet calls them, wherewith he will adorn himself in the day of his glory. We have seen, also, the constitution of the visible society of the baptized, the casket containing the jewels, and called by the name of its precious contents the church. We have examined its component parts, the appointment of its officers in unbroken succession, and the nature of the divine commission under which they act. We have noticed the prophecies of apostasy, and promises of preservation, with which this church (combining in its ranks good and bad, wise and foolish, wheat and tares, the elect and the rest) was launched upon the tide of this troublesome world: and we have glanced at one effect (to the praise of the glory of divine grace) attained by this combination of arrangement. Means are proved to be at best but means, and God is seen in all things as the only giver of success.

We proceed now to some further particulars of our ecclesiastical instrumentality, with a view of pointing out as before their accordance with the word of God, and thereby commending them to the fearless adoption of sensible christian men, and urging their extension over the enormously increased population of our country.

The christian society, constituted as we have seen, supplied an instrumentality for the conversion to the faith of the gospel, (or at least to a profession of that faith,) not of subjects only, but of sovereigns also. God is no respecter of persons,

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or ranks, on either side. True it is, indeed, that from reasons connected with the pride of human intellect, with the possessions, honours, and consequent entanglements of this world, not many wise men of the flesh, not many rich, not many mighty, not many noble, received the testimony of the gospel to the saving of their souls: but though not many did so, still there were some, some at the very outset in Cæsar's household; and the instrumentality which reached and subdued them, was powerful, in God's good time, to reach and subdue their imperial master. No sovereign, so reached, and brought personally under christian influence, could be blind to the efficiency of such an instrumentality; or insensible to the weight of responsibility devolving upon himself with regard to the use he should make, or at the least endeavour to make of it, on behalf of his people. Becoming personally a member of Christ's Church, he became responsible not only for the performance of his quondam duties as a sovereign, from new principles and motives; but also for the performance of new duties as a christian sovereign, providentially placed in a condition to avail himself of a new christian instrumentality.

Accordingly, when the christian society extended itself so as to reach the throne as well as the cottage, kings and princes availed themselves of the officers and ordinances of the church; making God's instruments for eternal salvation to be at the same time, and by the same means, their instru