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SEEMONS ON THE CHUE 
 
 THE EPISCOPACY, LITURGY, 
 
 AND CEREMONIES OF 
 THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 CONSIDERED IN FOUR DISCOURSES, PREACH:; 
 THE CATHEDRAL OF DERRY. 
 
 BY ARCHIBALD BOYD, A.M. 
 
 CURATE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY R. B. SEELEY AND W. BUR^ 
 
 AND SOLD BY 
 
 L. AND G. SEELEY FLEET STREET, LONDON; A" . 
 W. CURRY AND CO. DUBLIN. 
 MDCCCXXXVIII. 
 
HUXTEI> BY 
 I. AX11 B. STELEY, THAMES DITTOS, SURREY 
 
TO THE HON . AND RIGHT REV. 
 
 THE LORD BISHOP OF DERRY AND RAPHOE, 
 THE VERY REV. THE DEAN OF DERRY, 
 
 AND 
 
 THOSE MEMBERS OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH 
 AT WHOSE DESIRE 
 THESE SERMONS ARE PUBLISHED, 
 THEY ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 
 BY THEIR OBLIGED AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Tage 7, seventh line from foot, for" wrought" read "brought." 
 
 — 16, seventh line from top, for" this honour" read ** these honours 
 
 — 32, fifteenth line from top, for " this" read "their." 
 
 — 35, fifteenth line from top, for "holiness" read " belief." 
 
 — 37, ninth line from foot, for "part" read "pointy 
 
 — 38, eighth line from foot, for " erected" read " created." 
 
 — 45, eighth line from foot, for " profoundness" read " preparedness." 
 
 — 47, second line from foot, for " that" read " what." 
 
 — 50, eighth line from foot, for "practice" read "functions." 
 
 — 83, sixth line from top, for " once" read " one." 
 
 — 137, seventh line from top, for " worthy" read " wanting." 
 —171, tenth line from top, for " Scriptures" read " Dissenters" 
 
 — 211, thirteenth line from foot, for " Getulid" read " Getulia." 
 
vi 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ment was represented as unscriptural, her system as 
 alien to the genius of the Gospel, and her formularies 
 were censured as being detrimental to the interests of 
 genuine religion. Satisfied, as the Author was, that 
 such statements were the children of prejudice, or 
 the results of a very superficial acquaintance with 
 the subject, he conceived that he could not better 
 discharge (what appeared to him) a sacred and 
 urgent duty, than by submitting to his congregation 
 the proofs which the Church of England could ad- 
 duce in support of her pretensions. In taking this 
 step, his hope was that he might be enabled to in- 
 struct his own hearers on points not usually made 
 the subject of pulpit ministrations ; and remove 
 somewhat of that prejudice and hostility which, it 
 distressed him to observe, occupied the minds of 
 many in other denominations. 
 
 In the discharge of this duty, his wish, his endea- 
 vour was to speak the truth in candour, and to avoid 
 any thing savouring of a spirit of unkindness towards 
 others. There is nothing he would more pointedly 
 disclaim than a desire to invade the peculiarities of 
 other religious communities. His views on this sub- 
 ject were stated during the delivery of these Sermons, 
 and are now placed on record. His design was 
 instructive and defensive. While he advocates the 
 duty of a minister to point out the excellences of his 
 own Church, and to meet the objections which may 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 vii 
 
 be urged against it, he deprecates aggression, and 
 dislikes the defence which assumes the tone of re- 
 crimination. 
 
 The kindly-expressed wishes of a large number 
 of the flock have induced him to commit these dis- 
 courses to the press. He does so in deference to 
 their opinion, though conscious that they merit no 
 such distinction. But to shrink from such a duty 
 when called to it by the voice of a flock whose re- 
 gard he dearly values and whose establishment in 
 the faith is the prayer of his heart ; when urged to it 
 by the wish of his Rector, and the desire of his Dio- 
 cesan — this he felt to be impossible. It will be to 
 him ever a matter of high gratification, that his 
 willingness (for that may exist where the ability is 
 wanting) to advocate the truth and to remove mis- 
 conception, has been honored by the approval of his 
 ecclesiastical superiors, and all classes of the beloved 
 flock among whom his ministry has been cast. 
 
 In a work of this nature it is scarcely to be ex- 
 pected that much matter can be found strictly 
 deserving to be called original. The subjects treated 
 of have been so often and so ably discussed, that a 
 writer entering upon them in the present day must 
 feel conscious that he is travelling over an explored 
 country. He may place an argument in a different 
 light, or pursue it into details into which it has not 
 been pressed by others, or make truth more striking 
 
viii 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 by the combination of facts and proofs ; but he can 
 scarcely hope to become a discoverer. The writer 
 of these discourses feels that he is indebted to the 
 labours and talents of others for the hints at least of 
 some of the arguments adduced ; and of course for 
 many of the facts urged in illustration of them. 
 Amongst those to whom he would acknowledge 
 himself indebted, he would especially mention the 
 author of " Letters to a Dissenting Minister," and 
 the " Layman," who has placed the Church of 
 England, and the cause of religion in general, under 
 such deep obligation by his valuable " Essays on the 
 Church." 
 
 March, 1838. 
 
SERMON I. 
 
 THE CHARACTER AND PRIVILEGES OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 PSALM XLVIII. 12, 13. 
 
 WALK ABOUT ZION, AND GO ROUND ABOUT HER : TELL 
 THE TOWERS THEREOF : MARK YE WELL HER BUL- 
 WARKS, CONSIDER HER PALACES ; THAT YE MAY TELL 
 IT TO THE GENERATION FOLLOWING. 
 
 There is something extremely peculiar in the cha- 
 racter of this Psalm, from which our text is selected. 
 It partakes in no respect of that tone of depression 
 and sadness, which breathes through so many of the 
 inspired hymns of the Psalmists, and which tells us 
 that their hearts were overclouded by sorrow at the 
 moment they gave utterance to their expressions. It 
 is, from first to last, conceived in emotions of triumph; 
 and so far from being tinged by the slightest shade 
 of dejection, it peals forth its strain of praise in notes 
 of exultation which must have thrilled to the heart of 
 every true worshipper in Israel. We have not been 
 permitted to know, with historical certainty, what 
 
2 
 
 THE CHARACTER AND PRIVILEGES 
 
 the occasion was which called it into existence. The 
 song of triumph is left upon record, but it announces 
 not the events which produced it ; so that we are 
 left to infer them rather from the spirit and expres- 
 sion of the Psalm itself, than from any evidence which 
 points decisively to them. And this is an attempt of 
 no trifling difficulty, because the incidents in the his- 
 tory of Israel which might well have suggested such 
 a burst of thanksgiving are so many, that perplexity 
 must gather round the endeavour to select one out of 
 such a crowd of rival wonders. The records of Israel 
 are a narrative of successive deliverances effected by 
 God for his people; and as we pursue our way 
 through their pages, the many scenes of peril giving 
 place to as many scenes of victory ; the many ap- 
 proaches of disaster converted by the touch of Divine 
 interposition into the glories of conquest, pass so 
 rapidly before our notice, that when we turn to a 
 Psalm of gratitude for national blessings conferred or 
 deliverances effected, we feel ourselves at a loss to 
 connect the event and the memorial ; to choose out of 
 Israel's brilliant annals the special circumstances to 
 which the Commemorative Hymn refers. 
 
 And this difficulty, which attaches itself to many 
 of the Psalms, meets us in our endeavour to deter- 
 mine the history of that at this moment before us. 
 There are several events in Jewish chronicles with 
 which it might with propriety be associated. It ap- 
 
OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 3 
 
 pears to me, however, that the allusions which occur 
 in it, and the general character of its expressions, 
 harmonize more closely with the deliverance vouch- 
 safed in the times of Jehoshaphat than with any other 
 similar event of Jewish history. We shall find this 
 recorded in the twentieth chapter of the second book 
 of Chronicles : " It came to pass after this, also, that 
 the children of Moab and the children of Amnion, and 
 with them other beside the Ammonites, came against 
 Jehoshaphat to battle. Then there came some that 
 told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great 
 multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this 
 side Syria ; and Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to 
 seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all 
 Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together to 
 ask help of the Lord : even out of all the cities of 
 Judah they came to seek the Lord. And Jehosha- 
 phat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusa- 
 lem, in the house of the Lord before the new court ; 
 and said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou 
 God hi heaven ? and rulest not thou over all the 
 kingdoms of the heathen ? and in thy hand is there 
 not power and might, so that none is able to with- 
 stand thee ? art not thou our God, who didst drive" 
 out the inhabitants of this land before thy people 
 Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend 
 for ever ? And now, behold, the children of Ammon 
 and Moab and Mount Seir, behold, I say, how they 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 THE CHARACTER AND PRIVILEGES 
 
 reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession 
 which thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, 
 wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might 
 against this great company that cometh against us ; 
 neither know we what to do : but our eyes are upon 
 thee." In this striking passage we have spread be- 
 fore our view the scene of Israel's distress, and the 
 refuge into which she retreated in the day of her 
 threatened calamity. Her hereditary foes had united 
 in a bold and determined effort to carry the desola- 
 tions of war over the sacred territory of Judah, and 
 to effect the destruction of the kingdom, which was 
 the object alike of their envy and cherished hatred. 
 The strength of the confederacy, the multitudes 
 which followed the standard of invasion, and the oft- 
 experienced hostility of the nations who united to 
 uphold it, all augured darkly for the safety of the 
 Lord's inheritance. But the dependence of Jehosha- 
 phat was not upon an arm of flesh ; God was his 
 trusted refuge, and prayer in the Lord's house the 
 weapon of defence selected by him and the congrega- 
 tion of Judah. And upon that occasion the God of 
 Israel manifested himself as a prayer-hearing God, 
 Tor the answer which reached the downcast yet trust- 
 ful Israelites assured them of a triumphant deliver- 
 ance—a deliverance which should be effected by no 
 skill or prowess of man ; for " the battle was not to 
 be theirs, but God's." Their part was to sit still, 
 
OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 and see the salvation of the Lord. And in depend- 
 ence upon this gracious declaration — in full anticipa- 
 tion of the promised help, the provisions for thanks- 
 giving were made before the blow of rescue was 
 struck, and in the very presence of a formidable 
 army, the singers of Israel were to " praise the 
 Lord whose mercy endured for ever." The event 
 corresponded to their expectations ; " according to 
 their faith it was unto them." By dissension and 
 strife among themselves, the forces of the confederate 
 invaders were destroyed, and Israel found herself, 
 by the power of that God who made the wrath of 
 man to praise him, released from her imminent peril, 
 and enriched by the spoils of an enemy against whom 
 she had not drawn a sword nor made a resisting 
 movement. " The battle was God's, and the salva- 
 tion of the Lord was with his people." 
 
 It is impossible to compare the circumstances of 
 this deliverance, the number and strength of the 
 invaders, the marvellous manner in which they were 
 defeated, the infatuation which possessed them in the 
 very crises of their plans, the spirit of trust which 
 moved the hearts of the Israelites, and the burst of 
 wondering praise which made the valleys of Berachah 
 and the streets of Jerusalem re-echo with thanks- 
 givings to the Lord, with the expressions and allu- 
 sions of the Psalm before us, without being struck by 
 the conjecture, almost by the conviction, that the 
 
6 
 
 THE CHARACTER AND PRIVILEGES 
 
 hymn and the narrative point to the same event ; that 
 the one is in poetry what the other is in history : and 
 we may not be altogether unjustified in hazarding 
 the opinion that the Psalm itself was chanted by 
 Jehoshaphat and his rejoicing subjects in the thanks- 
 giving services of the time, when " with psalteries 
 and harps and trumpets," the hosts of Israel, with 
 their monarch in their ' forefront' marched in solemn 
 procession to the temple of the Lord. 
 
 We have, then, so far advanced in the investiga- 
 tion of our subject, that we have ascertained, (as far 
 as well- sustained conjecture can ascertain it,) the 
 portion of Scripture we are considering to be an 
 inspired record of past glories to Israel. It is, how- 
 ever, more than this ; it is a summons to Israel to 
 examine and understand their advantages. The Psalm 
 does not simply commemorate a transaction ; it in- 
 vites Israel to estimate the securities and blessings 
 which were still hers subsequent to that transaction. 
 For she is called upon to go round the walls of her 
 capital — so lately threatened and so peculiarly exposed 
 to danger — and to see that notwithstanding the boast 
 and machinations of her many foes, the towers of 
 Jerusalem still remained uninjured, her bulwarks still 
 erect in their strength, her palaces still unspoiled of 
 a single ornament. In a word, the text before us 
 fastens the attention, and cajls the scrutiny of every 
 Israelite to the stronghold which God had provided 
 
OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 7 
 
 and preserved for him, and lays it upon him as a 
 bounden duty to proclaim to his descendants that he 
 had seen Jerusalem threatened and yet safe, assailed 
 and vet undismantled ; that he had accurately scanned 
 her condition and satisfied his mind of the fact, that 
 not a defence was wanting to her battlements, nor a 
 stone dislodged from her ramparts. 
 
 Now, although this is undoubtedly the primary 
 intention of our text, we are not, I conceive, unjus- 
 tified in attaching to it a more extended signification. 
 The circumstances in which the Israelites were placed 
 naturally called for large and high-toned expressions 
 of praise. Still we think that the language now 
 before us is of a kind too bold and elevated to be 
 restricted to any event in the history of that people. 
 The Psalms are many of them somewhat more than 
 historical : they are typical and prophetic. At the 
 same time that they record and celebrate a particular 
 event, they point forward to some event still greater. 
 And this harmonizes with the w r hole character of the 
 Jews as a people. Their Church and polity are 
 confessedly typical of the peculiarities of the Mes- 
 siah's kingdom. What was wrought into light and 
 fulness by the Gospel had its existence in a shadowy 
 and contracted form under the law ; and so it is, we 
 conceive, with respect to the Psalm before us. Many 
 of the terms of the allusions found in it are figurative 
 as well as real. Thus, Zion in it is used in a figure. 
 Being literally the hill on which the city of God 
 
8 
 
 THE CHARACTER AND PRIVILEGES 
 
 stood, it is employed to denote Jerusalem itself, and 
 then in a more extended sense to denote that of 
 which Jerusalem was a clear and expressive type, the 
 community of the faithful, the covenanted Church of 
 Christ. Of this application of the term we find 
 many instances in Scripture. Thus, in the 102d 
 Psalm, " Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon 
 Zion, for the time to favour her, yea, the set time is 
 come." " Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief corner-stone, 
 elect, precious." (Isai. xxviii. 16.) "Ye are come 
 unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living 
 God, and unto the heavenly Jerusalem, the general 
 assembly and Church of the first-born." (Heb. xii. 
 22, 23.)" So that it is clearly allowable to us to 
 consider our text, not simply as descriptive of the 
 excellences and strength of Jerusalem, but as figu- 
 ratively descriptive of the stability of the Church of 
 God ; and its commands as addressed not merely to 
 the inhabitants of the city of David, but as extended 
 to all who claim a connection with, and profess an 
 interest in, the privileges of the spiritual Jerusalem. 
 
 Having thus endeavoured to establish our right to 
 use our text for this purpose, we shall consider it in 
 reference to these two topics : 
 
 I. THE FIGURE USED TO DESCRIBE THE CHURCH OF 
 CHRIST ; 
 
 II. THE DUTY OF HER MEMBERS IN RESPECT TO 
 HER. 
 
 I. The figure under which the Church is here 
 
OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 9- 
 
 presented to our thoughts, is that of a city encircled 
 with its battlements and protected by its towers. 
 This figure is applicable, in the first place, on 
 account of the strength of its foundations. The 
 fortified city requires to be sustained by the firmness 
 of its under- structure. This was peculiarly the case 
 with Jerusalem ; it was founded not upon the shifting 
 soil of a low country, but proudly planted upon the 
 rocky eminence. " It was a city set on a hill." It 
 was fixed " upon the mountain of holiness, beautiful 
 for situation ; her foundation was upon the holy hills." 
 This was amongst the reasons which induced the 
 Israelites, in the vanity of their fleshly confidence, to 
 believe that their capital was impregnable and secure 
 against all invasion. The rock on which it stood 
 protected it from undermining, and the loftiness of 
 its position made surprisal an impossibility. This 
 peculiarity belongs to the spiritual Zion, the Church 
 of the first-born ; its foundations are firmness itself, 
 for it is builded on a rock. (Matt. xvi. 18.) It is 
 raised upon the foundation of prophets and apostles, 
 a pledge in itself of its security ; for other foundation 
 can no man lay than that already laid for it — Christ, 
 the unchangeable, the eternal. To his Church he is 
 the Alpha and the Omega ; her hopes, her stability, 
 her comforts, are all centred in him. It was his 
 atonement which made a redeemed and saved com- 
 munity a thing possible in the counsels of God, for 
 
•10 THE CHARACTER AND PRIVILEGES 
 
 iniquity had broken up the ties which bound the 
 Creator and the creature to each other ; and it was 
 reconciliation for iniquity which made it possible for 
 the guilty to stand in a renewed covenant with God. 
 The Church's stability depends upon her junction 
 with the Saviour. The covenant which ensures her 
 salvation is made with him, and not with her ; with 
 him it is that the Father is well pleased. The pro- 
 mises on which she rests, the declarations on which 
 she ventures to builcl, are all confirmed and ratified 
 in him ; "in him they are Amen to the glory of God 
 by us." The happiness she enjoys, the strength she 
 experiences, the faith which makes her more than 
 conqueror in her trials and vicissitudes, are all derived 
 through him ; for the Father, when he gave his Son 
 to die for transgression, " with him gave the Church 
 all things." She is thus, by virtue of her union 
 with him, a city resting upon an immoveable founda- 
 tion ; and if her walls rise gradually into beauty and 
 stability, it is because the work commenced in him, 
 is carried forward by him, and through the doctrines, 
 the providence, and the gift of Jesus, the spiritual 
 edifice becomes the fortified and extended citadel. 
 
 2. The Church is compared to a city on account 
 of its separate and enclosed character. The original 
 state of society was not that of settlement and order. 
 The tribes of the children of men were scattered 
 upon the face of the globe, of which they found 
 
OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 1 ] 
 
 themselves inhabitants, and raised their tents or 
 ruder dwellings as caprice or convenience dictated. 
 The scantiness of its population admitted of its hordes 
 roaming- from spot to spot as necessity required, and 
 suggested not the urgency of lines of separation 
 between the branches of the same great family. But 
 in process of time, the alteration of circumstances, 
 and the improvements of society, called for the esta- 
 blishment of distinct communities; and as increase 
 in wealth or attachment to long-loved dwellings 
 rivetted them to their settlements, an identity of 
 interest suggested combination and effort for their 
 mutual protection. And thus were the abodes of 
 men select and distinguished from surrounding tribes, 
 and their inhabitants selections from the multitude. 
 The city was the enclosed and separate settlement. 
 So it is, my brethren, with the Church of the Re- 
 deemer. It is a community called out from the 
 world, the effect of spiritual improvement. It is in 
 it, and yet chosen out and distinguished from it. 
 The general population of earth are still in the 
 primitive state of their natural condition : the Church 
 is in the cultivated state of renewal and sanctification. 
 And this is the view which the Bible ever takes of 
 the Church's position. If Christ speaks of her in 
 the figurative language of the Canticles, he describes 
 her as a garden enclosed, a spring shut up, a foun- 
 tain sealed, an orchard with all the sweet spices. If 
 
12 THE CHARACTER AND PRIVILEGES 
 
 he speaks of her in the parabolic language of the 
 New Testament, he represents her as a vineyard girt 
 in with its hedges, planted with the. choicest vines, 
 and guarded by the tower of protection. All this 
 indicates the marked-ofF character of the true Church 
 of Jesus. It is separate from the world, not only 
 because elected out of it, but that it may be pre- 
 served from its contaminations. Its distinctions are 
 its protection. The peculiar favour of God on the 
 one hand, and the holiness of its members on the 
 other, are the grounds of its unmixing attitude. It 
 is not removed from the world at large by unmeaning 
 peculiarities and pharisaic repulsiveness, but by the 
 substantial distinction which must ever exist between 
 a state of nature and a state of grace. And if. like 
 the city, the Church seems to assume an attitude of 
 exclusiveness, she would have it to be recollected 
 that that is not the consequence of pride, but because 
 " God hath made her to differ." 
 
 3. The Church is compared to a city, on account 
 of its peculiar polity or government. This is a 
 remarkable and well-known characteristic of cities. 
 They subsist in the kingdom where they are found 
 located, as part of its strength, and connected with its 
 interests. They are amenable to the laws by which 
 the stability of the kingdom is secured, and its wel- 
 fare promoted. They are protected by its govern- 
 ment, and participate in the manifold advantages 
 
OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 13 
 
 which flow in upon a country from the administration 
 of judgment and justice. But yet, besides all this, 
 the city is regulated by laws peculiar to itself, suited 
 to its own circumstances, and devised to meet its 
 special exigencies. Its magistracy is its own, its 
 regulations of a different order from those which tell 
 upon the surrounding population. It is so, my 
 brethren, with the separated community of which we 
 speak. The Chinch of Jesus is a kingdom in itself, 
 an empire within empires. It receives a protection 
 and countenance from the laws and earthly govern- 
 ments under which it subsists ; a protection to which 
 it is every way entitled, not only because to its 
 members are due the common advantages of subjects, 
 but because the true members of the Saviour's mys- 
 tical body, are for conscience' sake, the best subjects 
 which an earthly potentate can reckon among his 
 people. But at the same time that the Church 
 enjoys the safeguard of the powers that be, and ren- 
 ders them the honour that is justly theirs, she has a 
 polity and government of her own. It interferes in 
 no respect with earthly monarchy ; for the kingdom 
 of Messiah is not of this world. It is altogether 
 spiritual. The laws to which the Christian does 
 homage are the laws of religion, of spirituality, of 
 holiness — laws little understood and less reverenced 
 by the mass of the ungodly. The Christian learns, 
 in the secrecy of his retirement, of a King that is 
 
14 
 
 THE CHARACTER AND PRIVILEGES 
 
 invisible, and feels in his regenerated heart the con- 
 strainings of an authority which has no political 
 sanction to support it. The principles which spring 
 from the Bible, and enter into and dwell in his spirit, 
 which regulate his actions and mould his conversa- 
 tion, which tell not only to live soberly, but righte- 
 ously and godly, which restrain him from evil and 
 prompt him to good, — these are the same principles 
 which are diffused by a kind of magic influence over 
 the whole body of the Church, and which constrain 
 to what is pure and lovely with greater cogency than 
 the thousand enactments of a nation's statute-book. 
 The machinery of the government of the heavenly 
 Jerusalem is perfect. She has her own King, her 
 own laws, and her own persuasive motives. With 
 them a " stranger may not intermeddle," but the 
 citizen of Zion feels and understands their sway. 
 
 4. The Church sustains the similitude of a city, if 
 we consider its peculiar privileges. These every 
 city possesses. The constitution which makes it a 
 separated community endows it also with separate 
 distinctions— distinctions valued and jealously guard- 
 ed in modern times, and still more prized in the 
 earlier ages of the world. Of this we have an 
 illustration in the conduct of Paul at Jerusalem, 
 where we find the apostle standing, and successfully 
 standing, upon the immunities which were his, 
 when, in virtue of his being a citizen of Rome, the 
 
OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 15 
 
 simple mention of his honours stayed the hand cf 
 oppression, and made the Gentile authorities tremble 
 at the danger they had so nearly incurred by sub- 
 jecting him to indignity. (Acts xxii. 25.) The pri- 
 vileges possessed were of course various, and created 
 by the peculiarity of the times and circumstances 
 under which they were granted. But we may say 
 that generally they provided for the citizens security, 
 freedom, and dignity. The Church of the first-born 
 is in this respect a city. She has not only her own 
 government, but she has beyond it, her special im- 
 munities. Her charter is granted and recorded by 
 the hand of God himself, emblazoned upon the pages 
 of his own book of Revelation, and kept by him 
 inviolate for his people. A franchise is conferred 
 upon every citizen of Zion at the moment he receives 
 admission into the general assembly of the redeemed : 
 for, the instant that he takes up the cross, the badge 
 of humiliation and suffering, he takes up at the same 
 time the badge of privilege and honour. He partakes 
 of the security conferred in the general promise to 
 the Church, " I the Lord do keep it." He is invested 
 with the safety implied in the special assurance, " I 
 give unto my sheep eternal life ; they shall never 
 perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my 
 hand." He receives the gift of freedom, not an 
 empty distinction or a pageant honour, but a sub- 
 stantial mercy : for he was the servant of sin, but 
 
16 
 
 THE CHARACTER AND PRIVILEGES 
 
 now he stands blessed in the " liberty wherewith 
 Christ has made him free." He enjoys the dignity 
 of a citizen : for the act of grace which made him a 
 Christian and connected him with the Church of 
 God, made him a fellow- citizen of the saints, a mem- 
 ber of the Eternal's household, one of a peculiar 
 generation, " This honour have all God's saints." 
 They are settled upon the community of Zion. They 
 are the privileges of the New Jerusalem, inseparable 
 from her constitution, and the chartered right of the 
 meanest of her children. 
 
 II. Having thus considered the character of the 
 Church as suggested by the figure of our text, we turn 
 to the second topic on which we proposed to speak — 
 
 THE DUTY OF HER MEMBERS IN RESPECT TO HER. 
 
 The passage before us plainly asserts what is affirmed 
 by the universal testimony of Scripture, that blessings 
 and responsibilities are linked together in God's 
 arrangements, and that a participation of privileges 
 constrains to the fulfilment of corresponding duties. 
 We have examined the privileges, and from them we 
 are sent to the consideration of the duties. The 
 first of these which the text points to is that of 
 thankfulness and praise for connection with the city 
 of God. This we discover in the clause, "Walk 
 about Zion." This command, as we conceive, in- 
 culcates not the duty of estimating the resources of 
 Zion, but that of expressing gratitude for the advan- 
 
OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 17 
 
 tage of belonging to it. It is an allusion to the 
 custom so well known in former times, of marching 
 in solemn state around the walls of a delivered for- 
 tress with songs of victory and praise. This custom 
 seems to have obtained amongst the Jews, as well as 
 among the Gentile nations of antiquity, for we find it 
 observed by Nehemiah upon the occasion of the 
 celebration of the restoring of Jerusalem. (Neh. xii. 
 31 — 40.) And we are confirmed in affixing this 
 interpretation to the words by their connection with 
 the foregoing verse : " Let Mount Zion rejoice, and 
 the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judg- 
 ments — walk about Zion." In this clause, then, the 
 whole population of Israel is summoned to unite in 
 triumphant praise, that they were linked to a spot so 
 honoured as that which God had shielded and shel- 
 tered by his omnipotence. Brethren, the same 
 spirit is alike the privilege and the duty of the Chris- 
 tian. He is a citizen of no mean city. He should 
 rejoice in the dignity. The honour and advantage 
 of membership with the spiritual Church of Christ, 
 are matters which should be prized by believers, but 
 which are oftentimes sadly overlooked and under- 
 valued ; and, in consequence, the strain of dejection 
 is often heard when the hymn of praise should be 
 rushing from the heart. The realised fact should be 
 frequently presented to the mind of the Christian, 
 that he is of the household of God. It would give 
 c 
 
18 
 
 THE CHARACTER AND PRIVILEGES 
 
 an elevation to his spirit, and pour a rich flood of 
 light over his prospects. In times the most trou- 
 blous it would contribute to uphold him, and almost 
 be a counterpoise to every trial ; for his rejoicing 
 would not be in the uncertain tone of frames and 
 feelings, but in an unaltering privilege. It was this 
 spirit of praise, resting upon this realised fact, that 
 sparkles through the declaration of the prophet — a 
 declaration not more remarkable for its eloquence 
 than its faith. "Although the fig-tree should not 
 blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine, the labour 
 of the olive should fail, and the fields shall yield no 
 meat, yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the 
 God of my salvation." 
 
 A second duty pressed upon us in our text is, that 
 of examination into the Church's state and peculiari- 
 ties. This is inculcated in the words, " Go round 
 about her, tell the towers thereof, mark ye well her 
 bulwarks, consider her palaces." We can well un- 
 derstand the reason for which this injunction was 
 originally issued. The Psalmists of Israel, in the 
 temper of adoring gratitude, would have all the popu- 
 lation of their country satisfy themselves that Jeru- 
 salem had suffered nothing from the menaces of its 
 foes ; they would have them bestow upon her the 
 minutest scrutiny, the closest inspection ; they would 
 have them successively look to towers, to bulwarks, 
 and to palaces, and reanimate their faith and 
 
OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 19 
 
 augment their joy by discovering from personal in- 
 vestigation that not a stone was disturbed in its 
 buildings. And we can well conceive how trustful- 
 ness in Israel's God would be strengthened by a 
 survey of these evidences of his power. Brethren, 
 the same duty towards the spiritual fabric is binding 
 upon Christians. They should for their own sakes, 
 for the upholding of their confidence and the esta- 
 blishing of their hopes, try oftentimes whether God 
 has not fulfilled his pledge to his Church ; whether 
 after many assaults she has not stood unmoved ; 
 whether she be not still safe and glorious, notwith- 
 standing the strivings of the adversary. And in 
 pursuing such an investigation, the Christian will find 
 himself guided by the passage at present under 
 review ; for he will find not only the duty urged, but 
 the points of examination specified. His eye will be 
 directed to the towers, the bulwarks, and the palaces 
 of the Lord's Zion ; that is, he will be summoned 
 to inspect her points of usefulness, her points of 
 strength, and her points of ornament. The Church's 
 towers are her resources, they are to her what the 
 strongly fortified building was to the defenced city ; 
 the armoury in which the weapons of war were 
 lodged, open to the valiant citizens, and prepared to 
 supply them with the means of encountering the 
 assailants. These the Church possesses, in that rich 
 treasury of gifts and graces and helps, which are laid 
 c 2 
 
20 THE CHARACTER AND PRIVILEGES 
 
 up in the security of a Saviour's fulness, to be dis- 
 tributed on demand by him to all who are willing to 
 wage a good warfare. " Of his fulness do all his 
 people receive, and grace for grace." In him they 
 are complete, furnished for the battle, equipped for 
 the emergency. It was this which a tried warrior 
 of the cross learned from his Redeemer's lips : " My 
 grace is sufficient for thee." It was this which he 
 learned from the testimony of his own experience : 
 " I can do all things through Christ, who strength- 
 ened me." 
 
 The Church's bulwarks are the strength she pos- 
 sesses in virtue of her covenant relation to her Lord. 
 She gathers it, first, from the promises made by him 
 to her — promises which have stood unmoved and un- 
 recalled from the moment they were bestowed upon 
 Zion. Each Testament contains a golden catalogue 
 of these causes of Zion's stability, for each is studded 
 over with bright and cheering assurances. And if 
 from them we should select one in illustration of the 
 point on which we are speaking, we would recal to 
 your memory the first prophecy of Jehovah, and the 
 last personal assurance of Immanuel : " The seed of 
 the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." " I am 
 with you alway, even to the end of the world." 
 With these declarations emblazoned on her charter, 
 the heavenly Jerusalem is girt with bulwarks ; for 
 they tell her that God is pledged for her preserva- 
 
OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 •21 
 
 tion, and that till the Faithful One shall become as 
 the children of men, who say and do not, the gates of 
 hell can never prevail against her. 
 
 The Church gathers her strength, secondly, from her 
 Maker's providences. These are over all, but pecu- 
 liarly and emphatically for good over those who have 
 learned to love God. The Lord's providence reached 
 to all nations, but the sunshine of its rays fell with 
 special favour upon Israel. Its sacred territory was a 
 land which the Lord cared for. His pledge of providen- 
 tial protection was specially extended to the vineyard 
 of his own planting. " I the Lord do keep it, I will 
 water it every moment ; lest any hurt it, I will keep 
 it night and day." This, which was true in a limited 
 sense with regard to literal Israel, is true in a fuller 
 and richer sense, with respect to the spiritual Israel. 
 The promised and experienced providence of God is 
 always the strongest bulwark of Zion. The Church 
 has passed through many difficulties and varied 
 trials ; the power of man and the subtlety of Satan 
 have made common cause for her destruction, but 
 she has surmounted and outlived them all. The 
 history of the Church and the history of the world 
 are alike the records of Zion's preservation. An un- 
 seen arm has ever discomfited her foes, and like the 
 proud bulwark of the city has rolled back from its 
 unsealed front the most tumultuous tide of her 
 assailants. 
 
22 THE CHARACTER AND PRIVILEGES 
 
 The Church gathers her strength, thirdly, from the 
 kingship of her Saviour. This is a bulwark to her 
 which never has been nor can be shaken. Zion is the 
 kingdom, the monarchy of Jesus. In her is his 
 unseen throne established, within her lines are 
 deposited his crown and sceptre. " Zion, thy king 
 reigneth." (Isai. hi. 7.) This in itself is an enduring 
 cause of strength to the Church. The empire which 
 Christ establishes, and over which it is his right to 
 preside, is one which cannot be destroyed ; for " his 
 dominion is an everlasting dominion," and his king- 
 ship therefore can never leave the Church till his 
 throne is overturned and his authority wrested from 
 him ; and this makes the Church endowed with im- 
 mortal security, for the King and the kingdom must 
 stand or fall together. But Oh ! my brethren, the 
 monarchy of the Messiah is not, like the pageant 
 dominions of earth, made and unmade by the change- 
 ful breath of man's approval or condemnal. It is 
 not of this world ; it is superior to the accidents of 
 things mortal. It is the creation of Jehovah's wis- 
 dom, the production of his power ; and though the 
 frantic violence of man may labour to destroy it, and 
 his short-sighted ingenuity seek to undermine it, 
 they can no more avail to injure it, or loosen the 
 foundations of the Saviour's throne, than the wild 
 rush of the stormy waters could tear down the iron 
 cliff against which they dash themselves with fierce 
 
OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 23 
 
 but impotent fun*. "The Lord is King, be the 
 people never so impatient ; he sitteth between the 
 cherubims, be the earth never so unquiet." The wrath 
 of man can never affect the determinations of God. 
 The kings of the earth may stand up, and the rulers 
 take counsel together against the Lord, and against 
 his anointed ; they may with one consent determine 
 to break their bonds asunder, and cast away their 
 cords from them : but he that sitteth in the heavens 
 will laugh ; he has set his king upon his holy 
 hill of zion. The strength of the Church must be 
 co-enduring with the monarchy of Jesus, and her 
 bulwarks as firm as the foundations of his throne. 
 Never can the vessel sink which carries the honor 
 of the Eternal. 
 
 But the Church has her ornaments as well as her 
 towers and bulwarks. The palaces of Zion are to 
 pass beneath the eye of the citizens, as well as her 
 fortifications. " Consider her palaces." These, we 
 have before observed, are the Church's decorations, 
 the stately edifices which commend the general 
 fabric to the admiration alike of enemies and friends. 
 The palace is the kingly residence, the token, the 
 indication, that the monarch dwells among his people. 
 It is distinguished from every building near it by 
 this peculiarity, that it is the King's house, and for 
 the most part its appearance corresponds to the dis- 
 tinguished purpose for which it has been erected. 
 
24 
 
 THE CHARACTER AND PRIVILEGES 
 
 The spiritual Jerusalem has its palaces too ; for every 
 child of God, every renewed and regenerated sinner, 
 becomes the residence in which it pleaseth God to 
 dwell. His cleansed heart is " the temple of the 
 Holy Ghost," the earthly palace in which the High 
 and Holy One delights to find an abode. " With 
 this man will I dwell, that is of a humble and a 
 contrite spirit." It is this indwelling of God which 
 gives stability to the spiritual fabric. " God is in 
 the midst of her, she shall not be moved ;" and what 
 his peculiar providence is to the Church at large, his 
 spiritual presence is to every believer in it. And 
 when the effects of this residence, when the impulses 
 of the Spirit within, begin to tell upon the external 
 conduct and the daily conversation, it is then that the 
 decorations of the palace strike upon the eye, and 
 the loveliness of the Christian character attracts the 
 respectful attention of beholders. The holiness, the 
 gifts, the graces discovered in the people of God, tell 
 that God is among them ; they indicate his presence 
 as much as the clustered ornaments and the peculiar 
 stateliness of architecture distinguish the royal man- 
 sion. It was this which Paul saw in the people of 
 his care, evidences of grace which gladdened his 
 heart, and enabled him to prove to the world that 
 religion has a reality : "Ye are our epistle, known 
 and read of all men." 
 
 These are the points upon which the duty of exa- 
 
OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 25 
 
 ruination into the Church's state is to exercise itself. 
 The citizen of Zion is to survey her towers, her bul- 
 warks, and her palaces, — the resources, the strength, 
 and the ornaments which God has bestowed upon 
 the spiritual Jerusalem. 
 
 III. But besides these duties of thankfulness and 
 examination, to which we have spoken, the text 
 enjoins a third upon all who rejoice in a connection 
 with the Church of God. They are to leave a record 
 to posterity of their confidence in and attachment to 
 her: — "Tell it to the generation following." This, 
 my brethren, is a duty incumbent upon all Christians. 
 The mode of fulfilling it may be varied, but the obli- 
 gation to do it is unquestionable. It was pressed 
 upon the Israelites by Jehoshaphat, that generations 
 to come might know that, in time of trial, the Lord 
 had been his people's deliverer and defence ; and 
 that, knowing this, they might look with confirmed 
 confidence for like mercies in every time of need. It 
 is for the same reason that the same duty is incul- 
 cated still upon the spiritual citizen of Zion. The 
 Church has passed through trials, many, intense and 
 searching ; and, if we mistake not greatly the tes- 
 timony of prophecy and the portents of the times, 
 she is destined to pass through more ; and if those 
 seasons of tribulation should arise, few things could 
 be more consolatory and confirming to the men who 
 shall be called to endure them, than testimonies from 
 
2G 
 
 THE CHARACTER AND PRIVILEGES 
 
 past generations of love and attachment to the faith 
 for which they shall be allowed to suffer. It will 
 assist in establishing their conviction, that they cling 
 to no cunningly devised fables, but that they endure 
 the " fight of afflictions" for the same principles, the 
 same truths, and the same assurances, which the 
 departed excellent of the earth had revered. It will 
 nerve their courage and sustain their firmness, to 
 know that those who went before them had sifted 
 and examined the Church's pretensions, and by re- 
 corded testimony, by the more silent witnesses of 
 faith and holiness, by (if need were) endurance of 
 tribulation, set to their seal that all its promises were 
 true. It is this which holy men of every age have 
 done — borne this testimony, that the Church has 
 been "perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, 
 but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;'* 
 assailed, like Jerusalem, by many a foe, but emerged 
 unscathed from the conflict. Patriarchs, prophets, 
 and apostles, have raised and sustained and prolonged 
 the same song of declaration. And in our own land 
 the same evidence has been heard amid the flames 
 of Smithfield ; and the martyrs of England have 
 ascended from the sufferings of time to the raptures 
 of eternity, leaving with their last breath their avowal 
 upon record, that all the principles and hopes of the 
 Church were based upon truth; and that, though 
 men might rage, and the powers of darkness combine 
 
OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 •27 
 
 to cast her down, the gates of hell never had been, 
 and never would be allowed to prevail against her. 
 
 Such, then, my brethren, are the truths advanced 
 bv our text. It has shewn to us the character of 
 the Church of Jesus, and the duty of her members in 
 reference to her. 
 
 Independent of the general importance of the sub- 
 ject I have brought before you, I have been influ- 
 enced by special considerations in calling your atten- 
 tion to the text we have just examined. We, if we 
 all belong not to the spiritual Church of the first- 
 born, belong to the Church visible upon earth, and 
 are members of one of its most distinguished depart- 
 ments—a department venerable from its antiquity, 
 revered for its faithfulness, admired even by its 
 enemies for the orthodoxy of its opinions, and stand- 
 ing deservedly high in the esteem of the world on 
 account of the men of God it has formed and 
 sent forth. The Church of England is a pillar and 
 ground of the truth. She has passed through trials 
 as severe and varied as ever probed the integrity and 
 faith of a religious community ; and in the hottest 
 days of persecution she has been tried, and not found 
 wanting. She has been a nursery of the learning 
 and talents which have done good service, not to 
 herself only, but to the cause of general Christianity. 
 Yet all these her claims upon Christians have not 
 shielded her from obloquy and unprovoked assault. 
 
•28 
 
 THE CHARACTER AND PRIVILEGES 
 
 Things have been laid to her charge which she knew 
 not ; and, for the most part, she has held her peace 
 and spoken nothing. But this has been construed 
 into the silence of conscious guilt ; and therefore the 
 time seems to me to have arrived, for making her 
 congregations understand that she can stand fear- 
 lessly on her defence, and that in all her peculiarities 
 she is built and based upon the truth of God. It is 
 this which I propose to establish before you, my 
 brethren, the congregation to which, in the pro- 
 vidence of my God, I am called to minister. And 
 in order to discharge, as effectually as I may, the 
 duty which (from a consciousness of its necessity) 
 I have imposed upon myself, I propose, with the 
 Spirit's assistance, to dwell for three succeeding sab- 
 baths upon the most prominent of the Church's 
 peculiarities. The order I prescribe to myself is 
 this: to consider, 1st, The episcopacy; 2dly, The 
 liturgy, and, 3dly, The ceremonies of the Church 
 of England ; making each of these the distinct sub- 
 ject of a separate discourse. And in treating upon 
 each of these important topics, I trust to be enabled 
 to demonstrate that our Church is formed and con- 
 structed on most sure warrantry of Scripture. We 
 invite your attention, my brethren, we invite the 
 attention of all, to the proofs which shall be brought 
 forward. Our boast is this, that we have nothing to 
 conceal, that we dread no scrutiny, we shrink from 
 
OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 29 
 
 no dissection of our Zion. We challenge investiga- 
 tion ; we hold out the same language to doubting 
 friends, and to concealed or open detractors : "Go 
 round about our Zion : tell ye her towers : mark well 
 her bulwarks, consider her palaces." We say to all, 
 •' Try us, whether we be of the faith." 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 2 TIMOTHY- III. 1. 
 
 IF ANY MAN DESIRETH THE OFFICE OF A BISHOP, 
 HE DESIRETH A GOOD WORK. 
 
 There are few sentiments of the scriptures of truth 
 which will come home with more power to the 
 Christian's spirit, or meet with a readier response 
 from his heart, than that advanced in the memorable 
 expression of David, " Behold, how good and plea- 
 sant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in 
 unity." In a world so convulsed as ours, so filled 
 with the elements of disorder, and distracted by the 
 warfare of the most jarring materials, it is sweet to 
 hear of the very name of unity. The thought of 
 it is gladdening and refreshing to the mind. It 
 carries us back in the reveries of recollection to those 
 happier seasons of the world, when its tenants were 
 harmonious, because they were sinless ; and it hur- 
 ries us forward in contemplation to those blessed 
 times when the disorders of earth shall cease; when 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 31 
 
 peace shall be restored to this dislocated order of 
 things ; when violence shall no more be heard in the 
 land, nor distraction be known in its borders. And 
 if, my brethren, the idea of all this unity in the 
 abstract be so pleasing and tranquillizing to the 
 mind, it is no less attractive when we see it reduced 
 to an actual, a positive exhibition. This the world 
 has witnessed ; and we may place the picture before 
 ourselves by referring to the record of the encamp- 
 ment of the children of Israel in the desert : " When 
 the tabernacle setteth forward, the Levites shall 
 take it it down, and when the tabernacle is to be 
 pitched, the Levites shall set it up. And the children 
 of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his 
 own camp, and every man by his own standard 
 throughout their hosts. And the Levites shall pitch 
 round about the tabernacle of testimony." (Numb. i. 
 51 —54.) In this passage we have a view of perfect 
 unity — unity of spirit without compromise of principle 
 or dignity. Each tribe of Israel views itself as a 
 member of the same body, a fragment of the same 
 connected population. And yet each tribe observes 
 its peculiar place in Israel's encampment, ranges 
 itself beneath its own peculiar standard, and preserves 
 its unencroaching attitude. The result of this ar- 
 rangement was unity and order, its effect was har- 
 mony and peace. It was this which elicited expres- 
 sions of wondering commendation even from the 
 
32 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 enemies of God's people, which arrested the asto- 
 nished gaze of the prophet of Aram, and assisted in 
 changing his intended denunciations into a rich pro- 
 phecy of blessings. " He saw Israel abiding in his 
 tents according to their tribes, and the Spirit of God 
 came upon him. And he took up his parable and 
 said, How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob ! and thy 
 tabernacles, O Israel ! As the valleys are they spread 
 forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of 
 lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar- 
 trees beside the waters." It is thus, my brethren, 
 that it should be with the tribes of the modern Israel, 
 the different departments of the Christian Zion. The 
 order and harmony of the desert encampment should 
 be perpetuated in this union and agreement. Each 
 might circle round their own standard, and yet all 
 might dwell together in unity. 
 
 But this is not so. It is forgotten in our times 
 that unity can alone be sustained upon the principle 
 of mutual forbearance. Ephraim must not envy 
 Judah, and Judah must not vex Ephraim. This 
 principle, so simple in its character, and so certain in 
 its result, is lost sight of or trampled under foot. 
 It is absorbed in an undue attachment to peculiari- 
 ties ; and the offensive urging of points of distinction 
 is preferred to the Christian duty of forbearing one 
 another in love. When this is so : when points of 
 difference are urged, not in the way of defence, but 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 in the way of invidious comparison ; when opposite 
 peculiarities are held up to scorn, and made the' ob- 
 jects of assault and invective ; then Judah is vexed 
 by Ephraim. A tribe has come off its own peculiar 
 ground of encampment, and made an unkindly inroad 
 upon the territory of its neighbour. And when this 
 is so, the course of the invaded tribe is beyond con- 
 troversy clear. It is the duty of the members of the 
 assaulted Church to scrutinize her state, to examine 
 into her pretensions, that they may judge for them- 
 selves whether the things laid against her be so ; 
 and it is the duty of her ministers to make battle on 
 her behalf, and to see to it that the tone of bold 
 assertion be not allowed to pass current for the voice 
 of truth. In our day, this has become an especial 
 duty towards our own Church ; for she has been 
 made the object of fierce and incessant attack ; the 
 open foe and the pretended friend go round about 
 her walls in one thing united — the resolve to dis- 
 cover a weakness, and on a principle of " Christian 
 charity," to proclaim it. 
 
 In the midst of the dissension which all this must 
 occasion, it is well to bear in mind that the materials 
 for unity still exist. All disagreement between 
 religious denominations is not of the same kind, nor 
 are its causes all equally important. It sometimes 
 subsists between communities, on the ground of dis- 
 cipline, and sometimes upon that of doctrine ; and 
 
 D 
 
- 34 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 there may be perfect harmony in reference to the 
 one, while there is utter discord in respect to the 
 other. Thus, between the Established Church of 
 this kingdom, and the orthodox dissenting commu- 
 nities, there is (and we bless the Lord that it is so) 
 perfect unity in reference to doctrine. Our creeds 
 are substantially the same. Our confessions are 
 kindred in their character. We concur in rejecting 
 the same doctrinal errors, and we coalesce in em- 
 bracing the same essential truths. And yet while 
 there is thus a oneness of opinions in reference to 
 doctrine, there is an utter diversity of opinion in 
 reference to discipline. On the other hand, there is 
 a partial similiarity between the English and the 
 Romish Churches in respect of government, while 
 there is an entire separation between them in mat- 
 ters of faith. In these two cases, the causes of dis- 
 agreement are broadly distinguishable from each 
 other. That which separates the established and 
 the orthodox dissenting communities from each 
 other, being merely of discipline, is comparatively 
 trivial and unimportant. It affects not the life, the 
 soundness of the bodies. It relates to the external 
 structure; it is a fragment of the scaffolding, and 
 touches not upon the integrity of the building. It is 
 far otherwise in the second case. The cause of dis- 
 agreement between Rome and England is of the first, 
 the most formidable magnitude. It is connected 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 35 
 
 closely and essentially with the peculiarities of belief. 
 It bears upon the entire structure, nay more, it is 
 wrought into the very foundation of its building. 
 The one Church is based upon the shifting sand of 
 mortal inventions ; the other rests upon the Rock 
 of Ages. The one deposes the Redeemer from his 
 supreme throne ; the other knows nothing but Christ 
 and Him crucified. In such a case, union is an utter 
 impossibility. The wall of partition is of such a 
 character that it cannot be overpassed. The motto 
 of the establishment now is the same which formed 
 the leading principle of the Reformation : " No 
 peace with Rome." But, in the first case, union is 
 not only possible, but practicable. The communities, 
 harmonious in holiness, and separate in externals, 
 have but to act upon the principle of attachment to 
 things essential, and forbearance in things immate- 
 rial ; and they can meet without collision, they can 
 be cordial without compromise. 
 
 It may be necessary for the perfect understanding 
 of the subject on which we purpose this day to 
 speak, that we should put you in possession of the 
 different opinions which are held in reference to the 
 disputed points of Church government. These may 
 be reduced to three : the Presbyterian, the Congre- 
 gational, and the Episcopal. The first of these sys- 
 tems is constructed upon the principle of having 
 many congregations united in one bond of discipline, 
 n 2 
 
36 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 — the ecclesiastical affairs of the community being- 
 arranged by a synod composed of all the ministers 
 and lay delegates from the several congregations. 
 The second asserts the perfect independency of each 
 separate congregation ; and looking upon it as a 
 Church complete within itself, claims for it the abso- 
 lute right of regulating all its own concerns. The 
 third inculcates the subjection of many ministers 
 and congregations to the regulated rule of one who 
 is elevated above his brethren in the ministry, and 
 occupies with regard to them the seat of superin- 
 tendence and authority. It will be observable that, 
 however in details the first two of these forms differ 
 from each other, they are accordant in this point — 
 the perfect equality of ministers. It is in this grand 
 point that they stand contradistinguished from the 
 episcopal form of government ; for it asserts the dis- 
 parity of ministers, the subjection of two orders to 
 a third, and the appropriation of certain duties to 
 some of these orders, from the performance of which 
 the others are restrained. It is this arrangement 
 which is objected to by our assailants, who content 
 not themselves with the assertion that the disparity 
 of ministers is unscriptural, but discover a reason 
 for its introduction, in the corruptions of Christianity, 
 and the carnal struggles of man's selfish and inte- 
 rested ambition. They repudiate a system of subor- 
 dination, and as loudly laud their own prized equality. 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 37 
 
 Now, before we proceed to examine the question 
 at issue, we would observe in the general, that this 
 system of perfect equality on which our opponents 
 place themselves is not the svstem of God. Subor- 
 dination and distinction seem to pervade all the 
 works of the Lord of Wisdom. If he frame and 
 stretch forth the glorious fabric of the material 
 heavens, he carries not out upon it the indications 
 of equality. He studs it over with the sparkling- 
 evidences of his power, but " one star differeth from 
 another star in glory." If he arrange the social 
 order of Heaven, he conducts his arrangement upon 
 the same principle. Of its state, little is revealed in 
 Scripture ; the thick cloud hangs between us and 
 that far off world, where God sits enthroned in 
 visible majesty, and forbids the eager glance of our 
 curiosity to discover what is " passing beyond the 
 veil." " We see through a glass darkly." Yet, 
 although we are kept in this state of ignorance as to 
 the condition and peculiarities of Heaven, one part 
 seems to be pointedly revealed, — that a system of 
 subordination pervades it. It is a state where the 
 conflict of mortal passions is unknown ; where no 
 breath of angry strife is permitted to traverse the 
 sea of glass, or to ruffle its crystal surface ; and to 
 which, on that account, a system of equality in 
 dignities would appear to be peculiarly congenial. 
 Yet it is not found there. The harmony of Heaven 
 
38 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 is sustained by subordination. In the circle of its 
 glorious inhabitants are found the angels who minis- 
 ter to their Maker's will ; the archangels who sur- 
 round his throne, and the seraphim who seem to be 
 honoured by a closer attendance on his presence. 
 (Isa. vi. 2.) All the sketches of the unseen world 
 which reach us through the volume of inspiration, * 
 combine to reveal the existence of the inequality of 
 dignity above. 
 
 Now when God came to introduce his system of 
 religion and government upon earth, we find his 
 arrangements below analogous to those above. The 
 structure of the Jewish Church was conducted on 
 this principle. He established not one, but divers 
 orders of ministration. By his appointment the 
 High Priest of Israel stood solitary in his dignity. 
 By the same appointment, the priests discharged 
 their peculiar duties, and the Levites fulfilled their 
 inferior functions. The same principle was adopted 
 in the formation of the secular polity of Israel. 
 She was not erected a republic. The Lord himself 
 was her King; and under him were the separate 
 grades of lawgivers, and princes, and elders. And 
 this principle which was interwoven with the con- 
 stitution of God's ancient people, whether ecclesias- 
 tical or political, was carried out into the second 
 Church which God planted upon earth ; the Church 
 which He founded in the days of his sojourn among 
 
EPISCOPACY. 39 
 
 men. At present we are speaking but upon the 
 principle of subordination in the ministry in the 
 general ; and therefore at present we content our- 
 selves with a general proof upon the point ; and 
 such a proof do we find in the assertion of the 
 apostle, " that there are many members in the same 
 body, and all members have not the same office;" 
 and that " God set some in the Church, first 
 apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers ; 
 after that, governments" — offices these in the Church 
 broadly distinct from each other, and each placed in 
 a higher or lower grade according to the Master's 
 will. 
 
 And it is in no small degree remarkable that 
 attempts at overthrowing this system of ministerial 
 subordination, which appears to pervade the Churches 
 of each Testament, have been marked by the frown of 
 God's displeasure. Being his appointment, intrusion 
 upon it must needs be offensive in his sight. Of 
 this we have an indication in the doom which fell 
 with such tremendous weight upon Korah and his 
 associates in rebellion. Their effort was not to secure 
 an equality in things political, but in things ecclesi- 
 astical. He strove not to ascend to a higher office 
 in the state, or to drag down civil authorities to his 
 own level. His ambition was to destroy the distinc- 
 tion which subsisted between priests and Levites, 
 and to create a perfect equality among ministers. 
 
40 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 This is obvious from the remonstrance of Moses : 
 " Seemeth it but a small thing unto you that the 
 God of Israel hath separated you from the congre- 
 gation of Israel to bring you near to himself in the 
 service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand 
 before the congregation to minister unto them, — and 
 seek ye the priesthood also ? " This attempt to sub- 
 vert the settled order of things ecclesiastical was 
 marked by the Lord's most unequivocal condemna- 
 tion ; and on the fearful sepulchre which that day 
 saw opened in Israel, was inscribed the mind of 
 God, that (as far at least as Israel was concerned) 
 subordination in things spiritual was the system He 
 would have followed by his people. 
 
 So far then, we have advanced in the consideration 
 of this question, that we have shewn in general 
 that disparity in the offices of the ministry, as well 
 as an order of subordination in matters political, is 
 the system approved by God. 
 
 This we shall now see more clearly by entering 
 upon our examination cf the constitution of the 
 Christian Church. And in stepping upon this ground 
 of inquiry, which involves the whole subject of Church 
 Government, the question at issue between us and 
 our opponents, we would wish, my brethren, to sim- 
 plify matters by stating distinctly what is the point 
 we purpose to establish. We wish to make this 
 not a question of words, but a question of things ; 
 
EPISCOPACY . 
 
 41 
 
 not so much to consider by what names offices in the 
 Christian Church of the New Testament were called, 
 but what offices really existed. It signifies little to 
 us what titles ministers received, (for terms are change- 
 able and fleeting) but it signifies much what offices 
 they filled, what functions they actually discharged. 
 This is the real point to be come at. We are prepared, 
 for simplification sake, to concede almost all that can 
 be asked from us as to ministerial names.* It is not 
 here that the grand difference between us and our 
 antagonists is found. It is not here that tne hinge of 
 the question lies. The grand point of disagreement 
 in respect to Church government, between the esta- 
 blished and dissenting bodies, is this, that we hold a 
 disparity, and they an equality among ministers. This 
 is the point we wish to discuss ; and the proposition 
 we advance, and which we wish you to hold in view, 
 is this — that an equality among ministers is not the 
 doctrine of the Bible ; but that Scripture sanctions 
 the existence of three orders in the Christian ininistrv, 
 of different ranks and different duties. It is on this 
 point that our Church is assailed, and on this point 
 do we speak in her vindication. 
 
 Now in order to establish this proposition, we shall 
 first revert to that ancient dispensation in which the 
 mind of God on this point was first manifested. The 
 
 * See Appendix. A. 
 
42 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 Messiah's object in coming into this lower world was 
 the creation of a Church which should sustain his 
 name and honor upon earth, and glorify his name in 
 eternity. This object he commenced with the house 
 of Israel. He found the world without a Church, 
 darkness spread over the land, and the deepest sha- 
 dows of idolatry resting upon the people ; and out of 
 this unbroken mass of heathenism the Lord selected 
 the seed, the nucleus of a people which should, by its 
 religion, stand distinguished from all nations. In 
 the freeness of his grace he called Abram out of Ur 
 of the Chaldees. His peculiar blessing multiplied 
 his descendants into a people ; within the short com- 
 pass of a few generations, the one became millions ; 
 and when that people were rescued by the continuance 
 of the same grace from the thraldom of Egypt, • its 
 loose and scattered materials were, in the loneliness 
 of the desert, settled and consolidated into an orderly 
 community. The laws which were to guide it, and 
 the provisions which were to bind it together, were 
 delivered amid the acclamations which rolled in thun- 
 der from the peaks of Sinai. All this was done by 
 Christ himself. He was the angel of his people, and 
 in manifested deity spake to Moses in the mount. 
 The first object to which he applied himself after 
 Israel had become a community, was to constitute 
 her a Church. He had given her law-givers and 
 magistrates, and he proceeded to bestow upon her 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 43 
 
 the better gift of a ministry. And in constructing 
 this, he appointed divers grades and orders for his 
 Zion — orders distinct from each other not only in 
 dignity, but in the offices they were to fulfil, and the 
 functions they were each to execute. The High- 
 Priest, the Priest and the Levite, all ministers, but 
 unequal in degree, were the ordinance of God. This 
 is all beyond doubt or controversy. Now the Church 
 which succeeded this first one of the Lord's planting, 
 was a counterpart of it. The constitution of the 
 Christian Church was a continuation of the Jewish. 
 Christianity was no new and separate religion. It 
 was a brighter and more glorious developement of the 
 same religion which subsisted under the law and the 
 prophets. Everything set forth in the Levitical dis- 
 pensation, in type and shadow, was embodied in the 
 Christian dispensation in reality and substance. The 
 sacrifices were carried out from the one into the 
 other. They were collected and substantiated in 
 Jesus. The waters of sprinkling had their antitype 
 and completeness ; they spoke of, and were developed 
 in their full efficacy in the sanctification of the Spirit. 
 The tabernacle itself, with its courts, its worshippers, 
 its supernatural lights, was the pattern of the spiritual 
 Church ; its holy of holies, the department of the 
 Church above ; its sanctuary, the worshipping Church 
 below. Heb. ix. 9, 12, 24; viii. 5. This corre- 
 spondence between the arrangements of the two dis- 
 
44 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 pensations was, as we conceive, not limited to sacri- 
 fices and ceremonies, but was consistently carried out 
 into the ministry itself. The orders of the priesthood 
 in Israel were types of the better ministry of the new 
 covenant. It was not the only thing in Christianity 
 left unprefigured in Judaism. The Church in the 
 wilderness had its grades of ministerial dignity ; and 
 its threefold orders were, as we conceive, carried out 
 into the ministry of the Christian dispensation. 
 
 This point, which so far only rests upon the argu- 
 ment of analogy, we are to establish by detailed 
 evidence. To do this, we call upon you, brethren, 
 in the first place, to look at the state of things at the 
 commencement of the 'present dispensation. The 
 Baptist had fulfilled his mission. He had, as the 
 messenger of the Messiah, gone before his master's 
 face to prepare a people for his Lord. " He made 
 many disciples." The Saviour followed in the track 
 of the prophet who announced his advent. "He 
 himself made and baptized more disciples than John." 
 Here were the. materials of the Church of the first- 
 born collected, a people gathered in from the care- 
 less, the outcast, the ungodly, and brought by the 
 power of grace to enroll themselves beneath his 
 standard. The Saviour's first object was to do for 
 them, as he had done for the congregation in the wil- 
 derness ; to provide them with a ministry ; to create 
 pastors who should not only establish the Church, 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 45 
 
 but enlarge its platform and augment it numbers. 
 One order in the ministry was at this time in exist- 
 ence. Christ was himself the spiritual guide and 
 shepherd of his people. In him the ministerial 
 functions were all concentrated. He was everything 
 to his Church, the minister himself of the true taber- 
 nacle, the high-priest of the profession, the pastor and 
 bishop of souls. He himself fulfilled all ministerial 
 duties. The teaching that was in the Church flowed 
 from his lips ; the appointments introduced into it were 
 the results of his wisdom ; the regulations which con- 
 trolled it were the exercises of his authority. Yet, 
 although all this was so, the Saviour did not deem 
 the ecclesiastical structure complete, the true taber- 
 nacle furnished, in a single order of ministry. He 
 therefore proceeded to make the ministerial arrange- 
 ment perfect. And this he did by the process of 
 ordination. In the sixth chapter of St. Luke's Gos- 
 pel, we have the record of this deeply interesting 
 procedure ; a procedure on which the Saviour en- 
 tered not without the most solemn profoundness of 
 spirit, without the most earnest and prayerful con- 
 sideration. He spent upon his knees the night pre- 
 vious to the first ordination he held upon earth : "in 
 a mountain he continued all night in prayer to God." 
 And after conveying to the Church this most striking 
 intimation of his sense of the transcendant import- 
 ance of such an act, " he called unto him his disci- 
 
46 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 pies, and of them he chose twelve, whom also he 
 named apostles." (Verses 12, 13,) The quality of 
 this ordination will be comprehended by reflecting 
 upon the terms employed in the quotation. The 
 individuals ordained were distinguished by a peculiar 
 title ; they were marked by the smallness of their 
 number, and they were selections from the general 
 bodv of the Redeemer's followers. They were called 
 Apostles ; their number was ticelve ; they were 
 chosen out of the Disciples. We wish you, bre- 
 thren, to carry these points steadily in your recollec- 
 tion, for we design to throw them into contrast with 
 another portion of Scripture to which we now invite 
 your attention. In the tenth chapter of St. Luke's 
 Gospel, we have a record of the second ordination 
 which the Great Head of the Church held. It ap- 
 pears that he deemed not his ministry yet completed, 
 although he himself presided over the Church's wel- 
 fare, and had associated with himself in the pastor- 
 ship a number of his followers. The chapter to 
 which we have just referred tells us of an extension 
 of the ministry. " After these things, the Lord 
 appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and 
 two before his face into every city and place whither 
 he himself would come." There can be no doubt as 
 to the nature of the office to which these seventy 
 were appointed. They were not only endowed with 
 miraculous powers, as credentials of their mission, 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 47 
 
 but thev were to be proclaimers of the truth, minis- 
 ters of the Gospel : " Say unto the people, the king- 
 dom of God is come nigh unto you. He that heareth 
 you, heareth me ; and he that despiseth you, despis- 
 eth me." So that in the transaction recorded in 
 this passage, we have the step by which the Saviour 
 admitted a second body into the ministry of his 
 Church. Now our position is, that those members 
 of this second body were not an addition to the first 
 body, set apart for the furtherance of the Gospel, but 
 of an order totally distinct and separate from it. The 
 two bodies are kept markedly apart in Scripture. 
 The one is as clearly recognised by the title of "the 
 Twelve," as the other is by that of " the Seventy." 
 The latter came under the Saviour's care and guid- 
 ance, but by no means in that peculiar and distin- 
 guished manner in which the former were instructed 
 by him. They were "the twelve," who were ga- 
 thered round Jesus at the last supper ; they were the 
 twelve, for whom he specially interceded. (John xvii. 
 9.) It was upon them that he conferred the signal 
 privilege of witnessing his departure from earth, his 
 ascension into glory. (Mark xvi. 16 — 19.) All these 
 indications of peculiar favour concur to draw a clear 
 line of distinction between the two bodies who at 
 this time Constituted the ministry of the early Church. 
 But that peculiarly (and, as we should say, incontro- 
 vertibly) establishes the fact of a distinction in order 
 
48 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 and dignity between these two classes in the minis- 
 try, is the circumstance that the vacancy in the 
 circle of the apostles, occasioned by the suicide of 
 Judas, was filled up from this body. (Acts i. 21.) 
 If the two classes were the same, alike in dignity 
 and duties, why was there an election from the one 
 into the other ? The idea of parity makes such a step 
 idle and inconsistent. No, the transaction itself shews 
 that the apostles held a rank which the disciples 
 possessed not. It is in accordance with the doc- 
 trine of ministerial inequality, but totally at variance 
 with a system of ministerial parity. 
 
 This, then, we conceive to have been the state of 
 things under the management of Christ himself : 
 that he was himself the bishop, the superintending 
 authority of the Church; it belonging to him to 
 regulate, to appoint, to provide and send forth a 
 ministry ; that the apostles occupied the place of the 
 Presbyters, or priests ; it belonging to them to teach, 
 to preach, to baptize, but not to ordain or send forth 
 labourers or missions ; and that the disciples occu- 
 pied a lower station still, filling the deacon's office, 
 exercising ministerial functions, but plainly, not 
 officially, identified with those whom Jesus first 
 called to the priesthood. 
 
 II. But we proceed to carry this argument a step 
 further. We ask you to investigate the condition of 
 Church affairs, subsequent to the resurrection 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 49 
 
 of ciirist. The death of the Redeemer was that 
 astounding event which, for a time, bewildered the 
 little flock of Christians, and paralyzed the powers of 
 the infant community. It sounded in their ears like 
 the knell of expiring hope ; it was regarded as the 
 breaking up, the dissolution, of all their fondly-che- 
 rished expectations. They spoke of it as destructive 
 of all their plans — " We trusted that it had been he 
 which should have redeemed Israel." The shepherd 
 was smitten, and the trembling sheep were scattered. 
 But this state of dismay and suspended energy could 
 not long continue. The Saviour had promised per- 
 petuity to his Church, and it had not been in unison 
 with that promise that his removal from earth should 
 entail feebleness or disaster upon her. We shall find 
 upon inquiry that one of his most important doings 
 after the resurrection was the continuation to his 
 Church of the ministry and government he had pre- 
 viously established. To effect this, what should we 
 pronounce a priori to be necessary ? We should say 
 that in case of his own final removal, the continu- 
 ance of the office to the Church which he himself 
 had held, by delegation of it to others. And we find 
 ourselves prepared to look for some act of this nature 
 in the history of the times of Jesus previous to his 
 withdrawal from this world. Now, brethren, such an 
 act we do discover to have been performed by Jesus. 
 Let us refer to the record. " The same dav at even- 
 
50 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 ing, being the first day of the week, when the doors 
 were shut where the disciples were assembled for 
 fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, 
 and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. Then said 
 Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you : as my 
 Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And 
 when he had said this, he breathed on them, and 
 saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost ; whose 
 soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; 
 and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." 
 (John xx. 19 — 23). It is clear from parallel scrip- 
 tures, (Markxvi. 14. Lukexxiv. 33.) that this trans- 
 action occurred with and was limited to the eleven. 
 It is also clear from a study of the narrative, that they 
 received at that moment not only spiritual advantages, 
 but also an extension of their powers. It was a 
 second dedication of them to a work. It was the act 
 of a second ordination. If after it they had been but the 
 same, as when the transaction of the sixth of Luke 
 had taken place, the same in office, the same in prac- 
 tice, the same in dignity, this act must have been 
 altogether fruitless. It was a solemn procedure with- 
 out an object ; it was a deed without a use. It must 
 have been a change in their office, or a meaningless 
 ceremony. That it could not have been the latter is 
 undoubted, and therefore we see in it the Apostles' 
 elevation to a higher order in the ministry,* the order 
 * See Appendix, B. 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 .51 
 
 which Christ had himself held, but which he now 
 delegated to them ; (" as the Father had sent him, so 
 he sent them,")— the order which retained them to 
 the Church as ministers, but conferred upon them 
 the duties of superintendence — the order which now 
 more than ever was required in the Christian com- 
 munity, not only because its Head was about to re- 
 move his personal presence from it, but because it 
 was about to become largely and rapidly extended. 
 
 In this view we find ourselves confirmed by observ- 
 ing the conduct of the Apostles subsequent to this 
 transaction. Hitherto they had assumed no duties 
 in the Church but those of a purely pastoral charac- 
 ter. If we are right in the interpretation we have 
 placed upon the circumstance we have just considered, 
 we are prepared to expect to find them executing 
 functions of a very different, of an authoritative 
 nature; discharging those duties of ordination, of 
 arrangement, and of government which Christ had 
 hitherto fulfilled. And our expectation is not disap- 
 pointed. We turn to the record of their conduct, 
 the Acts of these Apostles, and there we find them 
 taking upon themselves these (to them) unusual 
 offices of Church administration. The emergencies 
 of the infant Church call for the exercise of those 
 powers which Jesus had hitherto wielded, and they 
 are found lodged in his Apostles' hands. They admit 
 by ordination seven individuals into the ministry, 
 e 2 
 
52 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 (Acts vi. 6.) for the qualifications required in the 
 candidates, and the duties discharged by them alto- 
 gether forbid us to consider the deacons of the sixth 
 of Acts as secular officers of the Church. (Acts vi. 
 3—10; viii. 5—35). They do more, they ordain 
 presbyters, or elders, in every Church. (Actsxiv. 23). 
 They take upon them, which they never before did, 
 the care of the Churches, and they discharge duties 
 in reference to them, which it is evident, other minis- 
 ters were unqualified to perform. (Acts viii. 14 — 17). 
 The whole tenor of Apostolic acts subsequent to the 
 departure of Christ, is of a kind wholly dissimilar to 
 that they had before observed. And while it tends 
 to prove that they had been elevated into an order 
 distinct from that with which they had been once 
 connected, it also establishes this point, that in the 
 Church immediately subsequent to the ascension, 
 there was a disparity among ministers. Its minis- 
 terial constitution was this ; — the Apostles acting in 
 the Church as its overseers or bishops, the presbyters 
 ordained by Jesus, and increased in their numbers by 
 Apostolic appointments, discharging the duties of 
 ordinary pastors ; and the deacons, an inferior order, 
 preaching and baptizing, but apparently not confined 
 to any fixed or responsible charge. (Acts viii. 5, 26 ; 
 xxi. 8.) 
 
 III. Now this point, to which we have conducted 
 our subject, carries us into another important consi- 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 53 
 
 deration — the nature of the Episcopacy exercised by 
 the Apostles. The condition of the Church was at 
 this time unsettled. Christianity had emerged from 
 the comparative obscurity in which its infancy was 
 sheltered, and was making sensible inroads upon the 
 ignorance and darkness of the world. Its object was 
 to bring individuals and peoples to the faith of Jesus. 
 To systematize and regulate its converts was a second 
 step in its movements. The Apostles therefore at 
 first were not limited in their Episcopal functions to 
 any one sphere of duty. As Apostles, they were 
 missionaries to the world; as bishops, their care 
 extended over the whole population of the faithful. 
 They were ready to superintend wherever superin- 
 tendence was required. But in process of time 
 the extension of the Church, and the increase of its 
 converts called for some system more fixed and 
 settled. They demanded that these inspections, 
 which were hitherto general, should be restrained 
 to particular spheres of action. That this was early 
 contemplated we have proof in the remark of St. 
 Paul in the second chapter of Galatians. " James, 
 Cephas and John gave to me and Barnabas the 
 right hands of fellowship, that we should go unto 
 the heathen, and they unto the circumcision." (Gal. 
 ii. 9). This appears to have been the first grand 
 division of Episcopal labour. Its allocated spheres 
 were the Jewish and Gentile worlds. And in accord- 
 
.54 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 ance with this principle of restricting the early pre- 
 lates of the Church to a peculiar scene of duty, we 
 find from this time the Apostle James located at Jeru- 
 salem, the eldest bishopric of Christianity. Antiquity- 
 concurs with Scripture in assigning this especial 
 district of the vineyard to him. The writers of the 
 early ages with one voice style him Bishop of Jerusa- 
 lem.* The ecclesiastical historian, Eusebius, has left 
 upon record a line of thirteen bishops who presided 
 over that see successively, and has placed him first 
 upon his list. And although Scripture makes no precise 
 statement, contains no definite record upon this fact, 
 it presents such indications of its existence, as must, 
 with every unprejudiced, every candid mind, amount 
 to a demonstration. In each of the visits which 
 Paul paid to Jerusalem, the first three years, and the 
 second fourteen years after his conversion, he found 
 James there. (Gal. i. 18, 19; ii. 9). Upon another 
 occasion, that on which he forced his way to Jeru- 
 salem through the tears, the remonstrances, the 
 heart-breaking entreaties of the believers of Cesarea, 
 he found him still resident there ; and the manner 
 in which this Apostle is distinguished from other 
 ministers in that metropolis in the narrative of Paul's 
 interview, is utterly inexplicable upon any other 
 ground, than that of his being of superior station to 
 them. " The day following Paul went in unto 
 * See Appendix, C. 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 55 
 
 James, — and all the elders were present." Take 
 this, my brethren, in connection with the history 
 of the council held at Jerusalem on account of 
 the strange doctrines which disturbed the Church 
 of Antioch, and you will discover still stronger 
 reasons for believing that at this period James 
 was, what the united voice of antiquity report him 
 to have been, the occupier of the Episcopal chair 
 in Jerusalem. His language upon that occasion 
 is that of the president of a solemn assembly col- 
 lecting the declarations made, and announcing his 
 decision in the tone of official authority. "My 
 sentence is that we trouble not those which from 
 among the Gentiles are turned unto God." A 
 language this and a tone calculated much to favour 
 the supposition that James presided over that day's 
 deliberations, because he was upon the ground of his 
 own jurisdiction — within the boundary of the sphere 
 of his own Episcopal duties. All these incidental 
 testimonies, corroborated as they are by the voice of 
 history and the evidence of antiquity, combine to 
 shew us that Episcopacy held by all the Apostles 
 as successors to their master, and originally stretch- 
 ing itself, without systematic arrangement, over all 
 the movements of Christianity, became (as far as 
 James was concerned) an appointment limited and 
 restricted to a particular territory. The same might 
 be evidenced in the cases of other Apostles ; and 
 
56 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 therefore this position of ecclesiastical arrangement 
 places the Church before us in the view of a body 
 possessed clearly of Prelatical Episcopacy, and that 
 Episcopacy approaching nearly to its present diocese 
 form.* 
 
 But this point, as well as another to which it is of 
 the deepest importance to advert, namely, the -power 
 and authority annexed to the office of the primitive 
 bishop, will be seen more clearly by a reference to the 
 Epistolary parts of the New Testament. We turn 
 now to two remarkable documents —the Epistles to 
 Timothy and Titus — documents which must be erased 
 from the Bible before the Episcopal order can be 
 separated from the Church, or the doctrine of minis- 
 terial equality be considered a truth of inspiration. 
 These Epistles were letters of counsel and direction 
 from the aged and experienced Paul, to two ministers 
 labouring in important fields of the Christian vine- 
 yard, Ephesus and Crete. And, as we conceive, the 
 entire tenor of these deeply valuable letters tends in 
 the strongest manner to substantiate the point for 
 which we are contending. That, my brethren, you 
 will bear in mind, is the doctrine of a disparity as to 
 rank and duties among ministers being the ordinance 
 of God. 
 
 We shall first consult the Epistle to Timothy ; and 
 before looking into its purport, we would remind you 
 * See Appendix, D. 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 57 
 
 of two facts : first, that at the time this Epistle was 
 written, there was a plurality of ministers in the 
 Church of Ephesus ; and, secondly, that the Epistle 
 was not addressed to them as a collective body, but 
 to a single individual. The latter of these points 
 requires no proof. It is demonstrated by the title, 
 the address and the language of the letter. The 
 former is established by a reference to Scripture. 
 " From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus, and called the 
 elders (or presbyters) of the Church ; and when he 
 had spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them 
 all." This demonstrates the fact, that in this Church 
 with which Timothy was connected there was a 
 multiplicity of ministers. 
 
 We now turn to consider the purport of the Epis- 
 tle. There could have been nothing remarkable in 
 the circumstance of its being addressed to a single 
 individual, if the matter contained in it were purely 
 of a personal character. It had then been but the 
 letter of a Christian to a Christian ; a communication 
 of counsel or of comfort. But this is not its charac- 
 ter. It is addressed to Timothy as an official per- 
 sonage ; its advice relates to the discharge of his 
 public duties. Now, out of these several advices and 
 injunctions which are scattered over, which pervade 
 it, we shall select a few which bear upon the topic of 
 our consideration, for the purpose of shewing that, in 
 
58 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 the judgment of St. Paul, and by the consent of the 
 Ephesian Church, Timothy occupied a station supe- 
 rior to, and distinct from, that of the rest of its 
 ministers. " I besought thee to abide still at Ephe- 
 sus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest 
 charge some that they teach no other doctrine ; 
 neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, 
 which minister questions rather than godly edifying, 
 which is in faith." (1 Tim. i. 3, 4.) Here is a plain 
 acknowledgment of the right of Timothy to sit in 
 judgment upon the doctrines inculcated by public 
 teachers, and to issue his injunctions respecting the 
 character of their preaching. 
 
 Again : " Let the deacons be the husband of one 
 wife, ruling their children and their own houses 
 well. For they that have used the office of a deacon 
 well, purchase to themselves a good degree, and 
 great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus." 
 (1 Tim. hi. 12, 13.) Here is the recognition of his 
 power to control the conduct of deacons, (whom he 
 has formerly proved, and admitted to the use of this 
 office,) and that with a view to their advancement in 
 the ministry. 
 
 Again : " Rebuke not an elder, (a presbyter,) but 
 intreat him as a father. Against an elder raise not 
 an accusation, but before two or three witnesses." 
 (1 Tim. v. 1, 19.) Here is admitted his right to sit 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 59 
 
 in judgment over presbyters, to occupy the tribunal 
 before which charges against them were to be pre- 
 ferred. 
 
 Again : " Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither 
 be partaker of other men's sins." (1 Tim. v. 22.) 
 Here the power of ordaining to the ministry is lodged 
 in the hands of Timothy. 
 
 Again : " Let the elders that rule well be counted 
 worthy of double honour, especially they who labour 
 in the word and doctrine. Observe these things, 
 without preferring one before another, doing nothing 
 by partiality." In this passage we again discover 
 the office of director and superintendent. 
 
 Now, brethren, we cast this selection before the 
 mind of every candid and dispassionate inquirer ; and 
 we ask them to weigh their import, to consider the 
 evidence which they contain. They are found ad- 
 dressed not to many, but to one individual; and 
 that individual connected with a Church which in- 
 spired history declares to have had many ministers. 
 They call upon that individual to exercise functions 
 which imply not merely the possession of the pastoral 
 office, but of a station which carried with it autho- 
 rity, and the power of compelling to obedience. They 
 counsel that individual not simply to advise, but to 
 " charge" teachers with respect to the doctrines they 
 inculcated, to examine into the conduct and charac- 
 ters of the deacons of the Church, with a view to 
 
GO 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 their promotion, their advancement to a higher 
 grade.* They direct him upon the subject of his 
 treatment of presbyters, those whom Paul himself 
 styled " the pastors of the Church of God;" and they 
 permit him to receive accusations against them, so 
 that those accusations were made in a formal, an 
 official manner, and did not assume the aspect of a 
 secret information. They concede to him the privi- 
 lege of ascertaining the qualifications of candidates 
 for ordination, and lodge the power of ordaining in 
 his hands. We ask fearlessly, Do not all these 
 directions prove our point ? Do they not affirm that 
 Timothy occupied a situation of superiority and 
 authority in the Church of Ephesus ? If not, how 
 should he presume to be an arbiter as to the sound- 
 ness or unsoundness of doctrines, and to issue man- 
 dates as to the truths which brother ministers were 
 to inculcate, the topics they should avoid in their 
 instructions ? If not, how should he presume to 
 appoint deacons in the Church, and to sit in obser- 
 vation upon their conduct, with a view to their 
 elevation ? If not, why should he dare to rebuke 
 his co-partners in open assembly, and officially to 
 receive charges brought against them on account of 
 errors either committed or advocated ? If not, why 
 were qualifications for the ministry to be submitted 
 
 * See Appendix, E. 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 61 
 
 to the ordeal of his scrutiny, and he be specially 
 enjoined to transmit to faithful men the truths he 
 himself had received ? If not, why, above all, did 
 the apostle, whose care was so watchfully extended 
 over all the Churches, and who knew the mind of the 
 Spirit, and who ever inculcated the fitness of " ren- 
 dering- to all their due," admit by the whole style and 
 tenor of his Epistle, that these functions, so many 
 and so important, rested in the hands of one, and 
 abstain from all intimation that that one was but a 
 partner with others in the dignity and the duty I 
 The only answer which can be rendered to these 
 questions is this : that Timothy possessed an office 
 of authority in the Church, which made the discharge 
 of those functions proper to him, and conveyed them 
 not to others. The whole constitution of the Church 
 of Ephesus will accord with the theory of a subor- 
 dination among ministers, but is at utter variance 
 with that of an equality. If we doubt it, let us ask 
 Dissenters, Would they — do they, allow to any one 
 minister the position and the duties fulfilled by 
 Timothy ? Will they allow to one minister of their 
 body an ordaining power ? Will they permit him to 
 assume the office of a rebuker ? Will they permit 
 him officially to receive accusations against his bre- 
 thren ? Will they place in his hands the right to 
 control, to regulate, to reform matters of discipline 
 in the Church ? No : for this would be the exalta- 
 
62 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 tion of that one to a throne of authority and peculiar 
 privilege, and the destruction of that system of parity 
 on which they so much (perhaps so causelessly) con- 
 gratulate themselves. 
 
 The inference, then, to which a review of this 
 Epistle conducts us, is, that in apostolic times, and 
 by apostolic arrangement, the system of ministerial 
 inequality was that inculcated in the churches ; and 
 that the Church of Ephesus, a community planted 
 and protected by the hands of Paul himself, possessed 
 a threefold ministry, — the deacons looking forward 
 to a higher office ; the presbyters labouring in the 
 word and doctrine ; and the bishop, in the person of 
 Timothy, superintending all, and exercising control 
 in matters of discipline and faith. 
 
 We now turn, for corroboration of this, to the 
 Epistle to Titus. This letter of the apostle is of a 
 kindred character to that on which we have com- 
 mented. We shall select from it but two passages 
 in reference to the point at issue : " For this cause 
 left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldst set in order 
 the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in 
 every city, as I had appointed thee, if any be blame- 
 less," &c. (Tit. i. 5.) " These things speak and 
 exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man 
 despise thee." (Tit. ii. 15.) In both these passages 
 we trace the superintending officer of the Church — 
 in the first, in the power of ordaining presbyters, 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 63 
 
 after examination into character, being placed in his 
 hands as fully, as absolutely, as it had been possessed 
 by Paul himself ; and in the second, in the licence of 
 rebuking- with authority being assumed as the right- 
 ful prerogative of his station. It is impossible, we 
 conceive, to learn that Titus possessed these powers, 
 the one arming him with authority, the other vesting 
 in him the choice of ministers and the liberty of locat- 
 ing them in the several cities of Crete, without being 
 irresistibly impelled to consider that his duties were 
 different, his station superior to theirs ; without, in a 
 word, reading in the powers of Titus the peculiarities 
 of the episcopal office. So that in this Church, as 
 well as in that of Ephesus, we discover ministerial 
 inequality. 
 
 Now, before we pass from the field of Scripture 
 and enter upon that of the testimony of antiquity-, 
 we would wish to call your attention for a moment 
 to a striking body of evidence upon our point, which 
 meets us in the book of Revelation. The first few 
 chapters of that book consist of letters addressed by 
 the Saviour to the Seven Churches of Asia. In 
 character they are the same, and strikingly similar in 
 construction. We shall, therefore, content ourselves 
 with bringing one of them under consideration, and 
 shall select that to the Church of Ephesus. This is 
 an Epistle commendatory of the former faith, and 
 condemnatory of the then coldness of that once 
 
64 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 deeply spiritual community. It will be in your recol- 
 lection, my brethren, that this Church was supplied 
 with many ministers. The many presbyters gathered 
 rouud Paul to receive the last counsel they should 
 ever hear from his honored lips. Now to whom is 
 this letter in question addressed ? to all these minis- 
 ters ? to a council or synod of these presbyters ? 
 Nay, but to a single individual, — " the Angel of the 
 Church of Ephesus." How, we pause to ask, could 
 this individual be ascertained? Why should one 
 person be selected for this distinction, when there 
 were many in the ministry of the Church, and all, as 
 we are assured, equal, and of course all equally enti- 
 tled to the dignity implied in the address. The 
 difficulty is soluble but upon one principle, — that the 
 superior station held by one at once pointed out the 
 addressed individual. The Angel of the Church was 
 its presiding minister,* he who stood contradistin- 
 guished from his brethren by the superintendency, 
 the episcopal dignity he held. And to almost this 
 conclusion are our antagonists driven by the pressing 
 necessity of the case. Hear the following admission 
 from the pen of one of the most learned and able of 
 modern Dissenters, the celebrated Dr. J.Pye Smith: 
 " Ordinarily, in large churches, there were two or 
 three or more elders, performing jointly and upon an 
 
 * See Appendix, F. 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 65 
 
 equality of rank the pastoral duties, but classifying 
 and distributing the details according to the special 
 talents of each ; that one of these, the most signally 
 fit, became, by the very dictates of reason and the 
 force of circumstances, the perpetual president." 
 This admission goes very far towards granting all 
 that we insist upon. It admits an inequality of 
 station among ministers, although not necessarily a 
 difference of duties. But, after all, this continuous 
 moderatorship comes, in many respects, near to the 
 scheme of moderate episcopacy. 
 
 Such, then, brethren, is the testimony of Scripture 
 upon this important subject. We have collected our 
 evidence from the analogy of the two dispensations, 
 from the words and doings of Christ while acting as 
 the founder and arranger of his Church, and from 
 those records which unfold the constitution of the 
 apostolic Churches. And upon a dispassionate review 
 of the line of proof, we feel ourselves justified in 
 making this assertion, that the Bible sanctions a 
 disparity of ministers in the Church of God, exhibits 
 three orders as existent in the earliest times of Chris- 
 tianity, and located, diocesan episcopacy as the system 
 of government to which the settled and regulated 
 communities were subjected. 
 
 We are aware, brethren, that we have already 
 much exceeded the limit of time generally assigned 
 to addresses from this place ; but we should not 
 
60 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 deem the chain of proof along which we have tra- 
 velled complete, without consulting the testimony of 
 antiquity upon this subject. The wisdom of the Lord 
 has preserved in his Church records belonging to the 
 days of Christianity immediately succeeding the apos- 
 tolic age, and thus enabled us to ascertain the nature 
 of its government at that period. In looking for 
 information in these records, we shall bring you as 
 near to Bible times as possible. The first testimony 
 we shall adduce is that of Ignatius, (a.d. 107,) always 
 described in Church history as " the Bishop of An- 
 tioeh," and reported by Chrysostom "to have con- 
 versed with the apostles, and to have been perfectly 
 acquainted with their doctrine." The career of this 
 servant of God was bright and glorious. His path 
 was that of the just, shining more and more unto the 
 perfect day. He closed a life of faith with the suffer- 
 ings of martyrdom ; but the trials which were around 
 him, and the prospect of the agonies which were to 
 embitter the last hours of his pilgrimage, could not 
 extinguish the reigning passion of his heart, — the 
 desire to do good unto the household of faith. On 
 his way to Rome, where his spirit was tq be eman- 
 cipated from a tortured and lacerated body, he 
 addressed four letters to different Churches. One 
 of these is to the Ephesian Christians, and from it is 
 the following quotation taken : " Jesus Christ o.ur 
 inseparable life is the mind of the Father, as the 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 67 
 
 bishops appointed even unto the utmost bounds of 
 the earth are the mind of Jesus Christ. Wherefore 
 it will become you to run together, according to the 
 will of the bishop, as also ye do. For your famous 
 presbytery, worthy of God, is fitted as exactly to its 
 bishop, as the strings are to their harp. Therefore 
 in your concord and agreeing charity, Jesus Christ 
 is sung, and every single person among you makes 
 up the chorus." 
 
 In his Epistle to the Magnesians, the following 
 passage occurs : " Seeing, then, that I have been 
 judged worthy to see you by Damas, your most 
 excellent bishop, and by your worthy presbyters, 
 Bassus and Apollonius, and by my fellow-servant, 
 Sotio, your deacon, in whom I rejoice, forasmuch as 
 he is subject to his bishop as to the grace of God, 
 and to the presbytery as to the law of Jesus Christ. 
 Wherefore it will become you not to take advantage 
 of the vouth of your bishop, but to yield all reverence 
 to him according to the power of God the Father, as 
 I also perceive that your holy presbyters do." 
 
 In the Epistle to the Church at Tralles, this 
 remarkable testimony is found : " When ye are sub- 
 ject to your bishop as to Jesus Christ, you appear to 
 me to live not after the maimer of men, but according 
 to Jesus Christ. It is therefore necessary that, as 
 ve do, without your bishop ye should do nothing. 
 Also be ve subject to your presbyters, as to theapos- 
 
 F '2 
 
68 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 ties of Jesus Christ our hope, in whom, if we walk, 
 we shall be found in him. The deacons, also, being 
 the ministers of the mysteries of Jesus Christ, must 
 by all means study to please all, for they are not the 
 ministers of meats and drinks, but of the Church of 
 God. Wherefore they must avoid all offences as 
 fire. In like manner, let all reverence the deacons 
 as Jesus Christ, and the bishop as the Father, and 
 the presbyters as the Sanhedrim of God and college 
 of the apostles. Without these, there is no church !" 
 
 We might easily multiply quotations from the 
 same primitive saint, all breathing the same senti- 
 ments, all expressive of the same opinion. These, 
 however, are amply sufficient to shew what the 
 government and orders of the Church were in the 
 days of Ignatius, that is, in the days of one who 
 conversed with the apostles. The selections from 
 his writings which have been made clearly demon- 
 strate these points : first, that in the year 107, there 
 was a threefold ministry in the Church, consisting of 
 bishops, priests, and deacons ; and, secondly, that 
 the deacon of those early periods was not a secular 
 officer, but what we in Scripture discovered him to 
 be, a steward of the mysteries of God. 
 
 But we shall endeavour to corroborate this evi- 
 dence, by advancing a little further in the downward 
 stream of history. We shall appeal to the works of 
 Irenseus, who nourished about the year 167, or about 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 69 
 
 half a century subsequent to Ignatius. The following 
 quotation is from his writings : " We can enumerate 
 those who were instituted bishops in the several 
 Churches by the apostles, even to ourselves. The 
 apostolic state of the Church is known through all 
 the world by the succession of bishops, to whom the 
 apostles gave power to rule and govern the Church." 
 (Lib. hi. c. 3.) 
 
 To the same purport is the declaration of Tertul- 
 lian, who flourished towards the close of the second 
 century : " The high priest, who is the bishop, has 
 the chief right of administering it (baptism) ; then 
 the presbyters and deacons, but not without the 
 authority of the bishop." (De Bapt. c. 17.) 
 
 We shall close this branch of our evidence by two 
 quotations taken from writers of the middle of the 
 third and fourth centuries. The first to which I 
 refer is from the letter of Cyprian, bishop of Car- 
 thage, to Cornelius, bishop of Rome : " How great 
 reason have we to be afraid of the wrath of God, 
 when some presbyters, neither mindful of the gospel, 
 nor of their own station, nor thinking of the future 
 judgment of God, nor considering that they have a 
 bishop now their governor, dare to assume all to 
 themselves, to the contempt of their governor — a 
 thing never before attempted, under any of my pre- 
 decessors." (Ep. 16.) 
 
 The second is from the first book of the writings 
 
70 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 of Optatus (a.d. 368) : "To what purpose should I 
 mention deacons, who are in the third, or presbyters, 
 in the second, degree of priesthood, when the very 
 heads and princes of all, even certain of the bishops 
 themselves, were content to redeem life with the loss 
 of heaven ?" (Lib. i.) 
 
 I forbear, my brethren, from all comment upon 
 these quotations. They are too conclusive and ex- 
 pressive to require a syllable of observation. Thev 
 exhibit the government of the Christian Church at 
 different points of time between the beginning of the « 
 second and the close of the fourth centuries ; and 
 they are strictly harmonious in the evidence they 
 produce. They show, in a manner too clear to be 
 mistaken, too emphatic to be gainsayed, that a dis- 
 parity among ministers was the constitution of the 
 primitive Churches ; and that, whether the testimony 
 come from Antioch or Carthage, from Lyons or 
 Numidia, it all supports the same truth — a truth 
 asserted by Scripture, and now echoed by antiquity — 
 that the ministry of Christianity lay, in her purest 
 times, in three distinct and unmixing orders : bishops, 
 priests, and deacons. The evidence poured in from 
 the literature of the first few centuries, must, indeed, 
 have been of the most overwhelming and convincing 
 character, when Calvin himself was compelled to 
 acknowledge, that, for the first fourteen hundred 
 years after Christ, no Christian Church could be 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 71 
 
 found without its presiding bishop.* Even- record 
 procured by the industry of modern research con- 
 tirms the same verdict,! and tends to substantiate 
 the opinion we have this day endeavoured to main- 
 tain. 
 
 And now, beloved brethren, let us not withdraw " 
 from these walls without taking with us the material 
 for some profitable reflection connected with our 
 subject. In the first place, let us learn to love our 
 Church with more constancy and truth than ever we 
 - have yet done. In these days of attack upon every 
 thing that is established, her enemies have not been 
 sparing of their scorn and condemnation. Both have 
 been poured upon her with a willing and a liberal 
 hand, and even by her own children has her course 
 of forbearance been mistaken for the silence of con- 
 scious guilt ; and in proportion as the slander has 
 been credited, our confidence in her has been weak- 
 ened. Brethren, let us shake off such impressions, 
 if they have ever rested on our minds. Our Church 
 is scriptural in her constitution, and can claim kin- 
 dred with the oldest and purest communities in the 
 peculiarities of her government. Let this tend to 
 tie our affections to our apostolic and time-honored 
 Zion. As we pursue our inquiries, we shall, we 
 
 * See Appendix, G. 
 + See Appendix, H. 
 
72 
 
 EPISCOPACY. 
 
 trust, be able to prove that in other matters, also, 
 things have been laid to her charge which she knows 
 not. So far as we have gone, however, let us feel 
 that the ecclesiastical structure of our Church bears 
 the impress of the ordinance of God. 
 
 Secondly. Let us learn to discriminate between 
 connection with a church however scriptural in its 
 constitutions, and connection with the Spiritual 
 Church of the Redeemer. The error which kept 
 the house of Judah blinded to the last was built upon 
 an undue value of external privileges. Their boast 
 was, " we have Abraham to our Father." Their 
 glory was in the carnal relationship, while they pos- 
 sessed not the spirit of their ancestor. On their 
 features they bore the lines which attested their 
 descent from the father of believers, while the traces 
 of his faith was not discernible in their conduct. 
 " They which are of faith, the same are the children 
 of Abraham." My brethren, build not upon the 
 privilege you possess of visible connection with an 
 orthodox church. If her doctrines be not savingly 
 wrought into your hearts, and the spirit of faith 
 which glowed so brightly in many of her martyrs, 
 has not descended upon you, your baptismal enrol- 
 ment amongst her children will profit you nothing. 
 He was not a Jew which was one outwardly ; nor is 
 he a heaven-born Christian who possesses but the 
 privilege of professional church-membership. God 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 73 
 
 can write folly upon the charter of the most glorious 
 privileges, if they lead not to sanctifi cation. He 
 can cast the unfruitful trees out of the richest vine- 
 yard, and out of its stones raise up children to 
 Abraham. 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY OF PRECOMPOSED FORMS 
 OF PRAYER. 
 
 2 TIMOTHY I. 13. 
 HOLD FAST THE FORM OF SOUND WORDS. 
 
 On the last two occasions on which I addressed 
 you, my brethren, from this place, the objects I 
 had in view were to direct your thoughts to the 
 consideration of the character and privileges of the 
 Church of Christ, and to demonstrate that the branch 
 of it to which we are united could safely appeal, for 
 support of its orders and government, to the con- 
 current testimony of Scripture and antiquity. Upon 
 the first of these occasions I viewed the Church at 
 large simply in her spiritual aspect — as a holy com- 
 munity elected from the mass of the ungodly by the 
 mercy of her Lord, endowed by him with peculiar 
 advantages, and strengthened by his pledged and un- 
 ceasing protection. On the last, I viewed the Church 
 of which we are members as an Ecclesiastical struc- 
 ture, and sought to ascertain (as far as the topic 
 
FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 75 
 
 under consideration permitted us) the soundness of 
 the building. The subject before us this day carries 
 us into a different department of the same general 
 inquiry. We have " gone round Zion," and seen the 
 variety of her resources, and tested the strength of 
 her securities. We have examined the constitution 
 of our own Zion, and tried her government and 
 orders by reference to the highest authorities to 
 to which the point could be submitted. We now 
 step within the walls of the temple, and subject to a 
 similar scrutiny the Church's internal arrangements, 
 the nature and peculiarities of her worship. 
 
 On this point, as upon the question of government, 
 a difference arises between us and the members of 
 dissenting communities. United as we are in the 
 recognition of what constitutes acceptable service, we 
 disagree upon the subject of the mode of public wor- 
 ship. We of the Established Church of this kingdom 
 cling with feelings of preference to a precomposed 
 and well-known form of prayer. They on the contrary 
 glory in the liberty which is found, or supposed to be 
 found, in extemporaneous services. This, we hesitate 
 not to say, is a difference of practice which should 
 never have led to divisions of feeling. The point 
 controverted between the respective bodies is not one 
 involving a difference in matters of faith ; it is one 
 altogether of discipline and arrangement. Upon it 
 Ephraim never should have vexed Judah ; for upon it, 
 
76 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 as far as we know, Judah has never assailed Ephraim. 
 The Church of England neither censures nor suffers 
 herself to condemn any of the dissenting communities 
 for their preference or adoption of unwritten suppli- 
 cations. She stands consistently upon her own 
 practice, because she deems it more advisable than 
 theirs, but she comes not off that ground to invade 
 the peculiarity of her sister tribe. She can give 
 to herself and to others a reason for the mode of 
 worship that is in her, but she intrudes not upon 
 others a rebuke on account of their non-conformity. 
 Nay, upon the contrary, she hesitates not to express 
 her approval of unwritten prayers used on particular 
 occasions and under peculiar circumstances. The 
 sick bed is often comforted by the special petitions 
 of her ministers,* the incense oftentimes offered upon 
 the family altar is that of unprepared intercession ; 
 and upon a late occasion some of the most distin- 
 guished of her laity in this country vindicated their 
 right to the enjoyment of this privilege, and made, 
 when that privilege was, from a sense of supposed 
 duty, invaded, a firm, though respectful stand, against 
 what they thought Episcopal encroachment. But 
 this moderation practised by our Church towards her 
 dissenting brethren has not been copied by them 
 towards her. Her moderation has been met by 
 worse than condemnation; her inobtrusive adoption of 
 * See Appendix, A. 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 77 
 
 her own Liturgy in the public worship of her own 
 temples, has drawn down upon her assaults the most 
 unprovoked, attacks the most undeserved. That we 
 may not be suspected of having made this assertion 
 without sufficient cause, I shall call your attention to 
 two works of some weight in the dissenting commu- 
 nities. The first from which I quote is one well 
 known, not only from the spirit of hostility towards 
 the establishment which characterizes it, but also 
 from the unexpected service it has done our Church 
 by calling out on her behalf a host of able defenders. 
 In Mr. James's "Church Members' Guide," (pp. 15, 
 16,) the following passage occurs — "It (the Church 
 of England) teaches in her Prayer-Book and Ca- 
 nons many things which we do not believe, as for 
 example, that baptism is regeneration— that all go to 
 heaven whatever was their previous character. She 
 practises Liturgical forms of worship, which we deem 
 less edifying than extempore prayer, while her 
 Liturgy abounds with vain repetitions. She multi- 
 plies offices in her Communion beyond all Scripture 
 precedent, till she has quite secularized her nature 
 and appearance ; she has corrupted the communion 
 of saints by the indiscriminate admission of persons 
 of all characters to the Lord's table." * So much for 
 the spirit of an Independent towards our Church. 
 The second production from which I quote is a 
 * See Appendix, B. 
 
78 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 Catechism well known amongst our presbyterian 
 brethren. Its title is "The Protestant Dissenter's 
 Catechism," and it contains the following ques- 
 tions and answers. " Q. What are the principal 
 disadvantages of a Liturgy ? A. It is an encou- 
 ragement to indolence in ministers. It tends to 
 lessen their ability for praying in cases of emer- 
 gency, &c. Q. What is objectionable in the general 
 form and construction of the Liturgy ? A. The 
 method is irregular and confused, the several prayers, 
 collects, &c. are without any order or connection. 
 Some of the distinct prayers, and especially the 
 collects, seem to have no distinguishing object, but 
 are little more than introduction and conclusion. It 
 is full of tautology and vain repetitions. It is in 
 some views very defective. Many of its prayers are 
 needless and redundant. The manner in which the 
 people join with the priest in the Parish Churches is 
 unedifying and unnatural." (pp. 65,66.) This language, 
 and the manner in which the book containing it has 
 been received by those from whom we should have 
 expected its utter rejection, sufficiently evince the 
 spirit in which the Established Church is regarded by 
 a large body of our Protestant brethren in this 
 country, and render a defence of our Zion not only 
 justifiable but necessary. We court no contest with 
 those who dissent from us simply upon the ground of 
 usages and forms. We wish to dwell with them in 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 7!) 
 
 unity, or to take the right hand track on the same 
 extended field, if it pleases them to journey on the 
 left. But when our forbearance only provokes in- 
 sult, our unencroaching adherence to our own forms 
 only excites hostility and invective, resistance to the 
 assault is the discharge of a duty. And if for this 
 we be censured, (as probably in these times of mis- 
 taken liberalism may be the case) we point to the 
 unkind provocation, and inscribe the motto on our 
 standards — " Is there not a cause ? " 
 
 I. In entering upon the defence of the Liturgy of 
 our Church, we shall first call your attention to the 
 point of the lawfulness of precomposed and prescribed 
 forms of prayer. This we shall sustain, in the first 
 place, on the consideration that such prayers were 
 dictated and allowed by God himself, for the use of 
 the Church over which he specially presided, — the 
 Church of Israel. Of this we shall find a proof in 
 the 26th chapter of Deuteronomy. The observance 
 spoken of in that chapter is the presentation of the 
 basket of first-fruits to the Lord. " The priest shall 
 take the basket out of thy hands, and set it down 
 before the altar of the Lord thy God. And thou 
 shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, A 
 Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went 
 down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few) 
 and became there a nation, great, mighty, and popu- 
 lous. And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and 
 
80 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage. And 
 when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the 
 Lord heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, 
 and our labour, and our oppression. And the Lord 
 brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, 
 and with an outstretched arm, and with great terri- 
 bleness, and with signs and with wonders, and he 
 hath brought us into this place, and hath given us 
 this land, even a land that floweth with milk and 
 honey. And now, behold, I have brought the first- 
 fruits of the land, which thou, O Lord, hast given 
 me." (v. 4 — 10.) In this beautiful and affecting 
 ceremonial, it is to be observed that the form of 
 prayer in which the worshipper of Israel was to 
 express his gratitude to God was not only distinctly 
 prescribed, but that it was intended to be perpetual 
 in Israel. It was not supplied for a single, a special 
 occasion, (although that in itself would establish our 
 point,) — it was designed for the use of the men of all 
 succeeding generations. Enunciated first in the wil- 
 derness, it was to be used when they had come into 
 the inheritance-land. It was not intended as a tem- 
 porary provision for the Church during its time of 
 unsettledness and migration ; these very expressions 
 of praise were to be heard in the temple, " the place 
 where God would put his name, " in the days of the 
 nation's established greatness and prosperity. Nor 
 are we left to gather our proof from a solitary in- 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 81 
 
 stance of this kind. By reference to the sixth chap- 
 ter of Numbers, we shall find ourselves sustained by 
 a similar testimony : " The Lord spake unto Moses, 
 saying, Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, 
 On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, 
 saying unto them, The Lord bless thee and keep 
 thee, the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and 
 be gracious unto thee ; the Lord lift up his counte- 
 nance upon thee, and give thee peace." (22 — 24.) 
 This passage contains the express terms in which 
 the ministers of the congregation of Israel were to 
 pronounce the benediction over the people. The 
 duty is not merely commanded, but by God himself 
 are the words dictated. Was it then lawful, nav, fit, 
 that Israel should be blessed in a precomposed form, 
 and can it be unlawful or unfit that our Churches 
 should be so addressed now ? Can the Lord denv 
 himself ? 
 
 Again, in the tenth chapter of the same book, we 
 shall discover a kindred evidence. The movement 
 and settlements of the ark which regulated those of 
 the children of Israel were to be solemnized by a 
 set and unvaried form of supplication. " When the 
 ark set forward, Moses said, Rise up O Lord, and 
 let thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate 
 thee flee before them. And when it rested, he said, 
 Return O Lord unto the many thousands of Israel." 
 Neither the excitement of the projected march, nor 
 
82 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 the happiness of the commencing rest tempted to a 
 deviation from the prescribed and long used form. 
 It was suggested by God, and men sought out no 
 new inventions. 
 
 Evidences of this kind confirmatory of our point 
 might be multiplied almost indefinitely. (Deut. xxi. 
 7, 8; xxvi. 13—15.) But these are sufficient to 
 prove that pre-arranged and stated forms of public 
 worship are sanctioned by the authorship of the 
 Lord himself. We would remind you that they are 
 also sanctioned by his permission of them in the ser- 
 vices of the tabernacle and temple. The fifteenth 
 chapter of Exodus is a record of an act of praise and 
 grateful adoration in which the many thousands of 
 Israel joined. It is the hymn of thanksgiving which 
 was chaunted by the rescued population of the free 
 on the banks of those waves which were rolling in 
 vengeful fury over the bodies of their infatuated perse- 
 cutors. The song of Israel threw its echoes over the 
 dark flood like a strain of victory rising from a well 
 fought field. As one man, the hosts of the redeem- 
 ed burst forth into praise : "I will sing unto the 
 Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously, the horse 
 and the rider hath he thrown into the sea : the Lord 
 is my strength and song, and is become my salvation ; 
 he is my God, my father's God, and I will exalt him, 
 — thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in 
 power." To have been congregational, sung by all, 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 S3 
 
 this splendid ode of adoration must have been fami- 
 liar to all, and consequently precomposed and sub- 
 mitted to the people. Nay more, condemned by 
 our antagonists as is the system of response in 
 public worship, pronoimced as it is, M unedifying and 
 unnatural," it was once adopted by Israel, and not 
 condemned by the Lord. " When Moses and the 
 children of Israel sung, Miriam and all the women 
 went out with their timbrels ; and Miriam answered 
 them " Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed 
 gloriously." 
 
 But we can establish this point with equal strength 
 of evidence by carrying you from the wilderness into 
 the more settled times of Israel. In reviewing the 
 arrangements made for the tabernacle and temple 
 sen-ices in those times, we discover that they were, 
 if not specially dictated, at least prompted and sanc- 
 tioned by Jehovah. The Psalms, written by inspira- 
 tion of God, were many of them introduced into, 
 many of them written for, the public worship of 
 Israel. The xlvith and xlviith seem to have been 
 specially prepared for this purpose ; * and from the 
 hands of the monarch himself did the ministers of 
 the congregation receive the precomposed form of 
 prayer and praise which was to ascend as incense 
 before the Lord. " David appointed certain of the 
 
 * See Title. 
 G 2 
 
84 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord ; and 
 to record and to thank and praise the Lord God of 
 Israel. Then on that day David delivered first this 
 Psalm to thank the Lord unto the hand of Asaph 
 and his brethren ; " Give thanks unto the Lord, 
 call upon his name, &c. ; and all the people said 
 Amen, and praised the Lord." (1 Chron. xvi. 4 — 7.) 
 Here we have prescribed forms of worship for Israel. 
 And let it not be thought, my brethren, that this 
 transaction was of an occasional, a transient charac- 
 ter. That form of worship introduced by David was 
 meant to be perpetuated and fixed in Israel ; for one 
 of the acts of the reformation by Hezekiah, was 
 to secure to his worshipping people the advantage 
 of this very formulary, which had gladdened the 
 hearts of the faithful three hundred years before. 
 " Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the 
 Levites to sing praises unto the Lord with the words 
 of David and of Asaph the seer." (2 Chron. xxix. 
 25 — 30.) And when through the calamities which 
 visited the nation and broke up its civil and religious 
 usages, the order of the public worship had become 
 deranged, one of the most pointed acts of Nehemiah 
 was to bring back to the temple the ritual of David, 
 to make the walls of the second building resound 
 with the praises which had floated in rich harmony 
 through the first. " The singers and the porters 
 kept the ward of their God, according to the com- 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 85 
 
 mandment of David and of Solomon his son. For 
 in the davs of David and Asaph of old there were 
 chiefs of the singers, and songs of praise, and thanks- 
 giving unto God." (Neh. xii. 45, 46.) All this 
 concurrence of testimony demonstrates that even in 
 times of inspiration, when holy men of old, many 
 and devoted, spake from the movement of the Spirit 
 upon their hearts, when the gift of inspired utter- 
 ance was poured out in a richer flood than in the 
 latter ages of the Church, pre-arranged and well- 
 known prayers for public worship were ordained and 
 approved by Him who is Wisdom itself, and assures 
 us that we are right in our assertion as to the law- 
 fulness of prescribed forms. 
 
 But we sustain this assertion again upon the ground 
 that such forms were assented to, and therefore 
 approved of by Christ when upon earth. There can 
 be no doubt that forms of prayer, pre-arranged and 
 fixed, were used in the synagogue service of the Jews. 
 This is a point which scarcely requires demonstra- 
 tion, for it is admitted by the Jews themselves, and 
 affirmed by heathen historians. Fragments of the 
 Jewish Liturgy of our Saviour's days are still extant, 
 and collected by the industry of modern authors. 
 We shall not occupy time by producing evidence of 
 this, although there lies before me at this moment a 
 volume containing nineteen of the prayers which, 
 eighteen centuries since, composed the Liturgy of 
 
86 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 the synagogue.* We rather desire to press upon 
 your notice ■ the fact, that Jesus, in the days of his 
 mortal pilgrimage, was a member of the synagogue 
 congregation. "As his custom was, he went into 
 the synagogue on the Sabbath day." (Luke iv. 16.) 
 By his presence, his repeated presence, he honoured, 
 he sanctioned the method of their worship. His 
 enemies waited with malicious attention on his words 
 — they laid many things to his charge, and even 
 condemned him by perversion of his expressions. 
 But never do they lay this to his account, that he 
 had ever indicated contempt or disapproval of their 
 public worship. They censured him for his conduct 
 on the Sabbath day, but they never made it the 
 ground of accusation that he had "forsaken the assem- 
 bling of the people together." Is not all this an 
 approval of their mode of worship, a high and distin- 
 guished testimony to its lawfulness — we had almost 
 said, its peculiar propriety. Nay more, he was often 
 led to speak in a strain of indignant condemnation 
 upon the subject of the hypocrisies, the formalities, 
 the ostentation which disfigured the devotion of his 
 times, which made the service of the Lord the mere 
 tribute of the lips, instead of the humble sanctified ho- 
 mage of the heart; but in doing so, he is never found 
 to carry his condemnation to the established mode 
 
 Prideaux's Connections. 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 87 
 
 of worship. That, in itself, was right ; its abuse lay 
 in the Pharisaism of the worshippers. Jesus could 
 draw the line between these two ; and while he thun- 
 dered forth his denunciations against the one, he 
 never breathed a disapproval of the other. Christ, 
 as a worshipper himself, and Christ, as a public 
 rebuker of improprieties, has declared the lawfulness 
 of prayer in forms. His negative approval on the 
 one hand, and his positive approval on the other, 
 tells us loudly, that what he has honored we should 
 not venture lightly to esteem. 
 
 Again : we defend the lawfulness of pre-composed 
 forms on the ground that such were provided by 
 Christ for the use of his own Church. We refer 
 you to the prayer which he composed in reply to 
 that simple and affecting application, " Lord, teach 
 us to pray." It has long been a matter of dispute 
 whether this prayer is to be regarded as a form or a 
 model, that is, as a prayer to be used in the very 
 terms in which it is constructed, or as a pattern after, 
 or upon which, we may construct our own supplica- 
 tions. The prayer is somewhat differently recorded 
 in the two Evangelists, who have preserved it for the 
 Church. In the one the Saviour is described as 
 saying — ** After this manner, therefore, pray ye." 
 In the other, " When ye pray, say." The former 
 expression is appealed to as an evidence that the 
 prayer was intended for a model ; the latter, that it 
 
88 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 was meant for a form. The question seems to me, 
 my brethren, to be one of little moment. It is pro- 
 bable that our Lord intended his prayer to serve both 
 these purposes. One thing is evident, that whether 
 meant besides for a model or not, it was undoubtedly 
 resigned for a form. The command is definite and 
 express. " When ye pray, say, Our Father, which 
 art in heaven, &c." This language shuts us up to a 
 conclusion. But it is by no means so evident, that the 
 words which are appealed to in favor of the opposite 
 opinion will at all sustain that opinion. The direct 
 meaning of the original word which is here trans- 
 lated " after this manner," is "so" or "thus." In 
 this manner the word is rendered in a passage in 
 Luke's Gospel. " If any man ask you, Why do ye 
 loose him ? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the 
 Lord hath need of him." (Luke xix. 31). In this 
 command, no latitude was left to the disciples as to 
 the words in which they were to convey their Mas- 
 ter's will. The words were provided for them, and 
 their's it was to use them, " thus," not " after this 
 manner, shall ye say." And it is clear that it was 
 in this sense the Disciples understood their Lord ; for 
 they used, in their reply, his exact, his precise words. 
 "The Lord hath need of him." So that while it is 
 beyond controversy that the prayer before our 
 thoughts was intended for a form, it is by no means 
 so clear that it was intended merely for a pattern. 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 89 
 
 The one rests upon a definite and simple com- 
 mand, the other upon an expression which will not, 
 as a translation, bear critical investigation. And 
 this view, for which we have contended, is not only 
 sustained by the very construction of the prayer, but 
 by the opinion of the earliest and soundest writers of 
 Christian antiquity.* The members of the Primitive 
 Churches regarded it as a form supplied to them by 
 the consideration of their Lord, and used it as such 
 in their assemblings for public worship. It was 
 uttered by many a congregation, who were enabled, 
 through its blessed sentences, " with one heart and 
 one mouth to glorify their Father." 
 
 But, lastly, we defend our position as to the law- 
 fulness of forms of prayer in public worship, from a 
 fact which, were it but calmly weighed, must for 
 ever close the lips of objectors to our practice. We 
 mean that their lawfulness, their propriety, are virtu- 
 ally admitted by the practice of Dissenters themselves. 
 Their boasted liberty, the emancipation from for- 
 mal restraints which their mode of sen-ice is sup- 
 posed to secure for them, is an utter delusion— a 
 pleasing, it may be, but an absolute misconception. 
 The censure which they bestow upon us for the adop- 
 tion of a form, upon examination, will be found to 
 roll back with unabated force upon their own heads ; 
 
 * See Appendix, C. 
 
90 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 for virtually they adopt what they condemn. Every 
 congregation must use a form of prayer, or cease to 
 be a praying congregation. Each individual in it 
 must adopt the prayer of the conducting minister, or 
 must, like the Pharisee, pray by himself, and so in- 
 sulate himself, disconnect himself from the congrega- 
 tion. If there be unity of worship, there must be 
 the following of one train of thought, the one series 
 of words which flows from the lips of the occupier of 
 the pulpit. To him the prayer offered up may not 
 be a form precomposed and pre-arranged, for he 
 may pray out of the momentary impulses of his heart, 
 the excited fervency of his present devotional feel- 
 ings ; but the instant the prayer passes from his lips, 
 is heard in its successive syllables by the congrega- 
 tion, and is adopted by them as their own supplica- 
 tion, that instant it becomes to them a form. It is 
 not their own ; it is not the creation of each person's 
 own mind, the words of each person's separate com- 
 position. It is to the congregation as absolutely, as 
 truly, as virtually a form, as if it were read from 
 manuscript or book. It is impossible it can be other- 
 wise, so long as men meet as a congregation to wor- 
 ship together, and not to put up in the same building 
 each man his separate, his unsocial supplication. 
 There is no alternative between having " each a 
 psalm, a doctrine, a tongue," and following the lead- 
 ership of one authorized and responsible individual. 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 91 
 
 The unity of worship, which is an essential element 
 in the constitution of a worshipping assembly, strictly 
 forbids it to be otherwise. We enter not now into 
 the question, whether the prayers of our Dissenting 
 brethren in the ministry be precomposed or not. If 
 they be, (and, considering the solemn importance of 
 the act, we see not why they should not be,) the case 
 then is only altered in this respect, — that they, as 
 well as their congregations, are using forms. But 
 this view of the necessity of forms of prayer in con- 
 gregations, reduces the question at issue between us 
 and Dissenters to a very narrow and intelligible com- 
 pass ; for it takes it off the ground of laic fulness, 
 and fixes it upon that of the expediency. It brings 
 it to this very simple and comprehensible inquiry, 
 viz., that since every congregation must necessarily 
 pray in a form, which is preferable — to be supplied 
 with one according to the option, the judgment, the 
 capacity of the minister, and attended with all the 
 disadvantages of its being then for the first time pre- 
 sented to the mind, — or to use one previously known, 
 the result of the collective wisdom of many indivi- 
 duals — one which has undergone the trial of calm 
 examination, whose petitions have been weighed in 
 the balances of thought, and wrought from long 
 usage and early acquaintanceship into the very tex- 
 ture of the mind. This is the real point to which to 
 bring this question — to make it one of comparison, to 
 
92 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 take it not on abstract grounds, but to regard it as a 
 practical inquiry, to view it as something which (its 
 lawfulness having been previously established) is to 
 be settled by placing the advantages or disadvantages 
 of opposite systems over against each other, and 
 arriving at a decision between them. On such a 
 ground as this, we fearlessly calculate upon a verdict 
 in our favour ; for the benefits gained by our system 
 will be found far to outweigh the necessary draw- 
 backs. This was seen, as will be evidenced by the 
 following quotation, by the clear and sagacious mind 
 of Calvin, an authority who will speak with weight 
 to our opponents. In his letter to the Protector of 
 England* is found this remarkable paragraph: "I 
 do highly approve of a form of prayer and ecclesias- 
 tical rites, that it should be fixed; that from it it 
 should not be lawful for pastors, in the discharge of 
 their duty, to depart : First, that there may be a 
 provision for the ignorance and unskilfulness of some ; 
 secondly, that the agreement of all the Churches 
 among themselves may more certainly appear ; thirdly, 
 that the unsettled levity of some who affect novelties 
 may be met. So also it is fit that there should be a 
 fixed catechism, a fixed administration of the sacra- 
 ments, and also a public form of prayer." 
 
 II. We are, then, to pursue our inquiry of our 
 
 * Dated 1548. 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 93 
 
 subject, in the examination of the point of the expe- 
 diency of pre-arranged forms of prayer for public 
 worship. The question of then lawfulness we con- 
 ceive to be settled bevond dispute ; we have there- 
 fore to weigh that of the superior advantages pro- 
 vided by a Liturgy- such as we are permitted to pos- 
 sess. The first advantage which it seems to me to 
 confer upon us is this, that it ensures to a congrega- 
 tion a safe and sound method of exercising the most 
 important duty of public worship— their intercourse 
 with God. In examining into the value of this 
 advantage, we wish you, brethren, to observe that 
 the question before us at this instant is to be settled 
 by a contrast (we mean no invidious one) between 
 our practice and the system preferred by Dissenters ; 
 and that, in looking into that system, we are bound 
 to view it not under its choice and peculiarly happy 
 exhibitions, but as it meets us in the course of com- 
 mon and ordinary experience. In investigating the 
 merits of extemporaneous pravers, we should do 
 wrong to weigh them by the eloquent and compre- 
 hensive effusions of such master-spirits as Hall or 
 Chalmers. These and such-like men were unusual 
 specimens of power. We must estimate them as we 
 rind them in the ordinary measure of capacity* which 
 is to be found in ministers in general. The question 
 is a general one, and it must not be tried upon spe- 
 cial or peculiar excellency. Now, affirming that a 
 
94 
 
 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 form of prayer such as ours ensures to a congrega- 
 tion a safe method of praying-, we ask you to take 
 the contrast system, and to consider it in connection 
 with a doctrinally unsound minister. And let it not 
 be said, my brethren, that this is trying the question 
 upon an unlikely case : no case is unlikely that has 
 occurred, and that, from the tendency of men to err, 
 is likely to be of continual occurrence. Now, of 
 what description will be the prayers of such an indi- 
 vidual } Will they cast the sinner's mind upon the 
 sufficiency of an Almighty, a Divine Saviour ? Will 
 they carry peace and hope to a troubled conscience, 
 by exhibiting the work of atonement as perfect, be- 
 cause the worji of Deity r Will they recognize the 
 omnipotence of the Eternal Spirit, and lead up the 
 half- obdurate, half- convicted soul to the power of his 
 influences, that the hardihood of the temper may be 
 melted, and the flintiness of the rebel nature subdued ? 
 Will they bend down the listening sinner's head, and 
 draw his feelings into an attitude of self-abasement, 
 by confessing the spiritual bankruptcy, the utter des- 
 titution, the unqualified ruin of his state, and assist 
 in humbling him to the dust by acknowledging his 
 inability either to turn himself from the error of his 
 ways, or erect a shelter from the storm of approach- 
 ing vengeance ? No, brethren : unless the minister 
 (being such in views as we have supposed him) 
 become the hypocrite, and act a part before his 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER . 
 
 95 
 
 people, expressing opinions which he holds not, 
 acknowledging a hope on winch he depends not, his 
 pravers will not breathe out such topics of supplica- 
 tion as these. They will be the transcript of his mind. 
 The fruit will correspond with the stock which pro- 
 duces it. Now, contrast with this the Liturgy of the 
 Church. It recognizes, it expresses, it breathes out all 
 this. • Be the minister what he may, he must, (oh, 
 we glory in our bonds !) he must pray aright. He must 
 present to the people a pure, a safe, a sound method 
 of supplication. He must provide for the flock an 
 orthodox and faithful medium for their intercourse 
 with God. The Church is resolved that they shall 
 not, in the discharge of man's most solemn dutv, 
 most glorious privilege upon earth, be left to the 
 mercy of a creature fallible and uncertain. 
 
 Or let us suppose a case somewhat different from 
 this, but of still more likelihood of occurrence, — that 
 of a congregation being entrusted to the care of a 
 minister sound and orthodox in his views, but un- 
 spiritual in his heart. Experience, my brethren, 
 teaches us what the Bible has admitted, that the 
 kingdom of God may be received in word, while it 
 is not received in power, that the heart may be filled 
 with the most scriptural opinions, and the religious 
 creed formed in accordance with the soundest sys- 
 tems of theology, while the influence, the unction, 
 the energy of the truth has made no lodgment what- 
 
96 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 ever in the affections ; that, in a word, there may be 
 the bold, correct recognition of the truth where the 
 warm glow of its quickening and elevating power is 
 wanting. What, in such a case as this, of frigid 
 ministerial orthodoxy, (and is it not to be found in 
 ministers as well as people) will be the effect upon a 
 congregation unblessed with a Liturgy? They may 
 find everything correct in the sentiments advanced, 
 in the doctrines recognized in the prayer ; but will 
 there be in the prayer that rich fervent strain and 
 tone of spirituality which constitutes prayer's chiefest 
 excellence. Will the anxious experienced Christian 
 who has felt the happiness of heart-intercourse with 
 God, the blessedness of rising above earth, and hav- 
 ing conversation in heaven, find his feelings repre- 
 sented by such a minister as we have pictured ? His 
 opinions he may find expressed, but will the prayer 
 he strives to join in come over his heart like the 
 breathings of a kindred spirit. No, brethren, for the 
 altar from which it rises is cold ; the live coal cannot 
 be where no fire has been kindled. The songs of 
 Zion could not be sung in a strange land, nor can 
 the undefinable emotions of Zion be felt by an 
 estranged heart. And the believer will, in such an 
 exercise, find his rising warmth checked, his kindling 
 sensations smothered, in the want of a congenial 
 medium through which to outpour them. Now con- 
 trast with all this the Liturgy of our Church. It 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 97 
 
 puts the words of humiliation into the mouth of the 
 penitent, the cry for needed help upon the lips of the 
 feeble, and gives a palpable and denned shape to the 
 aspirations and unuttered feelings of the deeply devo- 
 tional. Cannot the most spiritual-minded believer 
 find a free and full vent for the struggling emotions 
 of his heart in such expressions as these, — " O God. 
 who hast prepared for them that love thee, such 
 good things as pass man's understanding, pour into 
 our hearts such love towards thee, that we, loving 
 thee above all things, may not fail to attain thy gra- 
 cious promises, which exceed all that we can desire." 
 " Lord of all power and might, who art the author and 
 giver of all good things, graft in our hearts the love 
 of thy name ; increase in us true religion ; nourish 
 us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us 
 in the same, through Jesus Christ our Lord." The 
 Liturgy affords, in such instances as we have adverted 
 to, a safe and a broad channel for the egress of the 
 most varied emotions. 
 
 Let us exhibit the advantage it possesses over un- 
 prepared prayers, by the supposition of another case, 
 a case which may have, and has had, its realitv in 
 common life. We allude to that of a congregation 
 placed in the hands of a minister, orthodox in 
 opinions, and spiritual in feelings, and yet ungifted 
 in readiness or clearness of expression. This suppo- 
 sition is reasonable so long as we are led by Scripture 
 
 H 
 
98 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 to expect that there shall be " diversities of gifts in 
 the ministry," and so long as experience tells us that 
 'many can feel deeply what they cannot express 
 lucidly. In a case such as this, we ask not what 
 will be the effect on the minister himself, for we feel 
 conscious that it will be to him a cause of unqualified 
 abasement to find within him thoughts that glow, 
 when he cannot command the words that burn. 
 But we ask, what will be the effect on the people ? 
 When there is the want of fluency, of collectedness, 
 of appositeness of expression in the pulpit, will there 
 not be in the congregation an embarrassment of mind, 
 a distraction of the attention, a chilling of the fer- 
 vency, a repression of the Sowings of devotion. 
 Can it be otherwise ? Can hesitation in language, 
 or poverty of expression, or reiteration of the same 
 ideas produce upon the hearers any other effect than 
 that of an irritation of spirit, or a straying of atten- 
 tion, each, or either, unfriendly to the hallowed 
 exercise. Brethren, this is no theory of mine. It 
 is an acknowledged reality. Hear the following ad- 
 mission of it in the words of a most competent 
 authority. "The brethren who lead our devotions 
 are so outrageously long and dull, that after enjoying 
 the first half of their prayers, the congregation are 
 anxiously waiting for the close of the other half. 
 We are often prayed into a good frame, and then 
 prayed out of it again, by those who extend their 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 99 
 
 supplications to twenty, or five-and-twenty minutes 
 at a time." * Again we ask you to contrast this with 
 our Liturgy. I wish not to become its panegyrist, 
 because I might be considered partial in my esteem, 
 and because I prefer to draw its encomiums out of 
 the camp of the adversary. The testimony which 
 the candid and high-minded Hall bore to the excel- 
 lency of our Liturgy is this, " Though a Protestant 
 Dissenter, I am by no means insensible to its merits ; 
 I believe that the evangelical purity of its sentiment, 
 the chastened fervor of its devotion, and the majestic 
 simplicity of its language, have combined to place it 
 in the very first rank of uninspired composition." 
 And these expressions of approval are more than 
 echoed by one of the leading dissenting periodicals 
 of England. " The Church, it cannot be denied, 
 professes the life-giving doctrines of the Gospel; 
 favors every great principle rescued from Rome by 
 the reformers, and puts into the lips of the people a 
 language of devotion unrivalled in majesty, beauty, 
 propriety, and comprehension." | Our Liturgy, then, 
 is what we have affirmed it to be, a safe, a certain, a 
 congenial channel for the conveyance of supplications, 
 reaching to frames the most exalted, stooping to feel- 
 ings the most humble, and couched in a beauty 
 
 * Church Member's Guide, p. 56. 
 + Eclectic Review. 
 
 H 2 
 
100 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 of expression which has elicited the warmest praise 
 from opponents. 
 
 But we proceed to call your attention to a second 
 advantage, which a form of pre-composed possesses 
 over extemporaneous, prayers. A Liturgy is a grand 
 cementer of the Church. It promotes that which it is 
 beauteous to see existent in those who cling to the 
 same faith — uniformity, and connection by wor- 
 ship. The Church of Jesus is one great family. It 
 should be actuated by the same mind, and desire the 
 same things. It should, if possible, be not only 
 united in opinions, but also in usages. If possible, it 
 should not only feel, but act, alike. And greatly 
 would it tend to its exaltation in the eyes of men, if, 
 by its congregational acts in a thousand different 
 places, it were at once evidenced that different con- 
 gregations were branches of one great brotherhood. 
 This is in some measure done for our Church 
 by the uniformity of worship observed everywhere 
 throughout it. It may be, perhaps, a pleasing play 
 of the fancy ; but still to me there is something 
 cheering and elevating in the thought that at this 
 moment, or within the past hour, the very same 
 sounds of praise, the very same expressions of suppli- 
 cation, the same uttered representations of feelings, 
 which have risen from ourselves, have ascended up- 
 wards to the throne of the Eternal from the lips of 
 the millions who compose our thousands of Episcopal 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 101 
 
 congregations in this empire. It is refreshing to 
 contemplate the idea that the same note of thanks- 
 giving which has been struck in one spot of our land, 
 has, so to speak, been caught up, and repeated, and 
 re-echoed along the extended line of our worshipping 
 people, until the vast volume of harmonious sound, 
 swelling in its progress, and gathering strength and 
 fulness in its course, has rolled upwards from earth 
 to heaven, and thrown itself, like a mighty wave, at 
 the feet of the same object of adoration. It is 
 pleasing to carry the imagination still farther, and, 
 recollecting that the form of worship which we pur- 
 sue is not confined within the limits of the seas of 
 Britain, but is found wherever a branch of the British 
 Church subsists, or a Church, kindred in its struc- 
 ture and government, has been planted; to fasten 
 the mind upon the thought that at the noontime of 
 the same hallowed day, our Episcopal brethren in 
 America, in the Western Indies, in the far-off terri- 
 tories of Hindostan, in the many colonies where the 
 British flag has been planted, and its authority ac- 
 knowledged, — in those distant and secluded spots 
 where an inroad has been made upon heathenism, 
 and Christianity, in connection with our Church, has 
 been established— in the remoteness of the Missionary 
 Stations of the Western World, the ocean-girt islands 
 of the Pacific, and the burning plains of Ceylon, — 
 have all united in the same accents and expressions 
 
102 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 of prayer, and swelled the chorus which has mingled 
 in the Psalm of the worshippers in the heavenly 
 temple. " We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge 
 thee to be the Lord ; all the earth doth worship thee, 
 the Father everlasting." 
 
 And if it be elevating and impressive to find our- 
 selves, through the medium of our Liturgy, thus 
 linked to churches far off, and separated from us by 
 their geographical remoteness, it is no less a source of 
 solemn enjoyment to find ourselves by the same 
 chain bound to the men of other times, to discover 
 in it a property which almost annihilates the lapse 
 of years, and brings into close connection the past 
 and the present. Through the medium of our 
 Liturgy, which has survived the rise and fall of 
 many generations, we are associated with the spirits 
 of other days. I cannot forget as I utter the sup- 
 plications of my prayer-book, that they have been 
 uttered by believers now numbered with the dead. 
 I cannot forget that they have expressed the very 
 feelings and embodied the very wishes of multitudes 
 of the excellent of the earth ; that the prayers which 
 I now use, have contributed to gladden the hearts of 
 the persecuted Protestants of passed-by ages, have 
 been heard in the prison cells of England, have been 
 used at the stake, have floated above the flames, and 
 almost borne down the taunts and execrations of 
 Smithfield. I cannot forget that the attachment of 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 103 
 
 the martyrs of the sixteenth century to those very 
 prayers, was among the matters laid to their charge, 
 a special article in the indictment under which they 
 were condemned. I cannot forget the chivalrous 
 ardour of Cranmer who pledged himself to defend 
 the prayer-book of the English Church against all 
 and every assailant : the love expressed for it by 
 Hulhers who clasped it to his heart at the stake, and 
 died with it in his grasp : the veneration for it ex- 
 pressed in the conduct of Taylor when he bequeathed 
 to his wife his Prayer- Book as the best legacy he 
 could leave her. A work so wrought into the very 
 history of Protestanism, a Liturgy so associated with 
 the most trying and triumphant times of the Church's 
 struggles cannot but be precious to every one who 
 truly enjoys the privileges then so dearly purchased. 
 We cannot but feel gladdened at the thought that 
 our words of worship are the same with those which 
 these noble spirits valued, and that in the use of the 
 prayers handed down from them to us our Church 
 has an uniformity and a connection with the Church 
 of those eventful days. 
 
 But we press forward to the notice of a third ad- 
 vantage which our mode of worship possesses over 
 free prayers. A Liturgy is one of the most secure 
 and certain bulwarks which a Church can possess 
 against the incursions of heresy. To this the Church 
 of the Redeemer has ever been exposed. Paradise 
 
104 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 was scarcely tenanted, when the serpent began to 
 intrude upon its purity. The wheat had been hardly 
 sown, until the enemy began to scatter tares in the 
 field. The apostolic age had not come to its close, 
 when the elements of heresy were discernible in 
 the Churches. And what is the Church's history 
 throughout, but a record of the attempts which 
 the originators and supporters of unsound opinions 
 have been ever making to supplant and overthrow 
 the truth. Against all this danger so constantly 
 menacing, so frequently successful, what is the bar- 
 rier which the Church is to erect. The fashionable 
 theory is that the pulpit can always meet and effec- 
 tually resist the inroad of the foe ; that in it is found 
 the grand conservative resource of the Church, and 
 that no heresy can thrive while a preaching ministry 
 is sustained. This is the modern theory upon this 
 matter ; a theory which would be perfectly correct, 
 if only one point was secured, that the occupier of 
 the pulpit was not fallible in his nature, and capable 
 of falling under the influence of heresy himself. Once 
 let this be secured, and we concede that heresy can 
 never exist without being detected, and can never 
 raise its head without being crushed. But we pass 
 from theory, and we look to experience ; and of it 
 do we ask the question whether the pulpit has been 
 able without the aid of a liturgy to preserve Church 
 purity as to doctrine. It is admitted by one of the 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 105 
 
 leading dissenting periodicals of England, that out 
 of 258 Presbyterian congregations in England, 
 235 have become Socinian.* Nor is this lament- 
 able decline confined to our own empire ; America 
 has felt that " a Church without a Liturgy is 
 laid open to all the incursions of heresy." Bos- 
 ton was a place in which the light of true reli- 
 gion once shone with unbroken splendor. What is 
 the history of religion there ? The tares were sown, 
 and have prospered in the midst of the wheat. The 
 dark and deadly taint of Socinianism overspread its 
 churches ; the gold, once fine and unsullied, has be- 
 come dimmed, and in the fearful transition from 
 sterling orthodoxy to the foulest stain of doctrinal 
 error is the truth written, that the pulpit never can 
 of itself be regarded as a sufficient barrier against 
 heresy. But while such is the history of churches 
 using prayers in their public services at the will 
 and opinions of the minister, (a history which might 
 add to its pages the records of the Presbyterian 
 Church in the northern parts of this country!), what 
 is the history of the Church of England ? That in- 
 dividuals of her communion may fall into, and ad- 
 vance unsound doctrines, we mean not to deny ; for 
 no Church upon earth has ever yet kept all its mem- 
 bers in perfect accordance with its own creed : but 
 
 * Eclectic Review, Feb. 1832. f See Appendix, D. 
 
106 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 that no congregation or aggregate of congregations 
 in our Church have fallen away from truth to error, 
 from soundness to corruption, while the blessing of 
 an used Liturgy was continued, we boldly and 
 proudly affirm. And what, brethren, is the cause 
 of this remarkable difference between the episcopal 
 and dissenting communities in this and other coun- 
 tries ? Because she possessed that which they 
 wanted; because she relied not on the expected 
 continuance of ministerial orthodoxy, but upon her 
 used and published formularies. Every day that her 
 Liturgy was read, her standard and confession of 
 faith was promulgated ; her prayers not only served 
 for a medium of supplication for the people, but for 
 a test and criterion of the doctrines of her ministers. 
 It is impossible that they can inculcate error without 
 being at once met and contradicted upon the spot. 
 The reading desk is the corrector of the pulpit. By 
 the construction of our services, the prayers and the 
 sermon are thrown into such juxta - position with- 
 each other, that if the latter be sound, the harmony 
 is at once felt ; and if it be unsound, the contrast is too 
 striking to escape observation. And, oh ! we esteem 
 it a signal beauty and excellency of our system that 
 each member of our community, the lowliest and 
 most obsure, possesses in the quietness of his own 
 house, a help for the guidance of his own opinions, 
 and a test for those of his minister, We love, for 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 107 
 
 this reason, to see the prayer-book in every man's 
 dwelling. We exult in the thought that in it our 
 people possess something which leaves them not at 
 the mercy of their teachers ; and that if in the course 
 of our sabbath ministrations, they should hear things 
 unlike the truth which they thought their Bibles 
 taught them, they have it in their power to turn to 
 the expressed opinions of their Church, and to be- 
 come fortified in their repugnance to statements so 
 much at variance with them. 
 
 Having so long dwelt upon the lawfulness and 
 expediency of precomposed forms of prayer for the 
 public services of the Church, we turn to consider, 
 briefly, some of the most commonplace objections 
 which are made to our Liturgy. In touching on 
 this subject, it is far from our intention to notice 
 those special objections which are urged with such 
 industrious minuteness against particular parts of the 
 Liturgy. To descend into such, would be to enter 
 into a range of detail inconsistent with the nature of 
 our present inquiry. We wish now to confine our- 
 selves to some of the most popular exceptions taken 
 to the Liturgy in general. The first of these is one 
 which demands notice rather from the frequency 
 with which it has been urged, than for any thing in 
 it. justifying the compliment of observation. It is 
 this, *— that the Liturgy of our Church is wearisome 
 * Dis. Cat. p. 66. 
 
108 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 from the variety of its prayers. Now this, which is 
 by some regarded as a blemish, we hesitate not to 
 place among the excellences of our Prayer- Book. 
 The variety of its supplications is that very peculiarity 
 which contributes so much to its fulness and compre- 
 hensiveness. It is true that, in the course of our 
 services, the mind is carried rapidly through a mul- 
 titude of topics, and probably forbidden to rest long 
 upon any ; but this very arrangement, while it secures 
 the notice of almost every imaginable case for suppli- 
 cation, prevents the mind from being wearied in the 
 exercise. It enables it to traverse a rich and most 
 extensive field, and, by the presentation of a quick 
 succession of objects, prevents its being distressed 
 by that monotony and protracted adherence to the 
 selfsame point, which is felt to be such an evil in 
 unprepared prayers. No, my brethren : whenever 
 the petitions of our Church are felt to be a weariness, 
 the fault lies not in them, but in the heart which 
 experiences it. When the heart is un quickened by 
 the Spirit of the Lord, every holy exercise is weari- 
 ness, because it is the labour-work of an uncongenial 
 mind. It is not the spontaneous homage of the soul 
 which knows God's service to be perfect freedom. It 
 is the slavish effort to discharge a debt which con- 
 science requires to be paid, while the influence is 
 wanting which alone can make the effort endurable. 
 But that in itself the Liturgy we possess is tedious 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 109 
 
 from its variety, is denied by Dissenters, who, despite 
 of prejudice, have learned to understand its value. 
 The following sentence, from a Presbyterian periodi- 
 cal in America, expresses the truth: "The Church 
 service for the morning is long, but it is not weari- 
 some ; so far from it, it is popular and delightful. 
 The prayers, which are truly devotional, are short ; 
 and the services are interspersed with the Litany and 
 the Lessons." * 
 
 A second objection urged against our Liturgy is, 
 that it is for the most part taken from the Mass- 
 Book of the Church of Rome. This is a charge 
 which we do not feel ourselves called upon utterlv to 
 deny. We admit that there are portions and frag- 
 ments of our service to be found in the Romish for- 
 mularies, and that the compilers of the Liturgy 
 availed themselves of these formularies in the forma- 
 tion of the Book of Common Prayer. That the 
 Liturgy is for the most part taken from that source, 
 is a gross perversion of the truth. That expressions 
 and portions of prayers have been transplanted from 
 one ritual to the other, it were in the face of candour 
 and history to gainsay ; and while we admit the fact, 
 we are prepared to justify the proceeding. It follows 
 not, that because Popery is in many things corrupt 
 and unscriptural, that therefore she is so in every 
 
 * The Richmond Visiter. 
 
110 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 thing. There are doctrines acknowledged in her 
 creed which we ourselves glory in upholding. The 
 doctrine of three co-equal Persons subsisting in the 
 unity of one Godhead, is as cardinal an article in the 
 Church of Rome as in those of England or Geneva. 
 Are we therefore to reject it, because it is found 
 espoused by Rome ? or are we not justified in em- 
 bracing it, upon the ground of its own truth and 
 scripturality ? It is upon the same principle that the 
 compilers of our Liturgy have proceeded.* They 
 made the ritual of the Romish Church available for 
 their own purposes, so far as they found it good and 
 unobjectionable. But while they selected the sound 
 and valuable, they rejected with abhorrence the cor- 
 rupt and erroneous. It can surely be no matter of 
 censure, either against them or their work, that they 
 pursued this course, that finding jewels in a mass of 
 corruption, they took them out, and setting them in 
 the Liturgy, made them sparkle through it, like the 
 lines of a master in an illuminated volume. And be 
 it recollected, brethren, that our obligations to Rome 
 are neither so many nor so weighty as our enemies 
 have been willing to represent them. The portions 
 of the Liturgy of England which have travelled down 
 from far-back days, are not the offspring of the 
 Church of Rome ; she was merely a kind of deposi- 
 
 See Appendix, E. 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 Ill 
 
 tory of treasures gathered from other Churches. The 
 richest and most unctional prayers in our services are 
 to be found in the Liturgies of Churches both of 
 Asia and of Africa, which never had alliance with the 
 apostate Church of the West. And are we to be 
 condemned for enriching ourselves with the preserved 
 excellences of pure and ancient times. No, this is 
 our boast, —that (as has been well expressed by one 
 of our prelates) the Liturgy of our Church " is not 
 the work of one man, of one society, or of one age. 
 It is like the British constitution, a precious result of 
 accumulative and collective wisdom. Its materials 
 were gradually formed, and safely deposited among 
 the records of various Churches, eastern and western, 
 more and less ancient, more and less pure ; and when 
 time was ripe for its formation, its compilers were 
 led, I verily believe, by a wisdom not their own, to 
 proceed on the principle of rejecting whatever was 
 peculiar to any sect or party, to any age or nation ; 
 and retaining that sacred depositum, which had the 
 common sanction of all." * 
 
 Again, The Liturgy of the Church has been con- 
 demned on the assertion that " it is full of tautology 
 and vain repetitions." This is a charge which we at 
 once and utterly repel. Repetitions there are in our 
 services : vain repetitions there are none. A vain 
 
 * Bishop Jebb's Correspondence, vol. i. 375. 
 
112 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 repetition is the unmeaning reiteration of the same 
 name or the same expression, recurring, it may be, 
 with causeless frequency in the same clause or sen- 
 tence. And of this were the worshippers of the 
 idol guilty, in Israel, when from morning even until 
 noon, they urged with senseless constancy the same 
 petition, " O Baal, hear us." With this is the mass- 
 book of the Romish Church chargeable, when it puts 
 into the mouths of the people the endless titles of 
 some saint, or teaches them to think that they shall 
 be heard for the constant using of the Saviour's 
 name. But there may be a repetition in prayer, a 
 recurrence of the same supplication, arising merely 
 from the fervency of the heart, the intensity of the 
 feelings which is altogether free from this character 
 of vanity. If every repetition be a vain one, then 
 must the Scriptures given by inspiration of God, be 
 subjected to the same condemnation. Listen to the 
 expression which burst from the Psalmist when the 
 fire was kindling within him : " The voice of re- 
 joicing is in the tabernacles of the righteous : 
 the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. The 
 right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right 
 hand of the Lord doeth valiantly." (Psalm cxviii. 
 15, 16.) Is the Spirit which was in David (we ask 
 it with reverence) guilty here of " vain repetition." 
 Listen again to the chorus of praise which occurs 
 with such remarkable frequency in Psalm cxxxvi. : 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 113 
 
 " Give thanks unto the Lord ; for he is good : for his 
 mercy endureth for ever. O give thanks unto the God 
 of gods : for his mercy endureth for ever. O give 
 thanks unto the Lord of lords, for his mercy endureth 
 for ever. To Him who alone doeth great wonders : for 
 his mercy endureth for ever. To Him who by wisdom 
 made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever."* 
 Is this, we again ask, — this hymn of celestial origin, 
 an instance of vain repetition. If so, we are content 
 that the Liturgy should remain subject to a similar 
 condemnation ; and shall exult in the thought that 
 we suffer according to the will of God. But pass 
 from the psalmody of the Bible, and entering upon 
 the ground of narrative, accompany me, my brethren, 
 to the garden of Gethsemane. In that hour, the 
 darkest which ever passed over the world, the most 
 deeply mysterious which the annals of the earth have 
 to tell of, when the tried Spirit of the Redeemer was 
 almost crushed under the load of mental agony which 
 oppressed it, Jesus sought relief in prayer. And 
 while he poured out his very soul in supplication, 
 and made his secluded oratory re-echo with the 
 strong cries which escaped him, we read not thst 
 those supplications flowed forth in the form of con- 
 tinuous petitions ; no, the high- wrought emotions of 
 his heart came embodied in reiterated exclamations, 
 
 * See also Psalm ciii. 3 ; cxvi. 10 ; xlvii. 6. 
 
114 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 " he went a little farther, and fell upon his face, and 
 prayed, saying thrice the same words." Were these 
 repetitions, vain repetitions ? It were blasphemy to 
 affirm it. And if that our Master in that season of 
 most intense and wrestling effort could best express 
 the sensations of heart by an using and re-using of 
 the same terms, shall we be condemned, when we 
 close our Litany, the portion of our service which 
 has included all our wants, and thrown us most fully 
 on the boundless generosity of God, with the repeated 
 invocation : " O Christ, hear us ; Lord have mercy 
 upon us ; Christ have mercy upon us." ? 
 
 The last objection to the Liturgy which we pro- 
 pose to notice, is, that through it, our Church incul- 
 cates the observance of particular times and seasons. 
 And while one body of our assailants regards this as 
 one of the proofs that " she retains many of the 
 corruptions of Rome;" another will bring us under 
 the full weight of apostolic censure, " Ye observe 
 days and months and times and years." Now, our 
 reply to this objection — an objection urged again 
 and again, until we are almost wearied with listening 
 to the indictment, — is that we glory in what we are 
 accused of, and deem that a peculiar excellency of 
 our Church which is pointed at as one of her ble- 
 mishes. So far from being ashamed of that arrange- 
 ment of our calendar, by which particular days are 
 signalized by special religious observance, that we 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 116 
 
 continually bless God for that wisdom given to the 
 framers of the prayer-book, by whch they were led 
 to make it. Other communities may exult in their 
 liberty in this respect ; we exult in our compulsory 
 regulations. For to this very arrangement do we 
 trace much of that soundness of doctrinal opinion, 
 that recognition of the leading truths of salvation 
 which is admitted to exist in the members of the 
 establishment as a body. The Church provides that 
 the people shall be instructed in the prominent doc- 
 trines of the Gospel. By the observance of peculiar 
 days throughout the year, she makes it a matter not 
 of option but of necessity, that they shall hear of the 
 incarnation, the atonement, the resurrection of the 
 Saviour, the Deity and influences of the Spirit, and 
 the Trinity of persons in the unity of the Godhead. 
 And, if on those days thus dedicated (so to speak) 
 to these grand and essential topics, her ministers 
 should be untrue to their duty thus pressed upon 
 their notice, the people are not permitted to be the 
 victims of their negligence ; for the sendee of the 
 day preaches of itself, pointedly and powerfully, the 
 doctrine which is peculiar to it. Nor is it in this 
 way alone that the Church receives undoubted bene- 
 fit from this so much taunted arrangement. Her 
 attention is not only drawn to truths, which it were 
 fatal to safety to lose sight of ; but her recollection 
 is from time to time fastened upon certain glorious 
 i 2 
 
1 1 6 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 and important events in the nation's history which 
 deserve to be enshrined in undying remembrance. 
 The Church has made the prayer-book a tablet on 
 which she has engraven her gratitude for privileges 
 continued to the empire, through the means of deliv- 
 erance effected in the very crisis of danger. By the 
 services which specially belong to this day,* she has 
 told it out that in times long passed indeed, but 
 still unforgotten, the interests, the destinies of 
 Protestantism, the thousand blessings both political 
 and religious, which are interwoven with it; the 
 stability of the kingdom itself, were all trembling upon 
 the brink of a precipice of ruin, and that the Lord 
 brought to light the perils which threatened them, 
 and guarded our liberties in the hour which was to 
 have witnessed their downfall. By these services 
 she has enjoined her children to be grateful, and 
 put, as it were, the hymn of thanksgiving into 
 their lips : " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget 
 not all his benefits ; bless the Lord who saveth thy 
 life from destruction, and crowneth thee with mercy 
 and loving-kindness." 
 
 And now, brethren, that we have dwelt thus 
 minutely upon the several topics we designed to 
 treat of, — the lawfulness and expediency of pre- 
 composed forms of prayer, and the popular ob- 
 
 * This Sermon was preached on the 5th of November. 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 117 
 
 jections taken to our Liturgy— we desire to bring 
 this subject to a close by addressing a few words of 
 admonition not unconnected with it. In the first 
 place, let us bind it upon ourselves as a duty not to 
 condemn the usages of others, when those usages 
 are not condemned by revelation. For ourselves, 
 we claim the right to worship God in that manner 
 which we know to be lawful, and which we deem to 
 be most expedient. Let us extend the same license 
 to others. We can have no quarrel with our dis- 
 senting brethren in respect of their mode of public 
 worship ; for while we advocate the superiority, we 
 assert not the necessity of liturgical forms. We 
 pronounce our own way to be more excellent than 
 theirs; but we deny not the excellence of theirs. 
 We view the question which has been discussed this 
 day to be one of opinion and preference, rather than 
 one of necessity and unaltering rule ; not as one 
 fitted to break up Christian fellowship, but as one on 
 which the Churches may afford consistently to differ. 
 
 Secondly, While we pursue this course of mode- 
 ration towards others, let us remember that there is 
 a duty we owe to ourselves. It is inculcated in the 
 words of our text — "Hold fast the form of sound 
 words." Let no false or sickly liberality make us 
 insensible to the blessing we possess in our tried and 
 time-honoured Liturgy. It is our duty to love it, it 
 is our duty to study it; and while, above all, we 
 
118 THE LAWFULNESS AND EXPEDIENCY 
 
 seek to imbibe its blessed spirit, it is our duty, if 
 need be, to rally round and defend it. Brethren, we 
 live in times when things are not honored because 
 they are sacred, nor respected because they are vene- 
 rable from antiquity. The hand of innovation has 
 touched the temporalities of our Church, and meddled 
 with parts of the external structure. But it must 
 not dare to touch the ark. If ever the hour comes, 
 (and, looking to the aspect of the times, we know 
 not how soon it may come,) when the restless spirit 
 of change, which is so remarkable a character of our 
 days, should direct its reckless and intrusive energies 
 against the spiritualities of our Zion, should dare to 
 interfere with her Articles, or to modify the whole- 
 some faithfulness of her Liturgy, then shall the hour 
 have arrived when it shall be the bounden duty of 
 the laity of our Church to arouse themselves from a 
 slumber in which they have too long indulged, and, 
 gathering themselves round the Prayer Book, as the 
 citadel of the fortress, to tell those who would rashly 
 infringe on their best privilege — " Ye shall not come 
 up into this city, nor cast a bank against it." 
 
 Lastly, Brethren, be prepared to give, to every one 
 who asketh, a reason of the attachment to our Liturgy 
 which is in you. It will not satisfy the objector that 
 you profess to love it because it has been in your 
 hands from childhood, and its sounds are those you 
 have ever been accustomed to. You must learn 
 
OF FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 119 
 
 to repel the assailant, and to produce substantial 
 reasons for your adherence. And to do this, you 
 must study your Prayer Book. You must become 
 acquainted with its several excellences to be able to 
 point them out to others. And such a study will be 
 neither uninteresting nor unprofitable. Each step in 
 it will lay open more of the deep experience, the 
 sterling orthodoxy, and the unctional spirit of the 
 framers of our formularies. It will tell us more of 
 what genuine prayer is; for, from the fervor, the 
 fulness, and the elevation of the Liturgy, we may 
 learn what it is " to worship God in spirit and in 
 truth." 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 THE OFFICES, RITES, AND CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 1 CORINTHIANS XIV. 40. 
 
 LET ALL THINGS BE DONE DECENTLY AND IN ORDER. 
 
 Our attention has now been occupied for three Sab- 
 baths upon different sections of the same interesting 
 subject. In entering upon it, we made it our first 
 duty to consider the spiritual character of the Church 
 of Christ, as being a point of infinitely higher im- 
 portance than aught connected with the structure of 
 any visible Church upon earth. We then entered 
 upon the examination of the Church with which we 
 ourselves are externally and ecclesiastically connected, 
 for the purpose of ascertaining, by calm and candid 
 inquiry, whether, in her system and peculiarities, she 
 was deserving of our adherence and attachment. 
 And in pursuing this inquiry, we investigated, first, 
 the construction of the government and ministry of 
 the Church of England ; and, after due and honest 
 
RITES AND CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 121 
 
 examination had, we found that upon this point she 
 could bear to be brought to the law and to the testi- 
 mony — that, weighed in the balances of Bible decla- 
 rations and historical evidences, she could claim for 
 herself that she was tried and not found wanting. 
 Our second point, in the pursuance of the same 
 inquiry, was the internal arrangement of the Church 
 with respect to her ritual. And in dwelling upon 
 this peculiarity of our Church, this point by which 
 she is separated from, and for which she is reproached 
 by, Dissenters, we were enabled to demonstrate, — 
 
 First, That she was justified by Scripture in 
 her using of Liturgical forms : Secondly, That her 
 adoption of these, in preference to extemporaneous 
 supplications, is both marked by wisdom, and fol- 
 lowed by unequivocal advantages : and Thirdly, That 
 the particular form she uses has elicited the admi- 
 ration, and commanded the homage of respect even 
 from those who were without the pale of her commu- 
 nion. There remains still another department of our 
 subject to traverse, one nearly allied to that which 
 last demanded our reflections, for both belong to the 
 same field of inquiry — the internal economy of the 
 Established Church. The one brought under our 
 survey the Church's mode of worship, the other 
 carries us into the consideration of her offices, rites, 
 and ceremonies. 
 
 At first view, it would have seemed altogether 
 
122 
 
 OFFICES, RITES AND 
 
 unlikely that a point such as this could have been 
 made the subject of animadversion by the foes of our 
 Zion. We should have expected, that in a matter 
 so entirely belonging to the internal discipline or 
 arrangements of a Church, other communities would 
 have seen, if not the necessity, at least the propriety, 
 of abstaining from all strictures on a subject with 
 which they were in no way connected, — that the 
 Churches would have made mutual concessions of 
 the privilege of each to conduct its own worship and 
 regulate its own ceremonials, as seemed best to its 
 own wisdom. And the only limitation which we 
 could have deemed it allowable to attach to the exer- 
 cise of such a privilege, is this, that such arrange- 
 ment should never conflict with any rule of Scripture, 
 or any thing tending to edification. But this expec- 
 tation of ours, so just and reasonable, is destined to 
 encounter disappointment. The Church cannot make 
 internal arrangements for herself without coming 
 under the disapproval, or being subjected to the 
 ready denunciations of dissenters. We stand accused 
 of imposing upon our deluded people idle and un- 
 authorized inventions. That such has been the 
 course observed towards the establishment we shall 
 demonstrate by a reference to some of the produc- 
 tions of our assailants. I turn first to the volume 
 somewhat strangely named " Christian Fellowship ; 
 or, the Churchman's Guide." This is the portraiture 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 123 
 
 which its author draws of our Church, — "The 
 Church of England retains many of the corruptions 
 of her relation at Rome. She multiplies offices in 
 her communion beyond all Scripture precedent, 
 till she has quite secularized her nature and ap- 
 pearance. By her system of patronage, she has 
 taken from the people the just right to elect their 
 own pastors, and deprived herself of the means 
 of preserving a faithful and holy ministry, and 
 she has corrupted the communion of the saints by 
 the indiscriminate admission of persons of all charac- 
 ters to the Lord's table." (pp. 16, 146.) So far 
 with regard to the strictures of an Independent upon 
 the exercise of our privilege to make and follow our 
 own internal arrangements. The second evidence I 
 shall produce, is one to which your attention has 
 been already invited, and to which I purpose to refer 
 more copiously before arriving at the close of my 
 subject. In " Palmer's Protestant Dissenter's Cate- 
 chism," we discover the following questions and 
 replies : "What is the opinion of Dissenters with 
 respect to ceremonies in divine worship ? They dis- 
 approve of such as are of mere human invention, 
 especially when made necessary, as those of the 
 Church of England are, and think themselves bound 
 to refuse complying with them. Are the ceremonies 
 of the Church of England forbidden in Scripture ? 
 They are not expressly forbidden in Scripture, be- 
 
124 
 
 OFFICES, RITES AND 
 
 cause they were not in use early enough ; but all 
 vnll-worship is, of which these are one kind ; and as 
 they are not commanded there, that is a sufficient 
 reason for refusing to submit to them. Does not the 
 Church claim authority to decree rites and ceremo- 
 nies in divine worship ? Yes ; but Dissenters deny 
 the claim, and cannot submit to any of her ceremo- 
 nies, till she can prove her authority to enjoin them 
 from Scripture. Is nothing to be required in the 
 worship of God, but what is commanded in Scrip- 
 ture ? Nothing but what is either expressly com- 
 manded, or necessarily implied in a command." (pp. 
 78, 79.) Now, before proceeding to comment upon 
 this passage, which is mildness itself compared to 
 many others in the same work, I wish to make an 
 observation upon the weight which this book should 
 bear as an authority, or an expression of the mind of 
 Dissenters towards the Established Church. It may 
 by some be supposed that it is unjust and uncandid 
 to make Dissenters generally responsible for the 
 opinions advanced or the sentiments expressed by 
 any single individual ; nay, more, that the existence 
 of such a hatred- engendering publication had but to 
 be known to the influential of our Dissenting brethren 
 to ensure its repudiation and rejection. It would, 
 my brethren, be pleasing in this day of needless hos- 
 tility to think so ; but the volume itself from which I 
 quote puts to flight such a happy illusion. In the 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 125 
 
 Preface to this edition,* the following statement is 
 found : " With respect to the necessity of republica- 
 tion, it is only needful to observe, that this is the 
 second edition presented to the public in the present 
 year ; that one thousand copies of the previous edi- 
 tion, published in March last, were disposed of within 
 the short space of two months, and that the demand 
 for them since has been increasing with an eager and 
 impatient avidity. To the ministers of the Synod of 
 Ulster, who have taken so active and gratuitous a 
 part in the circulation of the former impression, he 
 (the publisher) is much indebted." f This, we con- 
 ceive, gives this book a weight and an importance 
 which possibly in itself it may not possess ; for it 
 puts it before the public, not simply as the work of 
 the individual whose name it bears, but as that work 
 taken up, espoused, sanctioned, and actively circu- 
 lated by,— not the laity among the Dissenters, but 
 those whose station gives them influence, and whose 
 profession stamps a value on their opinion. — ministers 
 of the Presbyterian Church. Such, then, is the au- 
 thority by which we are censured for the adoption of 
 peculiar ceremonials in our services. We now return 
 to the passage which has been cited out of this evi- 
 dence. It will be seen that it touches upon two 
 points which are closely connected with our main 
 
 * Belfast, 1824. f See Appendix, A. 
 
126 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 inquiry of this day. The first of these is the prin- 
 ciple on which we are condemned, — because "the 
 ceremonies of the Church are not commanded in 
 Scripture;" and upon this is grounded the assertion 
 that nothing should be required in the worship of 
 God, but what is either expressly commanded, or 
 necessarily implied in a command." So that, if we 
 cannot produce Bible injunctions, either signified or 
 expressed, for our peculiarities, we are forthwith ex- 
 posed to a sweeping condemnation for being unscrip- 
 tural ; — nay, more, antiscriptural in our usages.* 
 Now, we wish the distinction to be drawn between 
 these two terms. Any thing that is antiscriptural 
 we reject with the same earnestness of reprehension 
 that is found in any of our assailants. On this point 
 our Church is express : " It is not lawful for her to 
 ordain any thing contrary to God's word written." f 
 But there may be many things which are neither 
 enjoined nor alluded to in the word of God, which 
 the Church may deem it highly expedient to ordain : 
 and such ordinances may be unscriptural, because 
 they appeal to no direct Scripture for their support ; 
 and yet they may be far from antiscriptural, because 
 they come not into conflict or collision with any rule 
 or command of revelation. This privilege we claim 
 for the Church, and we conceive that there are but 
 
 * Prot. Diss. Cat. Qu. 57. 
 
 f Art. XX. 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 127 
 
 two restrictions by which it can lawfully be fettered : 
 first, that the matter ordained or appointed be in no 
 instance a matter of faith, a point involving the 
 question of a man's salvation ; and, secondly, that it 
 be not useless or vain, a thing of idle ceremony, but 
 tending to profit and edification. This allowance, 
 restrained only by such exceptions, seems to be by 
 the Scriptures conceded to the Church. Our text, 
 alluding to matters of internal arrangement, extends 
 the permission, but limits it by the restriction, " Let 
 all things be done decently and in order." * And the 
 same apostle from whom it issued, writing on the 
 same point to another of the Primitive Churches, lays 
 down a similar law accompanied by a similar limita- 
 tion : " Let us therefore follow after the things which 
 make for peace, and things whereby the one may 
 edify another." So that we conceive, that although 
 a thing may not be commanded either expressly or 
 by implication in the word of God, it still may be 
 allowable, nay more, commendable, upon the ground 
 of its profit and propriety. And notwithstanding 
 that dissenters expend upon us the weight of their 
 (sometimes most uncourteous) remarks on account 
 of an adherence to this principle, it is not altogether 
 uninstructive to learn that by a remarkable inconsis- 
 tency they build upon the very law which they con- 
 
 * See Appendix, B. 
 
128 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 demn. The catechism on which I have commented 
 has been honored by the recommendation of a well- 
 known dissenter, from whom I have already quoted,* 
 and we may therefore reasonably infer that the state- 
 ments which have been read from it are in accordance 
 with that dissenter's views. And yet upon reference 
 to his own work we find this remarkable admission, 
 " It is true that we shall search the New Testament in 
 vain for either precedent or practice, which will sup- 
 port all the usages of our Churches, any otherwise 
 than as these usages are deduced from the spirit and 
 bearing of general principles." And when he comes 
 afterwards to speak of these usages thus resting upon 
 the mere spirit of general principles, unsupported by 
 precedent or practice, we find amongst them — not 
 things so trivial and unimportant as mere ceremo- 
 nials—but a thing so solemn and weighty as the 
 election of the pastor by the flock to which he is to 
 minister. " No case occurs in the inspired history 
 where it is mentioned that a Church elected its pas- 
 tor ; yet it so entirely accords with the practice of 
 the Church in other respects, that an exception in 
 this particular would have been a singular anomaly, 
 &c." So that whilst those who, unprovoked, fling 
 upon us the fulness of their reproofs for upholding 
 ceremonies and rites without express warrantry of 
 
 * Church Member's Guide, p. 6. 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 129 
 
 Scripture, they yet are found themselves to uphold 
 the very most .important and distinctive of their 
 practices, — that to which they cling as to one of their 
 privileges — that which they cast into invidious com- 
 parison with our usage, upon the weak foundation of 
 " general principles," or the dangerous ground of a 
 fanciful analogy. 
 
 The second point to which the Catechism, from 
 which I have already quoted, has adverted, is the 
 denial to a Church of the right of decreeing rules, rites, 
 and ceremonies.* We pause not now to notice the 
 difficulty in which the Dissenting communities must 
 necessarily involve themselves by the adoption of this 
 opinion. v Eery Church visible upon earth must 
 have its usages, although they may be of the simplest 
 kind. In order that things, in the conduct of public 
 worship may be done decently and in order, certain 
 regulations, or admitted practices, must be in exist- 
 ence. And for many of these — such as the order 
 followed in religious services, addresses before the 
 Communion, the mode of the administration of bap- 
 tism, the setting apart of particular days for devo- 
 tional purposes — it will be difficult to discover any 
 injunction in the Bible. They are pressed upon 
 these communities neither by the voice of Scripture, 
 nor by that of any extraneous authority. From 
 whence then does it arise, that they are followed 
 * Quest. 58. 
 
130 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 respectfully and used so universally ? Because they 
 are matters of Church regulation. The body frames 
 and appoints them for its own comfort and guidance, 
 and finds the result to be decency and edification. 
 This is the principle we contend for— the right of 
 the Church to do this. This is the principle which 
 our assailants pronounce to be erroneous, and yet 
 adopt in their own practice. 
 
 The first branch, then, for our consideration this 
 day, is the examination of this disputed question. 
 We have seen what the views of dissenters are 
 respecting it— that they deny the authority claimed 
 by the Church to decree rites and ceremonies. That 
 claim our Church has advanced in her 20th Article in 
 which she affirms this power to belong to her, and 
 at the same time limits its exercise by the full admis- 
 sion of this principle, "that it is not lawful for her 
 to ordain anything contrary to God's written word." 
 
 Now in vindicating this claim of our Church, we 
 shall support it, in the first place, by a reference to 
 the practice of the Church of Israel. In order to 
 appreciate the weight of the argument which we 
 purpose to draw from this source, it will be well to 
 recollect the peculiar character and history of that 
 Church. Her institutions were, from the highest to 
 the most unimportant, created by God himself. It 
 was not left to the sagacity or carefulness of man to 
 construct the religious system by which she was dis- 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 131 
 
 tinguished. Her ceremonies, her ritual, all her mul- 
 tiplied observances and her varied offices, were 
 arranged and modelled by the same Almighty power. 
 In wisdom did Jehovah make them all. And let it 
 be recollected that it was not the mere outline of this 
 peculiar system which was drawn by the hand of 
 God, it was filled up and specified, in all its parts, 
 with a minuteness which attested alike God's con- 
 sideration for his people, and his wish that they 
 should adhere closely to the peculiarities which he 
 imposed upon them. Not only were the leading 
 features of their ritual, the priesthood, the festivals, 
 the sacrifices, and the mode of worship in general 
 arranged by God; but these several points of the 
 system were carried out into the largest detail, and 
 expanded so as to touch upon the several cases 
 which might arise in connection with them. The 
 intention, the leading intention at least, of all this, 
 was to mark out Israel as a singular, a peculiar 
 people. These express and detailed rites and cere- 
 monies were the hedge of the vineyard whereby it 
 was separated from the surrounding wilderness. 
 And it was not only the duty, but it was the interest 
 of Israel to keep within the lines of her own enclo- 
 sures ; and to abstain, as much as possible, from 
 departure from, or addition to, the ordinances ap- 
 pointed by God. Yet although the Jewish Church 
 possessed . this advantage, a ritual ordained by God, 
 k 2 
 
132 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 adapted to her condition, and comprehensive in its 
 provisions, she did not consider that she was there- 
 fore prohibited from enjoining upon her children 
 such additions to it, as peculiar circumstances might 
 warrant, or a desire of edification suggest. The 
 existence of the synagogue, the ministerial services 
 peculiar to it, the rite of baptism, and many cere- 
 monies observed at the Paschal feast ; these, and 
 matters of the same character, were all additions to 
 the ritual as it came from the hands of Moses. And 
 by what authority were these introduced and sanc- 
 tioned in Israel ? — not by that of any extra or express 
 revelation, but by that of the Church exercising its 
 understood privilege of decreeing rites and ceremo- 
 nies. And lest we should, on this point, be met by 
 the objecting reply, that we are converting a case of 
 manifest disobedience into a precedent — that Israel 
 should meet with our censure rather than our sanc- 
 tion for such proceedings — we press it upon your 
 consideration, that these additions to the ritual, not 
 being of divine appointment, were sanctioned by the 
 Redeemer himself. In the days of his mortal pil- 
 grimage, he attended, "as was his custom," upon 
 the services of the synagogue; he joined in its prayers, 
 he waited upon its ministry. And thus, by partici- 
 pation in such arrangements, he stamped upon them 
 a dignity, an honor, an approval. The lash of cen- 
 sure, which he often applied to many unlawful inno- 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 133 
 
 rations, was never found to reach these. He rebuked 
 the Scribes and Pharisees for displacing the com- 
 mandments of God, that they might, npon their 
 ruins, build the weak structure of their own tradi- 
 tions ; (Matt. xv. 6.) but he never was found to 
 condemn them for introducing baptism into the 
 ceremonies of the Church, for he submitted to it 
 himself; nor for supporting the synagogue, for he 
 both attended and conducted its worship. And thus, 
 so far as the Jewish Church is concerned, have we 
 seen the Church's power to decree rites and cere- 
 monies not only claimed and exercised, but that 
 claim virtually admitted, and that exercise deliberately 
 sanctioned by Him who was God manifest in the 
 flesh, the same being who had been before with 
 Israel in the wilderness, who himself had ordained her 
 ceremonies, and appointed her ritual. 
 
 Now this point, which has been so far esta- 
 blished by a review of the practice of Israel, will 
 strike us with increased force, if we turn our atten- 
 tion to the character of the Christian Church. No 
 two communities could, in their genius and objects, 
 be more entirely dissimilar than the Churches of the 
 Old and New Testament dispensations. The former 
 was intended for a single nation. Its design was to 
 preserve that nation, in a holy, a peculiar, an insu- 
 lated condition. Its genius was exclusive, not uni- 
 versal. It sought not to gain converts to the creed 
 
134 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 of Moses, but to sustain around its own people a 
 barrier line of religious peculiarities which should 
 prevent admixture with the nations. Its field was 
 the land of promise. The latter, on the contrary, 
 was designed to take the whole population of man- 
 kind into its circle of mercy, to scatter the blessings 
 of a glorious Gospel amongst the most distant tribes 
 of the earth. It founded, not a spiritual monarchy, 
 but a spiritual empire ; and under the influence of its 
 laws did it purpose to bring nations the most dissi- 
 milar in their character, and the most uncongenial 
 in habits. Its field was emphatically the world. 
 The commission which was placed in the hands of 
 the Apostles, extended their labours to every crea- 
 ture. Now we conceive it impossible that a Church 
 of this character could be without the power to 
 ordain rites and ceremonies. It would find a neces- 
 sity of conforming itself in some respects to the 
 habits and the usages of the countries into which it 
 was carried, of accommodating itself (so that in 
 doing so it trampled upon no law of principle) to the 
 varied circumstances in which it would necessarily be 
 placed, — of becoming, as far as was lawful, " all things 
 to all men." If the Jewish Church, compact in its 
 character, and limited in its extent, possessed this 
 privilege, much more must the Christian Church 
 have required this privilege. The circumstances call- 
 ing for its exercise in the one case, would be ten-fold 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 135 
 
 • 
 
 more than those in the other. And this argument 
 from a contrast of the natures of the two dispensa- 
 tions, strong and impressive as in itself it is, we find 
 to be confirmed by facts recorded in the very place 
 where we should naturally look for such confirma- 
 tion, the records of the progress of primitive Christ- 
 ianity. By the fifteenth chapter of the Acts of the 
 Apostles we learn that dissensions upon a difficult 
 and perplexing point disturbed the peace of the 
 Christians at Antioch ; and by a reference from them 
 to the heads of the Christian Church at Jerusalem, 
 the Church w r as placed in a position to exercise or to 
 deny its right to interfere in matters of ceremony. 
 " The Apostles and Elders came together to con- 
 sider of the matter," and they issued this decree, 
 that " they which from the Gentiles were turned unto 
 God, should abstain from things strangled and from 
 blood ; " an ordinance this springing from the very 
 circumstance which Christianity might reasonably 
 have expected to arise, and which would make it 
 expedient, if not necessary, that she should possess 
 this power for which we contend, — the peculiar pre- 
 judices and customs with which she would come 
 into conflict. This decree, bearing upon the case of 
 the Antioch Christians, touched upon no matters of 
 faith or points of doctrine ; on those the Church 
 had received her laws from which she could not 
 depart, and to which she could not add. It alto- 
 
136 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 % 
 
 gether belonged to circumstantials ; and with such 
 the Church did interfere, because, as we conceive, 
 she enjoyed the privilege which we are at present 
 advocating. 
 
 And, brethren, that such power resided in the 
 Church, to be drawn out of her privileges, and exer- 
 cised as occasion called for, we would again infer 
 from the testimony of scripture upon the point. It 
 is remarkable that in the whole compass of New 
 Testament scripture, there should be so little en- 
 joined upon the topic of rites and ceremonies. 
 The principles of Christianity are laid down with a 
 precision and minuteness altogether marvellous. 
 There is not an important, an essential doctrine of 
 the Gospel which is not defined, and reiterated, and 
 commented upon, and defended in a manner which 
 shews how anxious was the Spirit of God to establish 
 and settle the landmarks of the truth. The govern- 
 ment of the Church is not only specified, but as we 
 have seen on a former occasion,* the episcopal and 
 pastoral duties are detailed and accurately enjoined. 
 Nay, the more unimportant topic of discipline is ad- 
 verted to in almost every epistle, and strict and defi- 
 nite rules laid down for the Church's guidance. But 
 on the point of rites and ceremonies, the New Testa- 
 ment scriptures are almost wholly silent. They in- 
 culcate a few general rules, rather expressing the 
 * Sermon II. 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 137 
 
 principles by which such matters were to be regu- 
 lated, than denning what rites and ceremonies each 
 community should adopt. " Let us follow after 
 things wherewith one may edify another. Let all 
 things be done decently and in order." " For this 
 cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in 
 order the things which are worthy." " Let all 
 things be done unto edifying." (Rom. xiv. 19. 
 1 Cor. xiy. 40. Titus i. 5. 1 Cor. xiv. 26.) These 
 commands are altogether of a general character. 
 They enjoin the duty ; but the peculiar shape and 
 form into which that duty shall be carried, they 
 leave entirely undefined. And this, while it shews 
 upon the one hand the propriety and necessity for 
 rites and ceremonies, shews upon the other that the 
 power of appointing them rested with the Church. 
 In their epistles, the Apostles recommend the thing 
 to be done, while they abstain from entering into 
 details as to the mode of doing it. They lay down 
 distinct principles as the foundation of a superstruc- 
 ture ; but the plan and order of the architecture 
 they leave to be determined by circumstances. We 
 ask, then, whose duty was it, whose privilege was it to 
 carry out these general laws into special arrange- 
 ment ? The power must have rested somewhere, 
 and with whom else could it have rested but with 
 those who had the ruling and controlling authority 
 in the several Churches, and whose duty it was to 
 
138 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 promote the edification of the community by such 
 regulations as circumstances might call for ? This 
 must, my brethren, be the conviction of every person 
 whose candour is not overborne bv his prejudices. 
 It was the opinion of one to whose judgment our 
 dissenting brethren will bow with deserved respect. 
 The Geneva reformer commenting upon the ex- 
 pressions of our text makes this observation — an ob- 
 servation equally accordant with the voice of scrip- 
 ture, as with the testimony of experience. " That 
 which Paul here requires, that all things should be 
 done " decently and in order" cannot be had, unless 
 through the addition of canons (or constitutions) by 
 which as with bands, that very order and decency may 
 be preserved." Whether, therefore, we look to the 
 practice of the Church of Israel, to the contrast cha- 
 racter of the Christian Church, or to the indications 
 which the Scriptures contain in reference to the 
 point we are investigating, w T e feel ourselves war- 
 ranted in concluding that that privilege denied to us 
 as a Church by our adversaries is granted to us by 
 the Lord, and that the mind of the Redeemer was 
 this, that every Church should possess the necessary 
 power of ordaining rites and ceremonies. 
 
 II. Having spoken so much in defence of the 
 principle involved in our text, we proceed in the 
 next place to the application of that principle to 
 several cases which are made causes of objection to 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 139 
 
 our Church. The first of these to which I shall 
 invite your attention is the creation of offices in the 
 Church of England, for which there is no direct 
 authority from Scripture. This, we have seen from 
 a passage already brought before your notice from 
 " The Church Member's Guide," is one of the things 
 laid deliberately to our charge, and declared to be 
 one of the reasons which justify secession from the 
 Established Church. And that we may not be left 
 in doubt as to the specific offices which thus startle 
 the unbending consciences of our assailants, the 
 " Protestant dissenter's catechism" enters into a most 
 minute and pains-taking statement of these excep- . 
 tionable appointments. In the fifty-seventh page we 
 meet with the following quotation : " Q. What offi- 
 cers are employed in the Church of England under 
 the king, to whom the dissenters object ? A. Arch- 
 bishops, bishops, archdeacons, deacons, prebendaries, 
 canons, vicars general, &c — offices which Christ 
 never appointed, which nothing in the New Testa- 
 ment warrants, but are evidently of Popish original." 
 We pause not to dissect this answer, nor to expose 
 its manifest falsehood : — we pause not to recal to 
 your remembrance, that the second of these con- 
 demned offices has been proved to have the largest 
 New Testament warrant, and to be of apostolic, of 
 Divine appointment : — we pause not to appeal to an 
 overwhelming mass of evidence from church history, 
 
140 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 and the writers of the earliest ages, demonstrating 
 that the first of these offices was in existence as 
 early as the second century, and therefore could not 
 be of Popish original.* But we press forward to the 
 defence of these offices, by an appeal to the principle 
 which has been already established, — a church's power 
 to make such appointments as may seem to her to 
 be called for, so that the scripture restriction be not 
 violated. Now, this principle we apply to the case 
 before us ; and the application of it to that case we 
 defend, first from the practice of the Jewish 
 Church. It is not necessary to carry back your 
 minds to the view already given of the peculiar cir- 
 cumstances of that Church, nor to revert to the fact 
 that she was furnished with her several and many 
 officers by the Lord himself. Our point lies with 
 the conduct of that Church. In looking into her 
 state in times subsequent to the days of Moses, when 
 her ecclesiastical arrangements were made, we find 
 not only rites and ceremonies existing in her un- 
 known to those times, but officers belonging to her, 
 and peculiar duties discharged by those officers, for 
 which the book of Leviticus furnishes no provision 
 whatever. Thus the offices of the scribes and the 
 rulers of the Synagogue were evidently of modern 
 formation, they rested upon no Bible command, they 
 
 See Appendix, C. 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 141 
 
 lie not within the circle of the primitive model ; and 
 yet they are not only allowed by the priests and the 
 people, but what is of far greater weight in our 
 argument, unobjected to by Jesus himself. Called 
 upon oftentimes to rebuke the men, he never con- 
 demned the office. Pouring forth the thunder of 
 his righteous indignation against their hypocrisy, 
 their ungodliness, their daring intrusion upon the 
 sacredness of God's command, he never condemns 
 them for climbing up unlawfully into the sheep-fold, 
 or innovating without or against authority- upon the 
 Church's proper constitution. On the contrary he 
 drew the broad distinction between the office and 
 the holder ; and while he boldly censures the latter, 
 he requires respect and subjection to the former. 
 " The scribes and the pharisees sit in Moses' seat;" 
 that was the office. " AH, therefore, whatsoever they 
 bid you observe, that observe and do ; but do not ye 
 after their works :" that was the sanction of it, and 
 the reproval of them. If therefore the Saviour had 
 not been satisfied with the reasons for which these 
 offices were created, and recognized not the power 
 in the Church by which they were constituted, we 
 can scarcely think that he would have bestowed 
 upon them and it the tribute negative and positive 
 of his approval. The inference from all this is clear, 
 that the principle which justified the Church of Israel 
 in adding to her offices, also justifies us. The case 
 
142 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 of necessity or edification may call for the exercise 
 of the power ; and the scripture limitation is the 
 only check which can bear upon the extent to which 
 it is to be employed. 
 
 But we defend these offices in the Church of 
 England upon another ground — the circumstances of 
 the Reformation. The Reformation in England was 
 that glorious event which bestowed upon the land of 
 our nativity and the homes of our forefathers those 
 incalculably precious blessings which have descended 
 to us. It brought, after many an unavailing struggle 
 after them, that liberty in all our institutions, those 
 privileges both civil and religious, which are the 
 boast and blessedness of our country. It did more : 
 it scattered away the dense darkness which had for 
 centuries hung over the land, and poured out upon 
 it the rich and celestial light of a long lost purity of 
 doctrine. The early Church of Britain was pure 
 and scriptural and apostolic* It walked in white ; 
 for the touch of Papal corruption had not defiled its 
 garments. But in process of time, the contagion of 
 impurity which had vitiated other Churches, the 
 mystery of iniquity slowly but steadily working, 
 which had planted tares in the wheat-field of many a 
 once sound community, spread its poison into the 
 Anglo-Saxon Church ; and step by step she fell, till 
 
 See Appendix, D. 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 143 
 
 the mark of the beast was broadly stamped upon all 
 her institutions. For centuries did the long night 
 of ignorance and delusion last ; it almost threatened 
 to be eternal. But through it all there were in its 
 gloomy watches occasional flashings of unnatural 
 brilliancy, which just exhibited the wide-spread de- 
 solation, and left the people to man-el and ponder 
 over the view they had thus for an instant been pre- 
 sented with. Abroad, the cry was heard again and 
 again in the valleys of Piedmont, " Would God, 
 would God it were morning ;" and from the Alpine 
 ndge of their fastnesses did a stream of light often 
 descend upon the tracts below, and illuminate by its 
 mysterious and sustained lustre, regions far distant 
 from its birth-place. And at home, though that light 
 which shone in the deep darkness did not blaze with 
 such meteor brightness as abroad, it shewed itself by 
 the faithful testimonies of the fourteenth century, the 
 intrepid declarations of Cobham and the writings of 
 Wickliife in such vivid sparkles as, for a moment, 
 revealed much of the iniquity under which the land 
 was groaning. In this way the mind of England 
 became prepared gradually, but effectually, for the 
 reception of those saving and hallowed truths which 
 introduced the Reformation. But, brethren, for the 
 elucidation of the point to which we are first speak- 
 ing, let us remind you of the character of that 
 momentous event. The English Reformation was 
 
144 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 not a revolution ;* it was not a total and unsparing- 
 overthrow of all which it found in existence, and a 
 creation of something new and untried in its stead. 
 It was the removal of all that was corrupt, but it 
 was not the destroyer of what was unobjectionable. 
 The Church of England, in its struggles after free- 
 dom, swept away with a stern determination and an 
 unfaltering hand every thing that essentially was 
 connected with Rome, but spared every thing that 
 could be safely and consistently detached from her 
 system. Against her doctrines she maintained a 
 warfare uncompromising and unyielding ; against her 
 superstitious observances she directed the full ener- 
 gies of her reforming spirit; and every ceremony 
 that, upon examination, was found to be vain and 
 unmeaning, was subjected to a most rigorously 
 executed sentence of expulsion. But throughout the 
 whole of this most interesting and eventful process, 
 she acted in the temper of one willing to retain all 
 that could be justified, and to draw a clear line 
 between what was radically unsound and what was 
 only tinged by the atmosphere of corruption in which 
 it dwelt. And moving in the spirit of these principles, 
 she felt not the necessity of advancing to that tem- 
 per of fanaticism which, identifying the temple with 
 the system, impelled the Scottish Reformers to the 
 
 * See Appendix, E. 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 145 
 
 demolition of some of the noblest structures of anti- 
 quity. The English Reformers wished to re-model, 
 not to destroy. Their object was to bring back the 
 British Church to its former purity, by removing the 
 rubbish and additions which defaced the spiritual 
 building. A long continuance of ignorance had 
 poured over it such a stream of corruption as had 
 covered the very walls, and obliterated the outline s 
 of the ancient edifice ; but, like cities overwhelmed 
 by the tide of a volcanic eruption, the foundations 
 and the buildings were still there ; and there needed 
 but the work of excavation and removal to exhibit 
 the streets as they once were, and bring to light the 
 long-hidden beauties of the stately architecture. 
 They found the cathedrals and their establishments 
 rivetted in the affection and veneration of the people, 
 and they satisfied themselves with the cleansing of 
 the temple, without deeming it necessary to extirpate 
 its ministry. They cast out from it the mass, the 
 merchandize, the abominations of Popery, but they 
 saw neither the necessity nor the expediency of dis- 
 continuing offices which were lawful in themselves, 
 and which might remain with advantage to the cause 
 of truth. Thus these offices in our Church for 
 which we at present contend, are retained by a con- 
 sistent regard to the sound and sagacious principles 
 which regulated the movements of the Reformation. 
 Had they been antiscriptural, had they been unne- 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 cessary and inexpedient, we doubt not but that the 
 same wisdom which expelled what was objectionable 
 in doctrines and ceremonies and usages, would have 
 decreed the extinction of them. And, brethren, we 
 turn to inquire whether the judgment of the Re- 
 formers has not been vindicated by the result ; — 
 whether, in other words, the continuance of these 
 very offices in the Church, retained upon the ground 
 of edification, has not been proved to be unto edifi- 
 cation. Let it be recollected, (what is too little 
 recollected,) that learning and scholarship are as 
 necessary to a Church's growth and welfare, as the 
 most active pastoral exertions — that it is not enough 
 to have ministers who will toil in the round of ordi- 
 nary parochial duties, but that we must have those 
 also whose literary productions will lead to the clearer 
 exhibition, the deeper confirmation of the truth, — 
 whose writings will prove nourishment for the Church 
 on the one hand, and a barrier against heresy upon 
 the other. And these advantages, in which all who 
 value the life and permanency of religion are inte- 
 rested, can scarcely be secured without that leisure 
 and exemption from those anxieties and pursuits of 
 the simple pastoral life, which these very offices are 
 calculated to confer. The Church, the nation, the 
 cause of truth at large, have been deeply indebted to 
 the men who have held them ; for oftentimes when 
 the enemy has come in like a flood, and threatened 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 147 
 
 to deluge our country with a tide of infidelity and 
 error, the Church has found, in her hour of peril, 
 workmen prepared to resist him, and supplied with 
 materials for throwing up a barrier against the com- 
 ing danger. So far from feeling that our Church is 
 " secularized in her communion by the multiplicity of 
 those offices, " that we glory in the rich resources she 
 possesses through them, and rejoice in the thought 
 that from their learned retreats she can call forth her 
 champions to uphold, to vindicate, and to enforce the 
 truth as it is in Jesus. We admire the wisdom which 
 prompted the Reformers to retain such nurseries for 
 literature, and we see that wisdom receiving a high 
 and triumphant attestation, when such giants in 
 learning as AVarburton and Berkeley, as Beveridge 
 and Horsley, as Paley and Butler, have stepped for- 
 ward to the field of combat, and contributed either to 
 the revival of true religion, or the strengthening of 
 the bulwarks around it. This is the view which 
 every large and unprejudiced mind will take of this 
 provision which our Church has made for the foster- 
 ing of talent which has been dedicated to the service 
 of the Redeemer. It was this view which induced a 
 distinguished member of the Church of Scotland — 
 distinguished no less for the power of his mind than 
 the candour of his opinions, to put on record sen- 
 timents equally honourable to his heart and his judg- 
 ment. "The scholarship has been well employed, 
 l 2 
 
148 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 that rescued from the entanglements of sophistry the 
 precious truth of the divinity of our Saviour. And 
 well may England rejoice in those learned ecclesias- 
 tics, who have put down, as far as argument could 
 do it, the infidelity which denied the truth of his high 
 and heavenly apostleship. And worthier, far, than 
 all the revenue of all her colleges, is the return of 
 criticism and of demonstration that they have made 
 in behalf of his great sacrifice, and of his unchange- 
 able and ever-during priesthood." This passage 
 well expresses the truth. It admits that the exist- 
 ence of these offices has tended to the Church's edifi- 
 cation : — that brings them within the Scripture re- 
 striction. We have before proved the right of the 
 Church to ordain them : — that brings them within 
 the Scripture permission. 
 
 But we proceed to the consideration of another 
 objection which has been urged against our Church, 
 and to which we are desirous to apply the principle 
 we have already established. We are censured not 
 only for the appointment of offices in the Church, 
 which rest, as we are told, upon no scriptural war- 
 rantry, but for the appointment of certain days, and 
 times, and festivals, which are equally destitute of 
 Bible sanction. To avoid the charge of misstating 
 the objections of our opponents, we shall give them 
 in their own words. In the 87th page of the "Dis- 
 senter's Catechism," we find the following passage : 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 149 
 
 Q. " What do Dissenters object to the appointment of 
 these holidays ? A. 1 . It is impossible many of them 
 should be observed without a criminal neglect of 
 secular business. 2. Such observances encourage 
 superstition and will- worship, and are a tacit reflec- 
 tion upon the great Head of the Church, who has 
 required no day to be kept holy, but that which 
 commemorates his resurrection. 3. Some passages 
 of Scripture strongly discourage them, especially 
 Gal. iv. 2 : ' Ye observe days and months, and times 
 and years; I am afraid of you,' &c. Q. What is 
 particularly objected to the observation of saints' 
 days ? A. It looks like the adoration of departed 
 spirits, as practised in the Church of Rome, and thus 
 leads to Popery, as it evidently sprung from thence." 
 It is not our object to answer this production, even 
 although it has received the sanction of many of our 
 Dissenting brethren in the ministry ; otherwise it 
 were no difficult task to expose the utter want of 
 principle, of consistency, and of candour, which is 
 observable in this passage. We merely select it as 
 conveying the substance of the varied objections 
 which are taken to our Church, on account of the 
 appointments in question ; and in replying to it, we 
 do so, in the first instance, by recurring to the prin- 
 ciple on which we have already dwelt, — the power 
 which a Church possesses to make such appointments 
 in the matters of ritual and services as she may con- 
 
150 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 ceive to tend to edification. We have seen that a 
 Church possesses and rightfully exercises this privi- 
 lege with regard to her offices, and we see no rea- 
 son whatever why she may not also exercise it with 
 regard to the observance of peculiar days. They 
 both come under the same rule, and are alone affect- 
 ed by the Scripture limitation. If the circumstances 
 of the Church extending itself into lands far distant, 
 and amongst nations utterly dissimilar in habits, 
 required that the rites and ceremonies of religion in 
 general should be regulated by no fixed and univer- 
 sally pervading code of laws, but left open to be 
 adapted to those circumstances, we conceive that it 
 was and is equally allowable to exercise the same 
 discretion with regard to the hours of service, the 
 time to be given to public worship, and the frequency 
 of the times for that worship. This was the prin- 
 ciple on which the early Church acted, referring all 
 such regulations to the well -understood privilege 
 which the Church possessed, requiring only that all 
 things be done to edifying : and such do we conceive 
 of these objected-to " days" of ours. We conceive 
 that they do tend to edification, not only affording in- 
 creased opportunities to our people for assembling 
 themselves together, but for pondering over the lives, 
 the devotedness, and the martyrdom of those whom 
 we then specially think of, and whose examples we 
 are moved to place before us. And, brethren, let it 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 151 
 
 be recollected again, that this power which is denied 
 to us by Dissenters, the exercise of which constitutes 
 one of the many baseless objections to our Church, 
 is not only claimed by Dissenters for themselves, but 
 perpetually exercised by them. Where is the autho- 
 rity in the Scriptures for the fast, the humiliation, 
 the commemoration, the thanksgiving days, which 
 are observed among them ? By the admission of the 
 document I have quoted from, no such seasons for 
 religious exercises are prescribed, —nay, they are to 
 be censured as will- worship, and a reflection on the 
 wisdom of the Redeemer ; and yet they are continu- 
 ally appointed, and found, no doubt, to be unto 
 spiritual improvement. We condemn not those who 
 dissent from us for the claiming or the exercising of 
 the privilege, because we hold that the one is just, 
 and the other to edification ; but we are entitled to 
 condemn them for rebuking us for what they them- 
 selves practise — for denying to us a power which yet 
 they assert for themselves. 
 
 But again, we justify ourselves for these appoint- 
 ments of days and festivals, from the conduct of the 
 Church of Israel. We speak not now of the times 
 and frequency of the Synagogue services, although 
 they are clearly outside of the model delivered by 
 God from Mount Sinai. But we refer to two feasts 
 instituted at different times, in commemoration of 
 particular events, in which the Church exhibited her 
 
152 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 power to decree such appointments, and by the con- 
 tinual solemnizing of which, the people exhibited 
 their acquiescence in the right thus claimed. The 
 first of these was instituted, to keep alive in the heart 
 of God's ancient people, a grateful recollection of 
 their almost miraculous preservation in the times of 
 the Babylonish Captivity. That preservation and its 
 momentous circumstances, are doubtless, so fully in 
 your remembrance, that it may not be necessary to 
 advert to them. But in the book of Esther, we have 
 the account of the appointment of the festival in 
 question. " The Jews ordained, and took upon them, 
 and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined 
 themselves with them, so as it should not fail, that 
 they would keep these two days according to their 
 writing*, and according to their appointed time every 
 year. And that these days should be remembered 
 and kept throughout every generation, every family, 
 every province, and every city ; and that these days 
 of Purim should not fail from among the Jews. 
 (Esther ix. 27, 28.) We merely pause at present to 
 observe, that, for the institution of this feast, there 
 was no divine command, no express scripture autho- 
 rity. And yet it is neither condemned in the record, 
 nor censured as an unlawful assumption of a privi- 
 lege, but on the contrary, so recited in the inspired 
 history, as to lead us to infer that it was acceptable 
 to the Lord. On the principle of Dissenters, it should 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 153 
 
 have met with unequivocal disapproval, as being a 
 species of evil worship, and an absolute reflection on 
 the wisdom of Him, who spoke to the Church from 
 the clouds, and amid the thunderings of Sinai. We 
 are at a loss to understand, why Israel should be 
 guiltless in this matter, and we justly obnoxious to 
 rebuke. But we refer you to a sacred festival ob- 
 served in the Church of Israel, the feast of Dedica- 
 tion. This was instituted at a still later period, and 
 was designed to commemorate the cleansing of the 
 Temple, after its profanation by Antiochus. It was 
 altogether without warrantry from Scripture, and 
 rested with all its ceremonies and protracted obser- 
 vances, upon an ordinance of the Church. An event 
 had occurred, which excited the Church's gratitude, 
 and it was judged expedient to record it by a 
 religious celebration. And that all this was not only 
 allowable, but instructive, we have reason to conclude 
 from this fact, that the Redeemer honoured that feast 
 by his apparent sanction, and was found in the 
 Temple at the very time of its observance. (John 
 x. 22.) In its celebration, there could have been 
 neither objectionable will-worship ; nor, in its institu- 
 tion, an implied reflection upon the wisdom of Deity; 
 nor in its appointment, an exercise of an unsustained 
 authority ; for had any of these been so, the Lord 
 would have pointedly withheld his approval. So 
 that from the example of the old testament Church, 
 
154 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 as well as from the right which every church posses- 
 ses to make such arrangements for herself, we hold 
 ourselves justified in observing days, and times, and 
 seasons. We appoint them to be religiously noticed, 
 because we know we have the right to do so, and we 
 observe them because we believe it to be to edifica- 
 tion that we should do so. * 
 
 We have so far considered two of the principal 
 objections made to our Church, the existence of 
 offices in her communion, and the appointment of 
 certain seasons for worship, which are not specially 
 ordained in Scripture. We proceed in the last place 
 to the examination of another class of objections 
 which launches itself against certain ceremonies 
 practised by the Church. We have already put 
 ourselves in possession of the sentiments of our 
 assailants on this point, and seen that for the use of 
 ceremonies in the general, of any kind, we are as 
 loudly censured, as though we had disturbed the 
 harmony of the Church, by the adoption of heretical 
 opinions. We shall presently see, that the indict- 
 ment laid at our door by no means contents itself 
 with a simple assertion that we are censurable for 
 the use of ceremonies, but that it enters, so to speak, 
 into several counts, and specifies with careful minute- 
 ness, the express matters for which we are condemned. 
 
 * See Appendix, F. 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 155 
 
 But before we advance to the consideration of these 
 charges in detail, it may be well to shew that we are 
 not altogether unsupported in our practice by com- 
 petent authority, in both the primitive and reformed 
 Churches. The writings of Augustine prove, that 
 ceremonies existed in his days, and that he considered 
 that different Churches, while knit together into one 
 body by oneness of creed, might not only with safe- 
 ty, but advantage, be dissimilar in their customs. 
 " Let the faith of the whole Church, how wide soever 
 it hath spread itself, be always one, although the 
 unity of belief be famous for variety of certain 
 ordinances, whereby that which is rightly believed 
 suffereth no kind of let or impediment." And this 
 opinion, laying the stress where it ought to rest, on 
 matters of faith, and allowing the latitude where it 
 ought to be allowed, to matters of ceremony, is em- 
 braced by one whose judgment ought to tell upon 
 our opponents, the sagacious Calvin. Commenting 
 as it would seem upon this very passage of the 
 ancient Father, he enjoins — " As concerning rites 
 in particular, let the sentence of Augustine take 
 place, which leaveth it free unto all Churches to 
 receive their own custom. Yea, sometimes it profit - 
 eth, and is expedient that there be difference, lest 
 men should think that religion is tied to outward 
 ceremonies." We pause not to comment upon these 
 quotations. They speak for themselves, and demon- 
 
156 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 strate that in the adoption of ceremonies in our 
 services (so that they be to edification) we are in 
 perfect accordance with the views of early and re- 
 formed times. But for that adoption we rest not 
 upon the authority of any men however exalted in 
 character or station, upon the expressed opinion of 
 any however entitled to respect. We rest upon our 
 privilege as a Church. We say that the tenor and 
 the analogy of Scripture make out that privilege for 
 us, and that in decreeing ceremonies as well as rites 
 and ordinances, our Church has only done that 
 which it was her right and her duty to do. 
 
 But we now turn to the special objections under 
 this head urged against our Zion. The first of these 
 we notice, is, the posture in which we are in the 
 habit of receiving the Lord's Supper. It is laid to 
 our charge, as a grave and solemn offence, that we 
 kneel around the table of our Redeemer. Brethren, 
 we should have thought that a peculiarity such as 
 this, so defended by its propriety, would have es- 
 caped the lash of censure. Did not experience de- 
 monstrate that even good can be evil spoken of, we 
 should have conceived such an attitude at such a 
 moment would have struck those who dissent from 
 us, as being not only unexceptionable, but commen- 
 dable.* The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is the 
 
 * See Appendix, G. 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 157 
 
 highest ordinance in the Church of Jesus. It is 
 above and beyond all others, calculated to spread 
 over the heart the deepest, the most solemnized 
 feelings of humiliation ; to awaken the liveliest emo- 
 tions of that gratitude which is composed of thrilling 
 thankfulness for mercy extended, and self-abasement 
 for guilt incurred. For, more than any other ordi- 
 nance, it carries us into the contemplation of those 
 scenes and acts of wonder in which were wrought 
 out redemption for the lost, and pardon for the con- 
 demned. When the heart is renewed by the power 
 of the Holy Ghost (and oh ! it is only such a heart 
 which should be found at this holy solemnity), it is 
 perhaps then more drawn into a nearness to God's 
 felt presence, — into a closer communion with his un- 
 seen Spirit, than in any other exercise of adoration : 
 He that is hidden from the mortal eye, is then often 
 revealed to his believing people " in the breaking 
 of bread." (Luke xxiv. 35.) Is it wonderful that 
 our Church — expecting such hallowed and humble 
 frames in her children, anticipating that many a 
 worshipper, if visited by them in the moments of 
 solitary meditation, would most naturally bend the 
 knee when the soul was prostrate, — should at this 
 ordinance, enjoin a posture so congenial, so adapted 
 to the heart's feelings, so expressive of all she hoped 
 was passing within ? No, we marvel not that our 
 Church prescribed the posture ; we only marvel that 
 
158 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 it could be censured. And yet, brethren, it is 
 censured. It forms one of the weighty reasons 
 why the Protestant Dissenter stands aloof from our 
 Church ; one of the points in which is discoverable a 
 " relationship" between her and Popery. We are 
 told that " Dissenters cannot look upon this as a 
 trifling ceremony, when, as enjoined by the Church 
 it looks greatly like the adoration of the elements, 
 and took its rise from the Popish adoration of them, 
 as the very body and blood of Christ." * This is the 
 objection of our adversaries to this most defensible 
 custom ; an objection which has been deemed by 
 Dissenters of such weight, that (we blush to re- 
 cord it) even such a mind as that of Doddridge has 
 descended to urge it.f We cannot call it a fair ob- 
 jection ; we should be holding back the truth, did 
 we scruple to designate it, as devoid of candour, nay, 
 of common honesty. From the passage we have 
 quoted, any reader would suppose that our Church 
 had been silent as to her reasons for enjoining this 
 posture ; that she had left it open for men to put 
 what construction they pleased upon this her usage. 
 Now what is the fact ? It is this, that the Church 
 of England foreseeing the use which her enemies 
 would be willing to make of her injunctions, has 
 placed upon record the reasons which induced her to 
 
 * Diss. Cat. p. 85. 
 
 t Lect. II. p. 400. 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 159 
 
 make them — has anticipated the very surmise which 
 Dissenters have taken up, and put the world in pos- 
 session of her views and opinions in this matter. 
 We refer you to a document widely enough circu- 
 lated, and as we have seen, closely enough scanned 
 by our opponents — the Book of Common Prayer. 
 The last page of the Communion Service contains 
 this most intelligible statement : — " Whereas it is 
 ordained in this office for the administration of the 
 Lord's Supper, that the Communicants should receive 
 the same kneeling ; (which order is well meant, for a 
 signification of our humble and grateful acknow- 
 ledgment of the benefits of Christ therein given to 
 all worthy receivers, and for the avoiding of such 
 profanation and disorder in the holv communion, as 
 might otherwise ensue ;) yet, lest the same kneeling 
 should by any persons, either out of ignorance and 
 infirmity, or out of malice and obstinacy, be mis- 
 construed and depraved , It is hereby declared, — That 
 thereby no adoration is intended, or ought to be done, 
 either unto the sacramental bread or wine, there bodily 
 received, or unto any corporal presence of Christ's 
 natural flesh and blood. For the sacramental bread 
 and wine remain still in their very natural sub- 
 stances, and therefore may not be adored ; (for that 
 were idolatry, to be abhorred of all faithful Christians ;) 
 and the natural body and blood of our Saviour Christ 
 are in heaven, and not here ; it being against the 
 
160 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 truth of Christ's natural body to be at one time in 
 more places than one." This declaration of the 
 views of our Church with regard to the consecrated 
 elements, and the reason for the attitude in which 
 they are received by the communicant, we should 
 have deemed sufficiently explicit. We should have 
 thought that such a protestation, so plainly worded, 
 so publicly set forth, must have for ever silenced all 
 cavils, and removed all suspicions as to our opinions. 
 And yet in its very face, unmindful of the disclaimer 
 it contains, deaf to the explanation it renders, we are 
 told that our kneeling "looks greatly like the ado- 
 ration of the elements." Is this candour ? Is this 
 honesty ? No'; it is an assertion which wilfully tramples 
 upon the evidence both of explanation and of history ; 
 of explanation, because it chooses to disregard our 
 declarations ; and of history, because it discovers, in 
 a custom as old as the seventh, perhaps the third 
 century,* a recognition of the doctrine of transub- 
 stantiation, which was unknown to the Church until 
 the twelfth. Brethren, if it be our duty to urge 
 objections against others, may we be saved from the 
 crime of " bearing false witness against a neighbour." 
 
 Independently, however, of the objection made to 
 our practice, on the ground of its being an apparent 
 act of idolatry, our opponents condemn it upon that 
 
 * Cyril. Cat. Mys. 5. sec. 19. 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 161 
 
 of its being a departure from the precedent in the 
 Scriptures. We are told that Christ's posture at 
 the time of the celebration of the festival was that of 
 sitting, and that consequently ours should be the 
 same. We reply to this, that we nowhere read that 
 the Saviour enjoined anything respecting the posture, 
 and that the simple fact of his having chosen to 
 adopt a particular one himself, by no means amounts 
 to a reason why that should be necessarily adopted 
 by the Church. If so, every other ordinance should 
 be conducted on the same rule, and our dissenting 
 brethren should kneel when they pray, because Christ 
 knelt, and ministers should sit when they address 
 the congregation, because Christ did so in his teach- 
 ings. (Matt. v. 2; xiii, 2.) If that example in such 
 matters is to have invariably the weight of an injunc- 
 tion, then should they who urge these objections 
 keep themselves strictly to the example. Their po- 
 sition should not be that of sitting at the celebration 
 of the Lord's Supper, but that of recumbency, for 
 such was Christ's ; (John xiii. 25.) the material used 
 should be the unleavened bread of the East ; and in 
 the distribution of it the communicants should re- 
 ceive it directly from the hands of the minister, and 
 not through the intervention of his assistants. The 
 place should be the upper room of a private dwelling, 
 and females should be strictly excluded from it. All 
 these peculiarities are observable in the first celebra- 
 M 
 
162 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 tion. Why, if that is to be a precedent from which 
 it is criminal to depart, should they not be found in 
 the administration of the Supper among dissenters ? 
 We shall furnish the reply to the question ; because 
 such matters are regarded as mere circumstantials, 
 and not necessary to the perfectness of the ordi- 
 nance. Our opponents in such things claim a lati- 
 tude of practice, because, while the ordinance is 
 commanded, the ceremonies or usages attendant on 
 it are not commanded. We allow the latitude, we 
 admit the soundness of the argument on which they 
 claim it, and we ask a like indulgence for ourselves. 
 We claim our right to kneel, if we think it more 
 expedient, and we assent to their right to sit, if they 
 think it more expedient. We conceive both equally 
 allowable, but we hold our own usage more respect- 
 ful and consistent. But with our best powers, we 
 protest against the inconsistency which condemns us 
 upon a principle which is not acted on by our con- 
 demners themselves, against the unfairness which 
 attributes to us opinions we deny, and in the very 
 teeth of explanation to the contrary, more than in- 
 sinuates the charge that we approve of the errors of 
 popery. 
 
 If it be necessary to add more on this objection, 
 we would say, that so far from conceiving the ex- 
 ample of Christ in the institution of the Lord's 
 Supper, to make against our practice, that we think 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 163 
 
 it makes for it. The Saviour himself had been cele- 
 brating the paschal festival. And yet, while he 
 made ready, and eat of, the passover, he departed 
 altogether from the national custom as to the posture 
 in which the deliverance from Egypt was commemo- 
 rated. The attitude prescribed to Israel was that of 
 standing — an attitude intended to remind them of 
 their unsettled and pilgrimage condition, to tell them 
 that, with loins girded and staves in their hands, 
 they were travellers to the promised home. But 
 this law was not observed by Jesus. The days were 
 gone which made it necessary or expressive ; for 
 Israel had ended her pilgrimage, and had settled in 
 the land of inheritance. The alteration of circum- 
 stances was regarded by Christ, by the nation at 
 large, as a sufficient reason for departure from the 
 original custom. In this, my brethren, we trace out 
 a permission for ourselves to sit as loosely as is expe- 
 dient to circumstantials, while we cling as closely as 
 possible to essentials. The ordinance, in its sim- 
 plicity, in its expressiveness, in its spirituality, we 
 retain ; the mode of celebration we refer to the rule 
 of doing all things to edification. And for our non- 
 conformity with the conduct of our master (which we 
 deny was intended in this case to be a binding pat- 
 tern), we plead his non- conformity to the rule and 
 original usage of Israel. The same principle which 
 induced him (who yet was exact in fulfilling all 
 m 2 
 
164 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 righteousness) to depart from the ancient model, 
 forms, for our conduct, a complete and clear justifi- 
 cation. 
 
 We proceed to the notice of another objection, — 
 the custom observed by the Church of England of 
 bowing the head at the name of Jesus. Were not 
 this advanced against us with a frequency and ear- 
 nestness which indicate that our opponents view it 
 as an offence of some magnitude, we should have 
 pronounced it misplaced trifling to descend to its 
 justification. It is, however, consolatory to discover 
 that the defects in our ritual cannot be many or 
 serious, when matters so utterly unimportant are 
 made the groundwork of objection. The innocency 
 (to take it upon the lowest ground) of this custom 
 might, in our estimation, have protected it from cen- 
 sure ; its unimportance might have sheltered it from 
 the keenness of even a prejudiced criticism. And so 
 it would, had that criticism which has subjected our 
 Church to its scrutiny been of that manly and high- 
 minded character which should distinguish divines or 
 religionists. Since, however, it is otherwise, we have 
 no choice but to defend what the objector has de- 
 scended to attack. We do so upon this plea, that 
 we regard the custom under consideration, as one 
 which has long subsisted in our Church, which she 
 classes among matters utterly non-essential, and 
 compliance with which she enforces not upon her 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 165 
 
 members.* In her canons she has explained her 
 views with respect to this usage, and placed it upon 
 record that by it her people " testify their acknow- 
 ledgments, that the Lord Jesus Christ, the true eter- 
 nal Son of God, is the only Saviour of the world." 
 Practised in times of very remote antiquity, and 
 observed in most of the Churches of those times, it 
 has come down to our days, and been retained 
 amongst our customs as reverential in itself, and not 
 fairly liable to objection. The times have happily 
 passed away which made such a custom not only 
 allowable, but in a high degree expedient ; for the 
 darkness of Arianism which once nearly obscured 
 Christianity, is for the most part removed from our 
 religious communities. But the time has been when 
 it was far otherwise, when the world was overcloud- 
 ed with error, and the faithful were minished among 
 men. In those days of peril to the Church, it was 
 expedient to have a token which might serve as a 
 testimony of a man's opinions : for the Arian of the 
 fourth century could repeat the confession of faith 
 adopted by the Primitive Churches, and only consider 
 himself as assenting to the dignity but not the Deity 
 of the Saviour. The creed to which he added his 
 assent was simple in its structure, and, not wishing 
 to anticipate heresy, it framed no clauses bearing 
 
 * Hooker, 11, 123. 
 
16G 
 
 OFFICES, RITES AND 
 
 pointedly against errors which had not then con- 
 vulsed the Church. In such circumstances, the line 
 was drawn, the mark of distinction between the 
 orthodox and heretical was found in the adoption or 
 continuance of a gesture which implied lowly adora- 
 tion. Since those times, the Church has placed 
 upon a more abiding tablet the expression of her 
 opinions, and erected in the Xicene and Athanasian 
 Confessions of Faith a noble, and, we trust, an im- 
 perishable bulwark against the invasions of heresy. 
 Though the cause which gave an importance to the 
 act of bowing the head at the name of the Redeemer 
 no longer subsists, we honor the act still for the 
 good sen-ice it has rendered. It is valuable, as it 
 serves to express the belief that Jesus is essentially 
 and truly God ; and it is beyond the range of honest 
 objection, if it be viewed as simply a respectful ges- 
 ture in devotion. If men " will be contentious," we 
 can bear the reproach which can contract itself to 
 touch a matter so unimportant, while we can lament 
 over the spirit which applies its energies to the 
 " straining out of gnats." 
 
 The last objection we shall turn to notice, is 
 founded upon the use of the sign of the cross in 
 baptism. We pause not now to mention the many 
 censures which have been lavished upon our Church, 
 the increasing taunts to which our people are sub- 
 jected for the adoption and retaining of this custom. 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 167 
 
 They can easily be conjectured, from the specimens 
 of " evil speaking" which have already been noticed. 
 We rather press forward to the defence of this usage. 
 In examining the materials for this, it is consolatory 
 to ascertain that we have upon our side the practice 
 of the Church from almost apostolic days.* We 
 therefore have followed no novel invention, but one 
 which has received the sanction of the most faithful 
 and revered in the times of primitive Christianity. 
 This practice of the Church appears to have origin- 
 ated in the adoption of a custom well known to anti- 
 quity, — the imprinting of a mark upon the foreheads 
 or hands of soldiers and servants, as indicative of 
 their connection with their respective kings and 
 masters. This custom, so expressive of a title on 
 the one side to protection, and on the other to ser- 
 vices, is frequently alluded to in Scripture, and has 
 received thereby a kind of hallowed character. Thus, 
 in the book of Ezekiel, the angels who are charged 
 with the office of bringing desolation upon Jerusalem, 
 are commanded to provide for the safety of God's 
 believing remnant, by " setting a mark upon the 
 foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all 
 the abominations that are done." (Ezek. ix. 4.) And 
 when, in the Revelations, a similar procedure is about 
 to be entered on, embracing only a wider field of 
 
 * See Appendix, H. 
 
168 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 destruction, the ministering spirits of the Lord's 
 vengeance are enjoined to restrain the outbreaking 
 of his judgments "until the servants of God were 
 sealed in their foreheads." (Rev. vii. 3.) And when 
 these redeemed ones, rescued from the overthrow, 
 appear in glory with the Saviour upon the mountain 
 of his holiness, the mark of safety and dedication is 
 still discernible upon them — they have " their Father's 
 name written upon their foreheads." All these ex- 
 pressions, of course, are figurative. He that know- 
 eth all things requires not that for him a visible 
 mark should be imprinted upon his saints. He can 
 look into the decrees of electing love, and upon the 
 consequence of it — the sanctification of his redeemed, 
 and thus "can know those that are his." But the 
 employment of the figure in the word of God shews 
 that the custom which created it was in common use 
 in ancient times, and was understood to signify 
 privilege and dedication. The Church seeing an 
 eloquence and significancy in a practice obtaining so 
 widely and comprehended so readily, adopted it as 
 her own, and hallowed it in the adoption. She 
 employed it in the service of her own monarch ; and 
 by its use in Baptism, by the impress of the symbol 
 of Redemption upon the forehead of the enrolled 
 Christian, she reminded him that he was placed in a 
 new and privileged position, that he stood within 
 the circle of the covenant, that as a soldier pledged 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. i 69 
 
 to allegiance beneath the crimson banner of the 
 Cross, he was that day dedicated to a cause, from 
 which it would be treason and destruction to 
 retreat. 
 
 It is true that all this was a ceremony, the mere 
 using of an outward sign. But it also is true, that 
 to that ceremony there were linked impressive and 
 momentous truths, and that with the thought of it, 
 there would come over the mind touching associations 
 and solemn recollections, which might stablish the 
 heart in a moment of doubt or of timidity. And who 
 that is acquainted with the peculiar tendency of the 
 human mind to be affected by the sign or the out- 
 ward act, when the abstract truth has for a while 
 lost its power, — who that knows that it is just the use 
 of ceremonies to perpetuate truth and to recal it 
 vividly and emphatically to the remembrance, — who 
 that has felt the magic power which the simple deed 
 of breaking the bread at the communion table of the 
 Lord possesses of taking the recollections back to 
 Calvary, of making them overleap the line of centu- 
 ries, and mingle with the solemnities of the last 
 supper, — who that has studied this character of man's 
 mind, and experienced in himself its capacity to be 
 touched by the rudest memorial, will undervalue a 
 ceremony which, while allowable in itself, contains 
 under it the inculcation of a duty, or the elements of 
 a doctrine. The men of ancient, and of perhaps 
 
170 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 purer times did not. They prized the ceremonies of 
 their faith, because they preached powerfully to their 
 feelings and their recollections. They valued the 
 usage of stamping the forehead of the newly admitted 
 member of the Church with the sign of his profes- 
 sion, because it gave them a power to appeal to it 
 afterward, and through the act done in infancy, to 
 point out the disgrace of becoming recreant, the 
 peril incurred by drawing back. And therefore do 
 we find Cyprian * and • Austin, f Tertullian X and 
 Chrysostom, § resting some of their most stirring 
 and animating exhortations upon it, and exciting 
 their people to brave martyrdom itself, from the re- 
 membrance that they carried on their foreheads the 
 badge of a crucified Saviour. 
 
 And now brethren, that we have shown the origin 
 and the significancy of this custom, that we have 
 proved that in retaining it we pay no homage to 
 Popery, but observe that which the Fathers of the 
 first centuries retained and respected ; we draw this 
 topic of our subject to a close by putting you in 
 possession of the specific objections made to it by 
 our assailants. And this we do, not only that you 
 may stand acquainted with their opinions respecting 
 us, but that you may see in the objection, another 
 instance of that unfairness, that violation of the laws 
 
 * De lapsis. f De catec. Rud. c. 20. J De resur. Cam. 
 § In Ps. 110. 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 171 
 
 of honesty and candour of which we have had occa- 
 sion already to complain. I refer on this point for 
 the last time to the Protestant Dissenters' Catechism. 
 In the 83rd page these questions are asked and 
 answered. Q. What is the pretence for the Priests 
 crossing the forehead in Baptism? A. It is said to 
 be done as a token, that the person baptized shall 
 not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ cru- 
 cified, and manfully to fight under his banner. Q. 
 What do Scriptures object to in this ceremony ? 
 A. 1. That Christ never appointed it. — 5. Making 
 this ceremony essential to the administration of bap- 
 tism, is an unreasonable and unjust imposition on the 
 consciences of those who might scruple it." It is, 
 brethren, to the latter clause of this answer that I 
 more especially direct your consideration. The con- 
 viction which must rest upon the mind of every 
 person who casts his eye upon it, must be this, that 
 the Church of England made the ceremony essential 
 to the Sacrament, or, in other words, united so 
 indissolubly a Church form with a Christian ordinance, 
 that the one was not complete without the other. 
 Now what is the fact ? That in this matter, as in 
 another which we noticed, the Church has put her 
 sentiments on record, and asserted as fully and ex- 
 plicitly as words can -do it, that she considered this 
 ceremony as not essential to the administration of 
 Baptism. I refer to her authoritative documents. 
 
172 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 The 1 3th canon contains the following expressions, 
 " The sign of the cross used in baptism is no part of 
 the substance of that Sacrament, for when the 
 minister dipping the infant in water, or laying water 
 upon the face of it hath pronounced these words, " I 
 baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost," the infant is fully and 
 perfectly baptized. So as the sign of the cross being 
 afterwards used, does neither add any thing to the 
 virtue and perfection of Baptism, nor being omitted 
 does it detract any thing from the effect and sub- 
 stance of it." On these two passages thus thrown 
 together, I shall make no comment. I merely ob- 
 serve, that the catechism asserts that of our Church 
 which the Church had long before explicitly disclaim- 
 ed ; that the charge is put upon record, while the 
 explanation is suppressed. I am entitled again to 
 to ask, is this candour, — is it honesty ? 
 
 1 have now gone through the task which I 
 imposed upon myself in the commencement of these 
 discourses — a task, in many of its parts painful and 
 distressing, because opening out to our view a 
 series of aggressions equally unkind and unwarranted, 
 a task however forced upon me by the necessity of 
 the case, undertaken and prosecuted under the con- 
 viction that I was in the path of duty in entering 
 upon it. In discharging it, I have sought to repel 
 attacks, but to make none, to drive (as far as my 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 173 
 
 ability enabled me to do it) the assailant from the 
 sacred soil of my own Zion, but not to plant the 
 footstep of reprisal upon his. Injuries long con- 
 tinued and wantonly inflicted, appeared to me to call 
 for determined resistance ; and the possibility of their 
 baneful operation upon the minds of our own people 
 told me that it was no longer the part of their 
 ministers to keep silence. My endeavour has 
 been not merely to meet the inroads of the adversary, 
 but to show you, brethren, what our Church is :— in 
 her ceremonies, simple and scriptural; in her Liturgy, 
 sound and devotional ; in her government, apostolic ; 
 and in her doctrines, exhibiting " the truth as it is 
 in Jesus." Her creeds are among the noblest bul- 
 warks which Christianity possesses. Her Articles 
 are a compendium of revelation. They gather 
 within their concise but comprehensive compass 
 the jewels which are studded over the Bible, and 
 work them with the skill of a master-hand into 
 a diadem of sparkling richness. In them we have 
 the doctrinal acknowledgments of our Church, the 
 essential declarations of the Scriptures reduced into 
 a lucid and harmonious system. They speak of 
 man's apostacy and fall— of his moral inability and 
 spiritual deadness. They proclaim his salvation 
 to be altogether of grace, the result of the coun- 
 cillings of the glorious Trinity subsisting in the 
 unity of one Godhead, flowing from the electing 
 
174 
 
 OFFICES, RITES AND 
 
 love of the Father, the finished redemption of the 
 co-equal Son, and the sanctifying operation of the 
 Almighty Spirit. They affirm the necessity of works 
 as the indication of the existence of a justifying faith, 
 but they deny merit to them, and look to the sacri- 
 fice of Jesus alone as the ground of a sinner's accept- 
 ance. They raise a noble fine of defence against the 
 incursions of the several heresies which have from 
 time to time disturbed the Church,— against the 
 errors of Arius and Pelagius, and more largely 
 against the God-dishonouring dogmas of Rome. 
 % They range themselves, in a word, around the Bible 
 of Truth, and place our Church for all she is to be- 
 lieve and for all she is to lean on, upon this simple 
 ground of principle, " that Holy Scripture contains 
 all things necessary to salvation." Such, brethren, 
 in her doctrines, in her ritual, in her government is 
 the Church to which we are privileged to belong. 
 We ask you again and again to " walk round about 
 her, to tell her towers, and to mark her bulwarks ;" 
 to contemplate her excellences and resources, that 
 your affections may be the more strongly rivetted to 
 her. We ask you to recollect, that not only in the 
 matters we have mentioned she can bear to be 
 weighed in the balances, but that her history esta- 
 blishes claims, many and persuasive upon your vene- 
 ration. We see in her no novel institution, but 
 one which had a being in nearly apostolic times, 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 175 
 
 which, while men slept, was covered for a season by 
 the incrustation of the errors which overspread the 
 world, but which shook it off and appeared in its 
 former soundness. We see in her a Church which 
 has passed through intense and scorching trials ; and 
 which, by the resistance made even unto death to 
 the dominant powers of ignorance and superstition, 
 secured for our country liberty of conscience, and 
 for other Protestant communities many of the privi- 
 leges and blessings which they now enjoy. The fires 
 of Smithfield were fed by the Church of England, 
 Her sons they were who " lighted that candle in 
 Britain which has never been extinguished," but 
 which cheers and illuminates the orthodox denomi- 
 nations by its clearness. Their blood it was which 
 watered the roots of those hallowed principles which 
 are now the boast and the glory of Protestantism at 
 large ; and if now through the providence of God, 
 each of its sections may repose beneath " their own 
 vine — no man making them afraid," never should 
 it be forgotten that the nourishment that vine re- 
 ceived was from the veins of the English martyrs. 
 We see in our Church an honoured nursery for the 
 truth; for from her halls and colleges, from the 
 quiet retreats of her ministers, and the leisures of 
 her ecclesiastical endowments, have arisen those ex- 
 cellent of the earth, who have, as far as talent or 
 learning could do it, defended the faith and saved it 
 
176 
 
 OFFICES, RITES, AND 
 
 from contamination, from error and infidelity. It 
 is, brethren, in favour of a Church such as this, 
 sound in her principles, and venerable from her his- 
 tory and associations, that we desire to enlist your 
 affections. Her excellences are too little felt by 
 her laity ; her trials and dangers are by them too 
 little regarded. Identify yourselves with her inte- 
 rest ; profit by the advantages she extends to you, 
 and rally round her in her hours of necessity. The 
 time may soon arrive, when our Zion will require of 
 her people to do something more than to enjoy the 
 privileges they possess in a connection with her. 
 They may yet be called on to contend for them. 
 The struggle which is at present going on between 
 light and darkness, may yet affect the very existence 
 of our church ; the war of opinion which threatens 
 to convulse the empire may fight its most important, 
 perhaps its fiercest battle upon the question of the 
 protection or the abolition of an established religion. 
 Let " the children of our Zion " be prepared. Let 
 them appreciate and teach themselves to feel the 
 value of the object, and then gird themselves to a 
 faithful performance of their duty. Let them not 
 accumulate upon their own consciences the materials 
 of unavailing regret, that they saw the Ark in the 
 fore-front of the conflict, and came not out to its 
 help against the mighty. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 SERMON II. 
 A.— p. 41. 
 
 " We are ready to concede almost all," &c. The 
 argument of our opponents on the subject of episco- 
 pacy has always rested upon words. It passes over 
 the facts of the New Testament and the writings of 
 the early fathers, and relies upon the title given to 
 ministers in the Acts and the Epistles. Their chief 
 argument is this, that the terms " Presbyter" and 
 ** Bishop" are indiscriminately applied to the same 
 individuals, and that therefore they are but different 
 names for the same office. There is truth in this, 
 but it is not the whole truth ; and consequently the 
 inference that is drawn from this proposition, viz. 
 that the New Testament bishop (wherever the word 
 occurs) is nothing more than a presbyter, will be 
 found to be wrong. The fact will be found to be 
 that there was in the apostolic and primitive Church 
 an officer totally distinct from the presbyter, and that 
 that officer is known by the name of bishop. 
 
 n 2 
 
180 
 
 appendix: 
 
 It may be necessary to explain how a title which 
 once belonged to ministers generally, became appro- 
 priated to one order in the ministry. 
 
 The word " episcopus " (or bishop), literally sig- 
 nifies an overseer, and so it is rendered in Acts xx. 28. 
 — " The flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made 
 you overseers." In this passage it is given to ordi- 
 nary pastors. It was a title suggested by an em- 
 ployment. That employment was superintendence. 
 But ministerial superintendence is of two kinds : 
 First, of a flock or congregation, and secondly, of a 
 body of ministers. In the first of these senses every 
 minister is an episcopus, he oversees his flock ; in the 
 second, only those ministers who are exalted above 
 their brethren, and occupy over them a situation of 
 authority and control. In the history of Christianity 
 the flock was first to be collected. That was her 
 first effort, and it was achieved by the missionary 
 preaching of the Gospel. Then, to a flock so col- 
 lected, a pastor was appointed. Then, if it increased 
 so as to be beyond the energies of one pastor, or was 
 spread over a large district of country, more minis- 
 ters were appointed to it. Then, that there should 
 be no ministerial collision, no diversity of practice 
 or doctrine among those pastors, an individual was 
 added to the Church whose business it was to super- 
 intend and regulate it, ministers as well as congre- 
 gations. (1 Tim. i. 3. Titus i. 5.) This is the 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 181 
 
 natural order of events. Along with this progress 
 and arrangement there appears to have come an 
 alteration in the use of ministerial titles. The name 
 of overseer or bishop which had been employed in 
 the common or popular sense, became restricted to 
 those individuals who were superintendents in the 
 higher and more important sense. They were, far 
 excellence, bishops. This change in the use or ac- 
 ceptation of terms is very common. The term 
 " Angel" is literally a messenger, and as such it was 
 bestowed upon those celestial beings who are the 
 messengers of God ; "his ministers who do his plea- 
 sure." Yet this term, once general, has become par- 
 ticular in its application, and is now appropriated to 
 the highest order of messengers. While therefore 
 we freely admit that the title of episcopus was at 
 first given to any pastor in virtue of his overseeing 
 his flock, we affirm that it passed to another order 
 of ministers in virtue of his overseeing the pastors 
 under his rule. So that it is but half the truth to 
 say that bishop and presbyter are the same thing. In 
 one sense it is so ; in another, the bishop is totally 
 distinct from the presbyter. Once let it be admit- 
 ted, (and it cannot be denied) that there was in the 
 early Church an officer distinct in duties and superior 
 in rank to his brethren, to whom this name was 
 given ; and it is mere sophistry to put forward the 
 proposition we have been examining. 
 
182 
 
 APPENDIX : 
 
 It may be said that the history of the usage of 
 this title is plausible, but unsubstantiated. That defect 
 can be remedied by the introduction of evidence from 
 the primitive Church and the presbyterian reformers. 
 
 " On the decease of the blessed Apostles, those 
 that were ordained to preside over the churches after 
 them were not equal to those first, nor could they 
 attain the same gift of miracles ; but appearing in- 
 ferior to them in many other things, thought it not 
 becoming to challenge to themselves the names of 
 Apostles, wherefore they divided the names, and left 
 to them (the inferior order) the name of Presbyter ; 
 and the others (the governors) were styled Bishops, 
 and were endued with the power of ordaining, that 
 they might know themselves to be set over the 
 churches in the fullest right." — Ambrose, Com. 
 in Tim. 
 
 " Notwithstanding that at first, all ministers of the 
 word were indiscriminately called pastors, bishops, 
 and presbyters, and were also of equal authority, 
 afterwards one began to be preferred by his other 
 colleagues above all the rest. So that by way of 
 pre-eminence he also was accustomed to be called by 
 the name of Bishop and Pastor, the rest of his fellow 
 priests being content with the name of Presbyter ; 
 so that in every city one only began to be bishop, 
 and many presbyters." — Zanchhcs, De Gub. Mil. 
 Ecc. 545. 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 183 
 
 " They named all on whom was enjoined the office 
 of teaching, Presbyters. They chose one of their 
 members in every city to whom in particular they 
 gave the name of Bishop, lest from equality as usually 
 happens, dissensions should arise," — Calvin. Inst. 
 Book TV. c. iv. 
 
 " By the perpetual observation of all the churches, 
 even from the Apostles' times, we see that it seemed 
 good to the Holy Ghost that among presbyters 
 there should be one that should have the care or 
 charge of divers churches, and the whole ministry 
 committed to him ; and by reason of that charge, he 
 was above the rest and therefore the name of Bishop 
 was peculiarly attributed to those chief rulers." 
 Bucer. de Curd Curat, p. 251. 
 
 These testimonies substantiate the view that has 
 been given of the application of this title, and help 
 to show that very early it was used only in the re- 
 stricted sense — the sense in which it is constantly 
 employed in the fathers. As our opponents rest so 
 much upon the argument which hinges upon a mere 
 term, it was necessary to meet it. But this is not 
 the strength of our position. We rely upon facts 
 and things, not upon changing appellations. The 
 fact is, that the New Testament and all antiquity 
 speaks of, recognizes, defines the duties of a certain 
 officer in the Church, be his title what it may, who 
 was superior to his brethren in the ministry, to 
 
184 
 
 APPENDIX ! 
 
 whom appertained offices which they could not dis- 
 charge, and authority which they did not possess. 
 This is the stubborn, the uncontrovertible, truth ; 
 and it cannot be satisfactory to meet truth in facts 
 by disquisitions about words. 
 
 That candid and able presbyterian writers have 
 felt themselves borne down by the evidence in favour 
 of episcopacy, may be seen from these admissions of 
 Grotius, who wrote against it, and Melancthon, who 
 united with Calvin in his projects respecting Church 
 government : "Of the episcopate, that is, the supe- 
 riority of one pastor above the rest, we first deter- 
 mine that it is repugnant to no divine law. If any 
 one think otherwise, that is, if any one condemn the 
 whole ancient Church of folly, or even of impiety, 
 the burden of proof, beyond doubt, lies upon him. 
 The very ministry instituted by the apostles suffi- 
 ciently proves that equality of the ecclesiastical 
 officers was not commanded by Christ." Grotius de 
 Ver. c. 11, § 3. 
 
 " I would to God it lay in me to restore the 
 government of the bishops, for I see what manner 
 of church we shall have; the ecclesiastical polity 
 being dissolved. I do see that hereafter there will 
 grow up a greater tyranny in the Church than ever 
 before." — Melancthon. Apol. Aug. Conf. 305. 
 
 To these may be added the declaration of Le Clerc, 
 a learned divine of the presbyterian Dutch Church. 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 185 
 
 " I have always professed to believe that episcopacy 
 is of apostolic institution, and consequently very 
 good and very lawful, that men had no right to 
 change it in any place, unless it was impossible 
 otherwise to reform the abuses that crept into Chris- 
 tianity ; that it was justly preserved in England 
 where the Reformation was practicable without alter- 
 ing it; that therefore the Protestants in England 
 and other places where there are bishops do very 
 ill to separate from that discipline ; that they would 
 still do much worse in attempting to destroy it in 
 order to set up presbytery, fanaticism and anarchy. 
 Things ought not to be turned into chaos, nor people 
 seen every where, without a call and without learn- 
 ing, pretending to inspiration." 
 
 Dr. Doddridge (a congregationalist,) does not go 
 quite so far as his Presbyterian brother Le Clerc, but 
 his admission, reluctant though it is, is a virtual 
 ceding of the question at issue. " The distinction," 
 he observes, " between Bishops and Presbyters does 
 not appear to be of earlier date than the times of 
 Ignatius." Lect. 116 § 17. The arguments in the 
 text, and the above cited authorities, will convince 
 every one who has discrimination to appreciate and 
 candour to admit the force of evidence that the dis- 
 tinction was of a much earlier date. It is important, 
 however, to have it admitted by such authority as 
 Dr. Doddridge, that the offices were clearly distinct 
 
186 
 
 appendix: 
 
 in the year 107; in the times of one " who con- 
 versed familiarly with the Apostles, and was perfectly 
 acquainted with their doctrine." It is strange that 
 in the half- century intervening between the decease 
 of the Apostles and the martyrdom of Ignatius, the 
 innovation (for such Dr. Doddridge would have us 
 consider it) was unnoticed and unobjected to by the 
 Church. 
 
 Before closing this note, I would wish to make 
 an observation on a theory advanced in the section 
 of the discourse to which it relates. It is there re- 
 marked, that the ministry of the Jewish Church, being 
 of an unequal and threefold character, was a type of the 
 ministerial arrangements of the Christian Church; 
 and from this is deduced the inference that its 
 ministry must necessarily be in three distinct orders, 
 (p. 43 — 44.) This conclusion is inevitable, but the 
 premises may possibly be questioned. I desire, 
 therefore, to support myself in advancing the theory 
 by the opinion of others. I shall quote from ancient 
 and modern authorities. It is a remark of Jerome, 
 that " what Priests and Levites were to the Jewish 
 Church, Bishops, Priests and Deacons are to the 
 Christian." ( Epist. ad Evag.) But we can refer to 
 an earlier authority than this, and one more competent 
 to speak on the subject, inasmuch as he wrote before 
 the Jewish polity and priesthood had been overthrown. 
 
 Clemens Romanus, (the same to whom Paul re- 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 187 
 
 fers, Phil. iv. 3.) in his Epistle to the Corinthians 
 makes a strong- allusion to the then orders of the 
 Jewish priesthood, while drawing a distinction be- 
 tween governors and presbyters. " To the high 
 Priest proper offices are committed — to the priests 
 their peculiar office is assigned, the Levites (or dea- 
 cons) have their own ministries, and a layman is 
 bound to laic performances. Let every one of you, 
 brethren, give thanks to God in his proper station, 
 living conscientiously, and not transgressing the pre- 
 scribed rule of his sendee or ministry." Sect. xl. xli. 
 This passage not only conveys the idea that the Jew- 
 ish priesthood was the frame-work of the Christian, 
 but shews that before the death of the apostles, the 
 three orders were recognized and established in the 
 Church. 
 
 This view which Jerome and Clement have ad- 
 vanced, is adopted also by Beausobre, a presbyterian 
 divine of high character. " It is said, and all anti- 
 quity incessantly repeats it, that the deacons of the 
 Christian Church are the successors of the Levites, 
 the pastors of the priests, and that, in fine, the 
 bishops are the successors of the high priests." — 
 Serm. sur Rom. xii. 7. 
 
 B.— p. 50. 
 
 " We see in it the Apostles' elevation to a higher 
 
188 
 
 appendix: 
 
 order in the ministry." — Augustine looked upon this 
 transaction in this light. " Nemo ignorat, &c." 
 " No one is ignorant that the Saviour instituted 
 bishops in the churches. For, before his ascension 
 into heaven, placing his hands upon the Apostles, he 
 ordained them bishops. — Quest. Vet. Qu. in N. Test. 
 97. The meaning of the word bishop was fixed in 
 Augustine's times. It had then, and indeed three 
 centuries previous, but one signification, that in 
 which it is now commonly received. 
 
 C— p. 54. 
 
 " The writers of the early ages style James 
 Bishop of Jerusalem." — This assertion can be proved 
 by many references. A few may speak for all. 
 Commenting on Galatians ii. 12, Augustine says — 
 " When he had seen some come from James, i. e. 
 from Judea ; for James then presided (pra?fiiit) over 
 the Church of Jerusalem." Cyril of Jerusalem, who 
 was a successor to James in the see, observes, " These 
 things (circumcision and things offered to idols) are 
 not a cause of anxiety to me only, but were to the 
 Apostles and to James, formerly bishop of this 
 Church." — Catech. iv. 
 
 Jerome, the great authority of Anti-episcopalians, 
 says — " James immediately after the passion of our 
 Lord was ordained by the Apostles bishop of Jeru- 
 salem." 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 189 
 
 Eusebius — " The Jews, therefore, when Paul had 
 appealed unto Caesar, turned all their malice upon 
 James the brother of the Lord, upon whom the 
 see of Jerusalem had been conferred by the Apos- 
 tles. (Sedes Hierosolymitanana delata fuit.)" — Lib. 
 2, c. 22. 
 
 This point is fully admitted by presbyterian 
 writers. In a work of De Moulin, a theological 
 professor of the French Presbyterian Church, this 
 passage occurs : " Our adversaries unjustly accuse 
 us to be enemies of the episcopal order ; for we must 
 be altogether ignorant of history, if we do not know 
 that antiquity speaks honorably of that degree. Eu- 
 sebius in his Chronicle witnesseth, that a year after 
 our Lord's death, James, our Lord's brother, was 
 established bishop of Jerusalem ; and that after 
 James succeeded Simeon in the bishoprick of Jeru- 
 salem, from whence descended the succession of its 
 bishops. If sometimes we speak against the author- 
 ity of bishops, we condemn not the episcopal order in 
 itself, but speak only of the corruption which the 
 Church of Rome has introduced into it." — " Buckler 
 of Faith." Lond. 1631. p. 345. 
 
 It will be observed that in the argument in the 
 text some slight stress is laid upon the declaration of 
 James in the council of Jerusalem, " My sentence 
 is, &c." I am aware that a most eminent critical 
 authority (Dr. Bloomfield) is of opinion that the ori- 
 
190 
 
 appendix: 
 
 ginal word for " sentence" does not necessarily im- 
 ply an authoritative decision. It would be highly 
 presumptuous in me, in disregard of such an opinion, 
 to build a proof upon the expression, if it were not 
 supported by a Greek writer of such character as 
 Chrysostom. Adverting to the passage, he observes : 
 " t/ i<ni Kblvu) eyu dvTi tOv (/.€t' ej;oi<rHzq Keya tovto 
 elvat." " What is this 'my sentence is' except this, 
 authoritatively I pronounce this to be so." 
 
 D.-p. 56. 
 
 " Episcopacy approaching nearly to its present 
 Diocesan form." — There are many evidences in the 
 ancient authors of episcopacy (which the first was 
 confined to one place) becoming at a very early period 
 settled in its respective spheres. Eusebius writes 
 " Sed et Lucas," &c. " But Luke, in the Acts of 
 the Apostles, makes mention of Timothy and Titus, 
 of whom the one was bishop in Ephesus, the other 
 was set over the churches in Crete which were to 
 be regulated by him." (Lib. 3, c. iv.) This is 
 diocesan episcopacy in these two instances. We 
 can show it in another : " Marcus interpres Petri," 
 &c. " Mark, the familiar friend of Peter, and first 
 bishop of the Church of Alexandria. — Jerome. Epis. 
 ad Evag. Again, Irenseus, speaking of the bishop 
 of Rome, says : " Of this Linus, Paul makes mention in 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 191 
 
 his Epistles to Timothy. Anacletus succeeded him ; 
 after him, in the third place, Clement received the 
 episcopate from the Apostles." (Lib. 3. c. hi.) This 
 is diocesan episcopacy. Again, " Polycarp was not 
 only instructed by the Apostles, but also by them con- 
 stituted bishop in Asia, in the Church of Smyrna." 
 — Tertullian de Prcescr. Numerous additions might 
 be made to these proofs of episcopacy being an in- 
 stitution of a clearly diocesan character in the apos- 
 tolic age. 
 
 E.-p. 60. 
 
 " Advancement to a higher grade." — It is by 
 some alleged, that this is not the proper meaning 
 of the original word, rendered in our translation " a 
 good degree." In support of the use made of the 
 word, I quote the criticism of one of the most emi- 
 nent scholars of our day : " Those who have well 
 discharged the office of deacons, gain thereby an 
 honourable step to further promotion, namely to the 
 office of presbyter or bishop. Theophylact explains 
 jSafywv, by wpoKoic'w (advancement). And so almost 
 all commentators, ancient and modern."— Bloomfield 
 Rec. Syn. 
 
192 
 
 appendix: 
 
 F. — p. 64. 
 
 " The Angel of the Church was its presiding 
 minister." — This, Dr. Doddridge questions, asserting 
 " that these angels were but simple Presbyters, or 
 parish priests in their several congregations. (Lect.ii. 
 p. 344.) It will be seen, that (independent of the 
 argument with which this note is connected, and 
 which makes such a supposition utterly untenable) 
 this somewhat prejudiced commentator has not the 
 support of the ancient Church. " Angelos episcopos 
 dicit, &c." — " He names the bishops angels, as is 
 taught in the Apocalypse of John." Ambrose, in 
 Apoc. cap. 1. "By the Divine Voice, the president 
 (propositus) of the Church is dignified by the name 
 of Angel." — Augustine. 
 
 G. — p. 71. 
 
 " No Christian Church could be found without its 
 presiding bishop." — The negative argument in favor 
 of the divine origin of Episcopacy is a very persuasive 
 one. Our opponents admit that Episcopacy, pro- 
 perly so called, was in the Church so early as the 
 days of Ignatius, (Doddridge, Lect. 116.) but deny 
 that it was framed by Christ or his Apostles. If so, 
 it must have been introduced into the Church within 
 the first century. And yet the Church is utterly 
 
EPISCOPACY. 
 
 193 
 
 silent on the subject of this (supposed) innovation 
 upon the purity of the system provided by the Saviour. 
 Is it likely, is it within the compass of possibility, 
 that when so many anxious hearts and vigilant 
 eyes were fixed upon every step of the progress of 
 Christianity, such a striking novelty could have been 
 introduced without exciting attention and remon- 
 strance ? It should be recollected also that some of 
 the Apostles lived till near the martyrdom of Ignatius, 
 and would not have permitted an overthrow of the 
 original system. The truth is, that there is no alter- 
 native between admitting Episcopacy to have been 
 founded by Christ and established by the Apostles, 
 and denying its existence altogether. 
 
 H.-p. 71. 
 
 " Modern Research.'' — All Churches subsisting 
 from early times, upon whose condition light has been 
 thrown by the investigations of travellers, are found to 
 be Episcopal. The Coptic, the Abyssinian Churches 
 are such ; and the Syrian Church of Malabar, which 
 Dr. Buchanan has introduced to Christian notice, not 
 only is Episcopal in its government, but had no idea 
 of the possibility of a Church in which there were 
 not three orders in the ministry. The following con- 
 versation, which took place between him and one of 
 the Syrian bishops, is recorded in his " Christian 
 o 
 
194 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Researches." " I mentioned that there was a Ka- 
 sheesha or presbyter Church in our own kingdom, in 
 which every presbyter was equal to another. And 
 are there no deacons in holy orders ? None. And 
 what, is there nobody to overlook the presbyters ? 
 Not one. And who is the angel of their Churches ? 
 They have none. There must be something imper- 
 fect there." 
 
195 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 A. — p. 76. 
 
 It is evident, from the language of the Canons, 
 that the design of the Service for the Visitation 
 of the Sick was to supply a help to the inexperienced 
 minister, and not to constitute a form of prayer from 
 which no clergyman should be at liberty to depart. 
 Even- minister who is licensed to preach, has it in 
 his power to adopt what course he pleases in the 
 discharge of this duty. This is obvious from the 
 41st Canon — " When any person is dangerously sick 
 in any parish, the minister or curate, having know- 
 ledge thereof, shall resort unto him, or her, to in- 
 struct and comfort them in their distress, according 
 to the order of the Communion Book if he be no 
 preacher ; or if he be a preacher, then as he shall 
 think most needful and convenient." 
 
 B. -p. 77. 
 
 " Baptism is Regeneration ." —This assertion of 
 Mr. James is contradicted not only by the Articles 
 o 2 
 
196 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 of the Church of England, but by a more generally- 
 known document — the Catechism, which is to be 
 seen in every Prayer-Book, and found in most Church 
 schools. The 27th Article declares "that baptism is 
 a sign of regeneration, or new birth, whereby, as by 
 an instrument, they that receive baptism rightly are 
 grafted into the Church." The Catechism is equally 
 explicit: — "What is the outward sign or form in bap- 
 tism ? Water, wherein the person is baptized. What 
 is the inward and spiritual grace ? A death unto sin 
 and a new birth unto righteousness ; for being by 
 nature born in sin and the children of wrath, we are 
 hereby (by the inward and spiritual grace) made the 
 children of grace." 
 
 " All go to heaven, whatever was their previous 
 character." — This assertion is founded upon the ex- 
 pression in the Burial Service—" in sure and certain 
 hope of the resurrection to eternal life, &c." It will 
 be seen that the assertion is contradicted by the very 
 document on which it relies. One of the prayers in 
 that service commences with these words — " Almighty 
 God, with whom do live the spirit of those that 
 depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the souls 
 of the faithful are in joy and felicity ; " and ends 
 thus, " we beseech Thee, that we, with all those that 
 are departed this life in the true faith of thy holy 
 name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss 
 in thv everlasting glory." Another prayer in the 
 
ON FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 197 
 
 same service contains this petition, — " We meekly 
 beseech thee to raise us from the death of sin unto the 
 life of righteousness, that when we shall depart this 
 life we may rest in him." The ignorance or the disin- 
 genuousness must have been great which could per- 
 mit a minister of the gospel to assert, in the face of 
 these expressions, " that the Church of England 
 teaches that all who die go to heaven, whatever was 
 their previous character." It should be observed that 
 the Church asserts nothing respecting the indivi- 
 dual's eternal state, but only declares her belief in a 
 resurrection to an eternal existence. The expression 
 is not "his" but "the" resurrection. 
 
 " Indiscriminate admission of persons of all cha- 
 racters to the Lord's Table." — This allegation is 
 also without . foundation. The Church does not 
 admit indiscriminately persons of all characters to 
 the Communion. She endeavours, as far as a human 
 institution can do it, to keep back all from that ordi- 
 nance who do not make a reputable profession. 1 . In 
 the rubric before the service, it will be seen that she 
 claims the right, (and that her ministers are called 
 on to exercise it,) of forbidding the approach of no- 
 toriously evil livers, of persons who have done wrong 
 to a neighbour, and have not expressed repentance 
 and remedied the evil, and of persons in an unfor- 
 giving or revengeful state of mind. 2. By the admo- 
 nition in the sendee, which is appointed to be read at 
 
198 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 the time when notice of the intended celebration of 
 the ordinance is given, the characters are described 
 whom the Church pronounces unfit to come to the 
 Lord's table, and such persons are warned not to 
 appear there, unless they have come under a spirit 
 of genuine repentance. In fact, nothing can be more 
 solemn or startling than the whole tone of this 
 admonition, which seems to have been specially 
 drawn up for the purpose of erecting a barrier against 
 the intrusion of unfit characters upon this sacred rite. 
 3. Besides these precautions taken by the Church in 
 her Prayer-Book, her ministers, by frequent and 
 faithful addresses on the subject from the pulpit, 
 provide that their congregations shall well understand 
 who are invited, and who are forbidden, to come to 
 the Lord's table. After this, the matter lies between 
 them and God, If the unprepared come forward 
 after Church and pulpit admonition, and private 
 ministerial expostulation, the guilt is upon their own 
 heads. The Church pretends not to the " discerning 
 of spirits," and therefore when the evidence of' the 
 outward life is sufficiently satisfactory, she conceives 
 that she would be usurping God's prerogative if she 
 affected to decide upon the inward spiritual condition. 
 If she exercised an authority upon the evidence (the 
 doubtful and most deceptive evidence,) of frames and 
 feelings, she might, by forbidding approach to the 
 table, " break the bruised reed, and make sad those 
 
ON FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 199 
 
 whom God had not made sad ; " and, by licensing 
 an approach, she might sustain a delusive profession, 
 and foster a spirit of successful hypocrisy. In the 
 happy expression of the able author of '* Essays on 
 the Church," she " endorses no man's pretensions." 
 She knows well that in this world no certain line, 
 no line of which eternity will prove the perfect ac- 
 curacy, can be drawn between the converted and the 
 unconverted. We may hope and believe well of those 
 who walk consistently, but we cannot pronounce 
 decisively ; and on the other hand, we may be very 
 doubtful of the state of individuals, who, to the eye 
 of God have the root of the matter in them and are 
 Christians indeed, although the manifestation of their 
 faith is as yet but very indistinct. We can lay down 
 no test which of itself can be deemed perfectly con- 
 clusive as to the determination of a man's actual 
 condition before God. The Church, acting upon this 
 principle of not presuming to pass judgment upon 
 an individual's state, except when the broad evi- 
 dence of palpable ungodliness enables her to say, 
 " by their fruit we may know r them," may indeed 
 run the risk of admitting the unconverted to the 
 table ; but upon the other hand she avoids the greater 
 danger of informing a man that she believes him to 
 be converted, and thus of rocking him to a sleep of 
 false security, if his well- sustained profession should 
 be without inward holiness. But how is it with 
 
200 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 the most of Dissenters? They attempt to put the 
 Church into the condition she was in in apostolic 
 days, when the hearts of disciples could be read 
 through the gift of " discerning of spirits." They 
 try to draw a line without possessing the knowledge 
 needful for its being drawn with accuracy. And 
 after scrutiny into character and condition being 
 had, they enrol a man among the faithful, the 
 approved of the Church. If after this act, the 
 man should prove to have been a mere profes- 
 sor, a hypocrite, has not his Church contributed 
 to deceive him ? We content ourselves with telling 
 communicants what they should be, and command- 
 ing them "to examine themselves" whether they are 
 so, and to act upon their convictions. They ex- 
 amine communicants by a church scrutiny, and an- 
 nounce them tried and found faithful. This system 
 is pregnant with evil. It fosters censoriousness, and 
 holds out a bounty to hypocrisy. On trial it has 
 been found to be unavailing ; for the admissions of 
 Dissenters themselves shew that there are ways and 
 means of getting within the select and approved 
 circle which speak ill for such church discipline. I 
 take the following passage from " The Church Mem- 
 ber's Guide." " If men of unsanctified dispositions 
 be admitted into the Church, what can be expected 
 from such individuals in a time of conflicting opinion, 
 but fuel for the flame of contention. The danger is 
 
ON FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 201 
 
 considerably increased when the individuals impro- 
 perly admitted are persons of property. For the sake 
 of its glittering exterior, many a church has taken a 
 serpent to its bosom, or to adopt a scriptural allusion, 
 has welcomed an Achan to the camp for the sake of 
 his Babylonish vest and golden wedge." (pp. 252, 
 253.) What awful injury must be done to the soul, 
 to the conscience, by the Church endorsing and ac- 
 cepting such hollow, baseless pretensions ! Surely 
 it- is better to pass no judgment than such hardening 
 and deceptive judgments as these. 
 
 Another matter in our Liturgy to which " The 
 Church Member's Guide " takes violent exception, 
 affirming it to be as bad as any thing in the Mass- 
 Book, is the absolution in the service for the visi- 
 tation of the sick. The condemned passage is as 
 follows : " Our Lord Jesus Christ who has left power 
 to his Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent 
 and believe in him, of his great mercy, forgive thee 
 thine offences ; and by his authority committed to 
 me, I absolve thee from all thy sins in the name of 
 the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 
 The entire question affecting this often-attacked pas- 
 sage, resolves itself into one point, viz. the nature of 
 the absolution recognized by the Church of England. 
 Absolution is of two kinds, magisterial and declara- 
 tory. It is the first of these that the Church of 
 Rome lays claim to, affirming that there is lodged 
 
202 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 with every priest an absolute power of absolving 
 from offences. This is clear from the following 
 quotation from the Decrees of the Council of Trent : 
 " If any one shall say that the sacramental absolution 
 of the priest is not a judicial act, but only a naked, 
 ministration of pronouncing and declaring that the 
 sins of the person confessing are remitted — let him 
 be accursed." — Session xiv. Can. 9. 
 
 Now, absolution of this character the Church of 
 England utterly disclaims. Her services every where 
 assert the same opinion, that no being but Jehovah 
 himself has the right to forgive sins and to absolve 
 sinners from their offences. In examining, then, 
 ,such a passage as this in " The Visitation of the 
 Sick," it is wrong, it is unjust, to take the expression 
 by itself : it should be taken along with the other 
 declarations on the same point in the Prayer-Book ; 
 and the judgment of the Church should be ascer- 
 tained, not by an isolated phrase, but by a collation 
 of kindred passages. This is the way we ascertain 
 the meaning of doubtful expressions in Scripture. 
 We do not regard them separately, but as fragments 
 of one consistent volume ; and we discover their 
 true signification by " comparing spiritual things ■> 
 with spiritual." Let the words in question be tried 
 by the same rule. I shall cite a few of the expres- 
 sions of the Prayer-Book, that from them the opinion 
 of the Church of England may be gathered. 
 
ON FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 203 
 
 " Almighty God — hath given power and com- 
 mandment to his ministers to declare and pronounce 
 to his people, being penitent, the absolution and 
 remission of their sins. He pardoneth and absolveth 
 all them that truly repent," &c. (Morning Prayer.) 
 
 " Almighty God— who of his great mercy hath 
 promised forgiveness of sins to all them that with 
 hearty repentance and true faith turn unto him, have 
 mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all 
 your sins," &c. (Absolution in Communion Service.) 
 
 "Almighty God, who dost forgive the sins of all 
 them that are penitent," &c. (Collect for Ash-Wed- 
 nesday.) 
 
 "Almighty God— we do earnestly repent and are 
 heartily sorry for these our misdoings. Have mercy 
 upon us, most merciful Father; for thy Son our 
 Lord Jesus Christ's sake, forgive us all that is past," 
 (Confession in Communion Service.) 
 
 " O most mighty God and merciful Father — mer- 
 cifully forgive us our trespasses. Thy property is 
 always to have mercy, to thee only it appertaineth to 
 forgive sins." (Confession in Commination Service.) 
 
 These quotations, which are but a very few of 
 those which might be brought forward, sufficiently 
 declare the views of the Church of England respect- 
 ing absolution ; that she holds that God alone has 
 the prerogative of forgiving sins, and that her minis- 
 ters are allowed to declare and announce his for- 
 
204 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 giveness to all that are truly penitent. It is not 
 likely that the compilers of the Liturgy would hold 
 one opinion in so many passages, and a different one 
 in this particular instance. And, indeed, the service 
 itself bears most decided evidence that this expression 
 must be viewed as simply declarative. In the abso- 
 lution itself, the minister thus prays : " Our Lord 
 Jesus Christ— forgive thee thine offences." This is 
 said in the same breath with the words censured ; it 
 lies within the same few lines which compose the 
 whole absolution. Is it at all probable that two 
 contradictions should or could be placed by men of 
 sense and thoughtfulness in such close juxta-position. 
 But let the prayer immediately succeeding the abso- 
 lution in the. service be noted; in it the minister 
 thus expresses himself " O most merciful God — 
 forasmuch as he (the sick and supposed penitent 
 person) putteth his full trust only in thy mercy, 
 impute not to him his former sins." If the sick 
 person be absolved (judicially), which is what our 
 adversaries would have it supposed is our belief, why 
 should a prayer for forgiveness just after the absolu- 
 tion be offered up ? The truth is, that the sick per- 
 son, being upon his own confession — a confession 
 made in a solemn service, under circumstances which 
 are above all others calculated to banish hypocrisy — 
 presumed to be repentant, the minister announces 
 the promised forgiveness of God to him. But this is 
 
ON" FORMS OF PRAYER . 
 
 205 
 
 not Popish absolution. Nothing but extreme igno- 
 rance, or a total lack of that " Christian charity " 
 which thinketh no evil, could have dictated the 
 charge to which this note is intended to be a reply. 
 
 The expression, " I absolve thee," as a mere decla- 
 rative announcement, is very natural. In our Lord's 
 commission to his apostles (John xx. 23), we find 
 this declaration : " Whosesoever sins ye remit, they 
 are remitted unto them." This sounds very abso- 
 lute. What is its meaning? Let Dissenting com- 
 mentators reply. " Whosesoever sins ye declare 
 to be forgiven, they are forgiven." (Doddridge's 
 Paraphrase.) "This is to be understood only in a 
 ministerial way ; declaring that all such persons as 
 do so repent and believe, all their sins are forgiven 
 for Christ's sake, and accordingly they are remitted 
 to them." (Gill's Commentary.) In almost the same 
 language speaks Matthew Henry. So that the 
 Church of England, in using an expression sounding 
 very absolute, only follows the Bible, and claims no 
 more in the words in question than what Christ 
 granted in the passage on which the absolution is 
 evidently built. His meaning, as we have seen from 
 the above comments, was merely that his ministers 
 should announce God's forgiveness to the penitent. 
 It is this our Church does. The internal evidence of 
 the Visitation Service, the parallel passages through- 
 out the Liturgy, and the fixing of the import of the 
 
206 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 commission granted to the apostles, all combine to 
 prove that her absolution is not judicial, but declara- 
 tive. To this can any one object ? 
 
 C.— p. 89. 
 
 There are many evidences in the early writers, of 
 the " Lord's Prayer" having been regarded and used 
 as a form in the primitive Church. I select three, one 
 from Jerome, one from Augustine, the last from 
 Cyprian. " Sic docuit Christus, &c." — So Christ in- 
 structed his Apostles, that believing in the sacrifice 
 of his body, they should dare daily to say " Our 
 Father which art in Heaven, &c." Adv. Pelag. lib. 
 III. c. 15. 
 
 " Omnis vel pene omnis ecclesia, &c."— " It is the 
 custom of the whole, or nearly the whole Church, to 
 hear recited prayers, which are made in the celebra- 
 tion of the Sacrament, before that which is upon the 
 Lord's table begins to be blessed : prayers when it 
 is blessed, and consecrated, and broken for distribu- 
 tion, which entire service, nearly all the Church 
 concludes with the Lord's Prayer." Epis. 59. qu. 5. ' 
 
 " He who hath given us life hath taught us how 
 to pray, with the same indulgence and benignity 
 wherewith he hath conferred upon us numerous other 
 benefits and mercies; and when we address the. 
 
ON FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 207 
 
 Father in the language of the Son, and in the man- 
 ner which the Son hath recommended, without all 
 peradventure, the Father will hear us," Be Orat. 
 Dom.p. 137. 
 
 D. -p. 105. 
 
 There is nothing unkind intended by this allusion. 
 It is a matter of fact and history, that Arianism to a 
 large extent infected the Presbyterian Church in 
 Ulster. The proceedings of a late Synod, by which 
 a separation (much to the honor of that Church) was 
 effected between the heretical and orthodox congre- 
 gations brought to light the startling amount of the 
 evil, and proved that the pulpit of itself can never be 
 regarded as a sure bulwark against the inroad of 
 fatally erroneous opinions. 
 
 E. — p. 110. 
 
 This view, that we are warranted in retaining 
 what is sound and unobjectionable in the Church of 
 Rome, was held strongly by the Reformers. The 
 following passage is from Zanchius, the intimate 
 friend of Calvin. " We do not depart entirely and 
 in all things, from the Roman Church, but in 
 those things only in which she hath departed from 
 
208 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 the ancient and pure Apostolic Church, and so hath 
 departed from herself ; nor do we leave her with any 
 other mind than this, that if she, being corrected, 
 will return to the original state of the Church, we 
 also mav return to her." De Eccles. Mil. Vol. 8. 
 p. 540. 
 
209 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 A.— p. 125. 
 
 It appears from the Preface that this Catechism 
 containing so many misstatements and drawn up 
 in the very worst spirit, has not only been actively 
 circulated by ministers of the Synod of Ulster, but 
 recommended by them to their flocks in a manner 
 still more emphatic. The publisher expresses " a 
 trust that those ministers who have not yet recom- 
 mended the Catechism from their Pulpits, or otherwise 
 disseminated it among their hearers, may be induced 
 to imitate their (those who have circulated it) 
 example ; and go and do likewise." — Page 5. 
 
 B.-p. 127. 
 
 I am aware that it has been denied by some 
 commentators, that the expression, " Let all things 
 be done decently and in order," has any reference 
 to rites and ceremonies. But it seems quite evident 
 that the " all things" refers to the matter treated of 
 p 
 
210 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 in the three last chapters of the Epistle, in which 
 there is much concerning rites and ceremonies. 
 The " in order" entirely respects discipline in the 
 rites and ceremonies, since it has an especial regard 
 to the ministrations in the congregation. See 
 BloowfielcV s Recens. Syn. in loco. 
 
 C. -p. 140. 
 
 " The first of these offices as early as the second 
 century, fyc." — The Nicene Council speaks of metro- 
 politan Bishops as having been settled by ancient 
 custom long before ; and Athanasius speaking of a 
 Bishop of Alexandria, who lived above sixty years 
 before that Council, says, " he also enjoyed this 
 power, having the care of the Churches of Pentapolis 
 and Lybia, where Sabellius breathed his heresy, and 
 that he wrote letters of admonition to several 
 Bishops, of those parts who began to be infected 
 by his heresy." See Bingham's Antiquities. Book 
 2. c. 16. 
 
 D. — p. 142. 
 
 " The early Church of Britain was pure and 
 Scriptural." — It has always been the endeavour of 
 the Church of Rome to make the world believe that 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 211 
 
 Britain received Christianity at first through the efforts 
 of Papal Missionaries, and consequently that the first 
 faith of the British Church was in accordance with 
 the doctrines of the Church of Rome. This in all 
 its parts is utterly false ; Christianity flourished in 
 Britain and in Ireland long before the Roman Church 
 had any connection with these countries. The first 
 notice which Rome Papal took of Britain was in the 
 middle of the seventh century, when Augustine the 
 monk was commissioned by Pope Gregory to under- 
 take the christianizing of England. But the following 
 authorities will shew that the Gospel had been 
 introduced and accepted centuries before that period. 
 In his work against the Jews, Tertullian (a. d. 190.) 
 says, " The Parthians, the Medes, the several tribes 
 of Getulid, the many limits of the Moors, all the 
 remote quarters of Spain, and the divers peoples of 
 Gaul, and those parts of Britain which are inaccessible 
 to the Romans, have been subdued by Christ." 
 Origen. (a. d. 230) asks, in his 4th Horn, in Ezek. 
 M when did the land of Britain, before the coming of 
 Christ, consent to the religion of one God." 
 
 Jerome, (a. d. 378) asserts, " The British Isles 
 adore one Christ, and observe one rule of faith." 
 
 Chrysostom, (a. d. 398) in a discourse entitled 
 " Christ is God," remarks, " The British Islands 
 which are situated beyond the sea, and lie in the 
 very ocean, have experienced the power of the Word, 
 p 2 
 
212 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 for there Churches have been founded, and altars have 
 been erected." 
 
 But this point is a matter of History. In several 
 parts of his History, Bede, writing himself in the 
 ninth century, admits the existence of Christianity in 
 Britain long previous to the mission of Augustine. 
 He describes a persecution which the British Christ- 
 ians sustained in the fourth century, during which, 
 churches were burned, the innocent proscribed, and 
 martyrs were slaughtered. In this time of trial, 
 Alban suffered martyrdom near to the present St. 
 Albans; (See the first book of his History, ch. 7.) 
 It is besides upon record, that Bishops from Britain 
 attended the Council of Aries, convened by Con- 
 stantine in the year 314, and that of Sardica in the 
 year 347. This last fact is asserted both by Athana- 
 sius and Hilary. These testimonies, to which many 
 others might be added, put it beyond question that 
 at a very early period, certainly five centuries before 
 Rome Papal turned her attention towards the 
 inhabitants of these countries, the Gospel was 
 preached to them, and Christianity implanted among 
 them. 
 
 It only remains for us now to enquire into the 
 nature of the Christianity which the Britons of the 
 early centuries adopted. That it was not in accord- 
 ance with the substitute for Christianity which 
 formed the religion of Rome in the seventh century, 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 213 
 
 may be gathered from many records. My limits 
 only permit of the introduction of one. Augustine 
 held a conference with the British Bishops, the 
 object of which was to force upon them his own 
 opinions, and to bring them as the representatives 
 of the British Church into subjection to the see of 
 Rome. His address to them is given in " Bede's 
 Ecclesiastical History." " In many respects you act 
 in a manner contrary to our customs, and indeed to 
 those of the Universal Church; and yet, if you will 
 obey me in three things, to celebrate Easter at the 
 proper time, to perform the office of Baptism accord- 
 ing to the custom of the Holy Roman and Apostolic 
 Church, and with us- to preach the Word of God to 
 the British nation, we will tolerate all your other 
 customs, though contrary to our own." lib. hi. c. 3, 
 In the reply to this arrogant proposal, it was ex- 
 pressly stated by the British Bishops, that the 
 brotherly subjection of love they were ready to render 
 " to the Bishop of Rome and to every godly Christ- 
 ian, but that other obedience than this they knew 
 not to be due to him whom he called the Pope of 
 Rome, and that they were under the government of 
 the Bishop of Caerleon (in Monmouthshire)." 
 From all this it is evident that the ancient British 
 Church was separate from the Church of Rome in 
 opinion, customs, discipline, and government. It 
 was Apostolic, when she had departed from the faith 
 
214 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 once delivered to the Saints. The hand of persecu- 
 tion, (for the British ecclesiastics were put to the 
 sword by the cruel and exterminating policy which 
 has ever marked the decrees of the Vatican,) and the 
 insidiousness of error, uprooted and corrupted this 
 once pure witness of the Truth, and overspread the 
 vineyard with tares. The Reformation plucked them 
 up ; and restored to England its privileges, its religi- 
 ous independence, and its ancient faith. 
 
 E. — p. 144. 
 
 " Reformation not a revolution." — This is ad- 
 mitted by the historian Mosheim, although his 
 English translator has, for some reason, neglected to 
 convey his meaning. Speaking of the Church of 
 England by Elizabeth, he says, "By this means, that 
 Reformation of the old religion, (ilia quidem veteris re- 
 ligionis correctio ) which separated the English Church 
 equally from Popery and from the other churches 
 which had renounced its domination, was confirmed 
 and established." — See Bp. Jebb's Corres. vol. i. bib. 
 
 F. — p. 154. 
 
 Besides the feasts mentioned in this paragraph, 
 there were several others observed in Israel for 
 which no command is to be found in Scripture ; 
 
CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH. 215 
 
 such as the fast of the fourth month, (Jer. Hi. 6, 7) ; 
 the fast of the fifth month, on account of the burning 
 of the temple and city, (2 Kings xxv. 8) ; and that 
 of the seventh month, on account of the murder of 
 Gedaliah, (2 Kings xxv. 25) ; and the fast of the 
 tenth month, when the Babylonian army commenced 
 the siege of Jerusalem ; (Jer. Hi. 4). These are all 
 enumerated in Zech. viii. 19, and the authority for 
 these must be found in the power of the Church to 
 ordain them. This was Augustine's opinion, (as 
 (quoted by Hooker) " In these things, whereof the 
 Scripture appointeth no certainty, the use of the 
 people of God or the ordinances of our Fathers 
 must serve for a law. In which case, if we will dis- 
 pute and condemn one sort by another's custom, it 
 will be but matter of endless contention."— Epis. 36. 
 
 G. — p. 156. 
 
 " The posture of kneeling at the Lord's Supper 
 commendable. "—It is not undeserving of remark 
 that the custom of sitting was first brought into the 
 Church by the Arians, who denying the divinity of 
 the Saviour, thought it no robbery to be equal with 
 him. It was for this reason banished from the 
 Reformed Church of Poland, by a general synod, 
 a.d. 1583. I give this on the authority of Wheatley 
 in his Work on the Book of Common Prayer, p. 312. 
 
216 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 H.— p. 167. 
 
 It appears from many passages in the Fathers, 
 that the practice of signing with the cross in Baptism 
 is of very ancient standing in the Church. Tertul- 
 lian says, " the flesh is signed, that the soul may be 
 fortified;" — De Reszir. c. 8. Cyprian, "the fore- 
 head of a Christian is sanctified with the sign of 
 God;" — De Lap sis. p. 122. Lactantius describes 
 Christians as those " who have been marked upon 
 the forehead with the cross," — Lib. iv. c. 26. 
 Chrysostom says, " that it is the glory of Christians, 
 " that they carry in their forehead the sign of 
 the cross," — Psalm ex. Basil asserts that " an 
 ecclesiastical constitution had prevailed from the 
 Apostles' days, that those who believed in the name 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ should be signed with the 
 sign of the cross." — De Spir. Sane. c. 27. 
 
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 By HUGH PEARSON, D. D. Dean of Salisbury. 
 With Portrait, price 6s. in cloth. 
 
PUBLISHED BY R. B. SEELEY AND W. BURNSIDE. 
 
 CHURCH HISTORY. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, 
 From the Apostolic Times to the Rise of the Papal Apostacy, 
 FROM MILNER. 
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 BRAINERD. 
 
 THE LIFE OF THE REV. DAVID BRAINERD, 
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 Bv the Rev. JOSIAH PRATT, B. D. 
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 THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES. 
 
 THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD, 
 As they may be contemplated by the Christian ; 
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 By the Rev. W. WILSON, D. D, Vicar of Holy Rhood, Southampton. 
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 THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
 A SCRIPTURE HELP; 
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 NEWTON. 
 
 A LIFE OF THE REV. JOHN NEWTON, 
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 THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
 
 A TREATISE ON THE LORD'S SUPPER ; 
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 THE TESTIMONY OF THE REFORMERS: 
 
 Selected from the Writings of Jewell, Cranmer, Bradford, Ridley, 
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 By the Rev. E. BICKERSTETH. 
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 ON PRAYER : 
 
 A TREATISE ON PRAYER, 
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 SCOTT : 
 
 THE LIFE OF THE REV. THOMAS SCOTT. 
 
 RECTOR OF ASTON SANDFORD, BUCKS J 
 
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 PROPHECY: 
 
 ELEMENTS OF PROPHETICAL INTERPRETATION. 
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 FRANKE: 
 
 THE LIFE OF AUG. HERMAN FRANKE. 
 Professor of Divinity ; and Founder of the Orphan House at Halle. 
 Translated from the German of Guericke ; By SAMUEL JACKSON. 
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 LUTHER ON THE PSALMS: 
 
 A MANUAL OF THE BOOK OF PSALMS : 
 On the Subject Contents of all the Psalms ; By MARTIN LUTHER. 
 Now first translated into English BY REV. HENRY COLE, 
 Late of Clare-Hall Cambridge. 
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