:^ 
 
 ^'V^id.i. iMk HiAl 
 
 Islinf^ton, Eng. 
 
 Louer- Street Chapel 
 
 Introductory Discourse 
 On Occasion of the 
 R^v. Henry Mrrchniont 
 ing Publicly Reco^ized as 
 Paster of the Church 
 
 % 
 
 ^ %.^'.,.- 
 
^W OF Pfi,,i^ 
 OCT 12 1951 
 Logical s^^^ 
 
 
Dcu 
 
 RECOGNITION SEllVl^CE 
 
 AT 
 
 LOWER STREET CHAPEL, ISLINGTON, 
 
 ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRirARY 23, 1848, 
 
 ON OCCASION 1 1 THE 
 
 REV. HENRY MARCHMONT 
 
 (Late of Chester) 
 BEING PUBLICLY RECOGNISED AS PASTOR OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 After readinp: and Prayer, by the Rev. Samuel Luke, (of 
 Orange Street Chapel, hite of Chester,) the following 
 
 $ntrotiurtorp l3i2?rour£»e 
 
 WAS DELIVEBED BY THE 
 
 REV. T. W. JENKYN, D.D., 
 
 (President of Coward College.) 
 
 My dear Christian friends in the church of Christ in Lower-street, Islington, 
 
 I call your attention, on this very interesting and solemn occasion, to tliat 
 
 part of the Word of God which you will find in the twelfth chapter of St. 
 Paul's second epistle to the Cormthians, at the former part of tlie thirteenth 
 verse : — 
 
 " What is it wherein ije ivere inferior to other churches?" 
 
 The apostle Paul addressed this letter to the church at Corinth. lie knew 
 the state of all other Christian churches ; he knew the principles on which 
 they had been formed — he knew the varioiis customs wliich they had observed, 
 in their various congregational meetings ; and he knew also the state of the 
 church at Corinth, and the principles on wliich that church had been formed, 
 and the customs which were observed on that church ; and therefore, when 
 writing liis second epistle to them, after they had had some suspicions about 
 his confidence in them, he says—" What is it wlierein ye Avere inferior to other 
 churches , except it be that I myself w.as not burdensome to you ?"— clearly 
 implying, that the only inferiority in Christian churches is when Christian 
 churches do not properly support then- ministers. The only inferiority in 
 Christian churches is when any given church is inferior in liberality to the 
 cause of Jesus Christ among them. 
 
 Now in the words which I have read to you this morning, we have a general 
 principle, capable of being applied to any particular case, or to any particular 
 church. As", for instance : if I had to deliver this discourse in Scotland, I 
 should ask an Independent congregation — " What is it wherein ye are inferior 
 to Presbyterian churches ?" If 1 had to preach upon tliis subject in Canada, 
 where our government has been pleased to establish Popery, I should say to a 
 dissenting congregation — "What is it wherein ye are inferior to Popish 
 churches ?" But as I am. now preaching to an English congregation, in 
 England, I should be disposed to say to you, as a congregational people — 
 " What is it wherein ye are inferior to the Church of England ?" 
 
 Now the very fact of the apostle asking this question supposes, that except 
 in liberality and generosity in the support of the ministry, the Corinthian 
 church was equal, if not superior, to all other churclies ; but now I will take 
 it upon the mere question of equality : " What is it wherein ye were inferior 
 to other churches ?" And I may perhaps be allowed to make two statements, 
 before I enter immediately upon the answer to this question. 
 
 The first is, that whatever I shall say about the Church of England, I do 
 
 THE PULrlT, vol,. :>3.— NO. 1,389.- MAltCH 9, IS-IS. P 
 
182 KECOGNITION SERVICE AT LOWER STREET CHAPEL, ISLINGTON. 
 
 not mean to apply to any good men, to any faithful ministers, whom you 
 know in the Church of England ; hut I mean to apply it to the system. Thus, 
 if any persons were to come and deliver a lecture to you on the subject of 
 peace, and were to dilate to you on the subject of war, they would expose to 
 you all its attrocities ; but then they would tell you that they did not mean 
 to apply this to the men that were employed in the army or navy, but to the 
 system. And it is to the system that I wish to apply all the remarks that 1 
 shall make this morning. I wish to "speak the truth in love ;" and therefore 
 I shall apply all my remarks to the system, and not at all to the men. 
 
 Another remark which I wished to make was, that I desire to appeal 
 more directly to the young people of London and in this congregation — to the 
 sons and the daughters of Dissenters ; and therefore I wish to give them a 
 distinct outline, and a well-defined outline, of dissenting and of nonconformist 
 principles, so that they cannot possibly misunderstand them. I crave, then, 
 the indulgence of my audience in general, and throw myself particularly in 
 the hands of my Christian brethren who are here listening to me on this 
 occasion. 
 
 Now I should like to apply myself to the question — " What is it wherein 
 any Independent church is inferior to other churches ?" You can apply this 
 to any church you please ; the Church of Scotland — the Church of Rome— the 
 Greek Church — the Lutheran Church — the Reformed Church ; and the 
 remarks I shall make I should like you to apply to any given church whatever. 
 And as members of this church I would ask you — " What is it wherein you 
 are inferior to other churches ?" 
 
 L Is it in the right of private judgment ? Is it in your deliberate convic- 
 tion that you ought to obey thfe will of God, more than the Avill of men ? This 
 is the very first principle — that every man ought to obey the will of God, 
 more than he obeys the will of man ; this is the very foundation of all noncon- 
 formity. This is the very principle on which Daniel and the three Hebrew 
 children acted, when they said they would not bow their knees to the image 
 which Nebuchadnezzar had set up; this is the very principle on wliich the 
 apostles separated themselves from the established religion of Judea ; this is 
 the very principle on which Luther and his coadjutors, and all the reformed 
 churches, have separated themselves from the Church of Rome ; this is the 
 very principle on which you, as Congregationalists and Dissenters, claim a 
 right to differ and to separate from all other people, and to decide for your- 
 selves as to the will of God. 
 
 Now we have two distinct statements of this kind in the sacred Scriptures. 
 In the fourth chapter of the Acts, and the nineteenth verse, you will find that 
 the first ministers of religion had been called before magistrates — a priestly 
 magistracy ; and the people said to these priestly magistrates—" AVhether it 
 be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge 
 ye." AVhat noble Nonconformists these were ! They disputed the very right 
 of these magistrates to interfere with them about the preaching of the Gospel 
 and the ministrations of the truth. They appealed to their judges whether 
 their laws or their enactments were right, and ought to be obeyed ; and suppo- 
 sing that these priests and these magistrates might have a predilection in 
 favour of their enactments, then they appealed from their judgment to the 
 sight of God, and asked these judges and priests — " Whether it be right in the 
 sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye ?" This is 
 the very foundation-stone of all nonconformity — the very foundation principle 
 of all Protestantism — the very foundation of all dissent. 
 
 After these apostles and first ministers had been preaching in several places, 
 they were brought before the magistrates as transgressors of their order ; and 
 therefore, in the fifth chapter of the Acts, and the twenty-eighth and twenty- 
 ninth verses, these magistrates and these priests said — " Did not we straitly 
 command you that ye should not teach in this name ? and, behold, ye have 
 filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon 
 us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said. We ought to obey 
 God rather than men." Here they would not promise to desist from preach- 
 ing ; they said that they owed allegiance to a higher authority than the autho- 
 rity of the priest and of the magistrate ; they would not submit to human 
 prohibitions. The priests and the magistrates said to them—" Did not we," 
 
RECOGNITION SERVICE AT LOAVEU STREET CHAPEL, ISLINGTON. 183 
 
 the priests and the elders — " did not we," the very appointed committee of 
 public instruction — "did not we straitly command that ye should not preach ?" 
 * Not only, we would not give you a licence to preach ; but wo forbad you to 
 preach.' ' Yes,' might I'eter say, ' you did order us ; but did not I tell you. at 
 the very same time, that God's authority was suiierior to yours ?' Here, 
 therefore, we lind a band of noble Nonconformists, of spiritual heroes, vA\o ap- 
 pealed to a maxim which the very laws of nature recognize, and which every 
 human conscience approves ; and they declared, that in the discharge of their 
 duty towards God, towards the world, and towards a Christian church, tliey 
 would not submit to magistrates, or to any priesthood whatever. 
 
 Now this is the very position which you occupy, and there are other 
 churches acting precisely the same with you. And " what is it wherein ye 
 are inferior to other churches ?" Are you inferior to the Church of England ? 
 Why, the Church of England says that it differs from the Chui-ch of Rome ; it 
 professes to do so — though we might say to a good many in the Church of 
 England, " They of Italy salute you." But they profess to be separate from 
 the Church of Rome ; and they claim the right of private opinion, to differ 
 from the Lutheran Church, the Helvetic Confession, and all the other reformed 
 churches. They claim the right to differ from the Established Church of 
 Scotland ; and you claim the right to differ from the Church of England. 
 " What 16 it," then, " wherein ye are inferior to other churches ?" You claim 
 the right to differ from the Church of England — not from any disposition to 
 schism, as it is called, — but you exercise your own right of judging of things 
 according as you see them in the Word of God. Talk of schism, and being 
 schismatical ! why, there is no schism in the whole globe like the schism 
 of the Cimrch of England ; there is no body more schismatic upon the face of 
 the earth, than the clergy and the hierarchy of the Church of England. I 
 should like to know — can you tell me ? — with what body of Cln-istians on the 
 face of the entire globe the Church of England holds communion. It claims 
 a right to separate from the Church of Rome ; it has no communion whatever 
 with the Lutheran Church, or the Helvetic Church, or the Church of Geneva, 
 or the Church of Holland ; so that if a real apostolic successor of Luther were 
 to come here and ask to preach at any Episcopal Church in Islington, or in 
 London, he would not be allowed to do it. This is bad enough ; but it is not 
 the worst. There are persons in America, who believe that episcopalianism is 
 the right form of Church government ; but if Bishop M'llvaine, or any other 
 American bishop, were to come over to England, and want to preach in one of 
 its ei)iscopal churches, not one would give him a pulpit. But there is some- 
 thing nwre than that. There are bishops in Scotland — bishops made by the 
 bishops of the Church of England ; and yet if these bishops just cross the 
 Tweed, and are invited by any congregation or church to come and preach in 
 the Church of England, they dare not. And the episcopalian clergy of the 
 Church of England dare not preach in America, in Scotland, or in Holland. 
 Talk of being schismatical ! talk of branding Dissenters as schismatics ! why, 
 this Church of England sect, this Parliamentary denomination in England, "is 
 the most sectarian and schismatical sect in the whole globe. Well, they claim 
 the right to exercise private judgment, and by all means let us give it them — 
 for liberty of conscience is not the liberty of my conscience, but the liberty of 
 every man's conscience. But when these men call us schismatics, it is un- 
 worthy of them — it is base — it is wicked — it is unchristian. You also claim 
 the right of private judgment, and are on an equality with every church. 
 " What is it," then, " wherein ye are inferior to other churches ?" 
 
 II. But, in the second place, is it in the authority to teach ? Is it in the 
 authority to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ ? 
 
 This leads me to consider the second principle of nonconformity, namely, 
 that every man who understands the will of God is authorised to teach it ; 
 every man who understands what his Maker wills concerning another man is 
 authorised to teach it. This is evident from the instructions of Jesus Christ 
 to His disciples : " Ye are the light of the world ;" " ye are the salt of the 
 earth." This involves every Christian. " No one lighteth a candle, and put- 
 teth it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that it may give light unto all 
 that are in the house." There is a generality of application. Probably the 
 apostles at one time seemed to hesitate about this ; and when there was a good 
 
184 RECOGNITION SERVICE AT LOWER STREET CHAPEL, ISLINGTON. 
 
 man doing good in the name of Jesus Clirist, they asked our Lord to forbid 
 him, because he followed not with them — because he did not belong to tlieir 
 sect or denomination. But what did the Saviour of the world say ? Why, 
 He said — " Forbid him not." Wherever you see a man concerned for the 
 salvation of the souls of others, and for gathering them to Jesus Christ, do 
 not forbid him, but bid him " God speed.." Therefore our Lord said — 
 " Preach the Gospel to every creature;" " teach all nations." Can you ima- 
 gine any terms more comprehensive and more significative than these ? But 
 these instructions were not merely confined to apostles ; for at the persecution 
 which occurred at the stoning of Stephen, it is said that " they went every- 
 where preaching the Word ;" but all the apostles, all the ministers, stayed at 
 Jerusalem. Who gave the people authority to preach the Word ? Who gave 
 them licence to preach the Word ? who gave them power to preach the Word ? 
 They went upon the principle of the instruction which they liad first of all 
 received from their Lord. They had a full heart and an open mouth ; and 
 they " went everywhere preaching the Word." But besides this, in the four- 
 teenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians, and the thirty -first verse, 
 you will find what was the rule in the apostolic churches. It v as this : " Ye 
 may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all be comforted." 
 " Prophesy" here means, not to predict future events, but to explain the 
 Scriptures, to explain the mind of God, to teach the will of God to others. 
 Then every member of the Church of Christ has this right ; and this epistle 
 to the Corinthians was written, not to confirm the right — certainly not to for- 
 bid the right — but it was written just to regulate it, just to give directions how 
 to apply it. All the primitive churches, then, like the church at Corinth, had 
 a right to prophesy, a right to teach ; for here Paul distinctly asserts, " Ye 
 may all prophesy." And he founds this assertion on God's authority : " the 
 things that I write unto you," he says, " are the commandments of the Lord." 
 And he shows the use of this power in the Christian church : in order " that 
 all may learn" — in order that others may understand — in order that others 
 may prophesy, too — in order " that all may be comforted." So that by being 
 authorised to teach, I mean, that every man who knows the will of God is 
 authorised to teach it ; that he would contract guilt on his own soul, if he did 
 not teach it — if he held back the truth of God in unrighteousness. Teach it ; 
 teach it at home — not wait for a j^riest to come and teach his children ; teach 
 it in his family^teach it to his relatives — not leaving all that to a priest ; 
 teach it to his own immediate neighbourhood — so that if, in the providence of 
 God, he were located in any place where darkness, gross darkness, covered the 
 people, he himself, though perhaps a merchant of London, might there make 
 himself a minister of Christ, and teach the neighbourhood there what the will 
 of God is. This is the principle upon which all our young men enter the 
 ministry ; and this is the principle recognized in the Church of England. 
 When a Church of England candidate presents himself to the bishop, he is 
 obliged to swear, that he has been " moved by the Holy Ghost." Now independ- 
 ently of all the conversation that has taken place about this boy getting into 
 the ministry, this or that living being in the family, and a desire to confer it on 
 this boy — we will suppose all the reality and spirituality of this oath, that the 
 lad is " moved by the Holy Ghost" to undertake the ministration of the truth. 
 This he swears, and he enters on this very principle. And is not this the very 
 principle on which our noble-hearted young men enter the ministry, as Dis- 
 senters ? They are " moved by the Holy Ghost ;" they tell you that the 
 Holy Spirit has been affecting their minds — they tell you of the shedding 
 abroad of that Spirit in their own hearts — they tell you, after they felt 
 all these things in their own hearts, how they were led to pity others who 
 were without the knowledge of Christ, and how they were led to 
 
 •" tell to sinners round 
 
 What a great Saviour they had found." 
 
 They tell this to the pastor and ofllcers of the church, and to the church itself ; 
 they were " moved by the Holy Ghost." " What is it," then, " wherein ye 
 are inferior to other churches ?" You have had the same suggestion, the 
 same influence, and the same power of the Holy Ghost, to induce you to enter 
 the ministry, 
 
 ni. Is it in the principles of your congregational constitution ? 
 
UECOdXlTIOX SEUVICE AX LOWER STREET CUAPEL, ISLINGTON. 185 
 
 Here let me again lead you to consider, that every congregation gathered 
 together by such a teaclier as I have just supposed to be authorised, and 
 formed into a society for uiutnal improvement in rcHgion, is a Church of Jesus 
 Christ ; and therefore, on this principle, you are, to all iiUents and purposes, 
 a real Church of Jesus Christ. It is not the administration of ordinances that 
 makes you a church, because you must be a church before you have these 
 ordinances ; it is not an adequate and a full supply of Christian officers that 
 makes you a Chiirch, because you must be a church before you have officers. 
 What is a church, then ? It is, in the language of the Church of England, 
 " a congregation of faithful men" — an assembly of people forn)ed according to 
 the spiritual nature of the kingdom of Jesus Christ — formed to hold forth 
 Christ, by doctrine, by devotion and by discipline, and formed for mutual 
 edification and instruction in Christian graces and in Christian duties. Every 
 congregation thus gathered together is a Church of Jesus Christ. I cannot 
 enlarge upon this ; but you will at once see that it was the custom of the apos- 
 tles, that whenever they converted any, they always brought them together 
 and formed them into a church. I think that we Congregationalists sometimes 
 go wrong in thinking that no church should be gathered together, unless it be 
 a large and respectable church ; the apostles gathered together a little swarm 
 in a hive, wherever they could, and let them enlarge themselves. Here, there- 
 fore, we learn, that every congregation gathered together in such a manner 
 was a Church of Christ ; and on this account " the church" is always a dis- 
 tinct congregation, and not a host of congregations gathered together — as 
 under the name of the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, or the 
 Church of America, — but each was an independent church, and capable of 
 arranging its own affairs. Now just look at the constitution of the Church 
 of England, and you will find that it is utterly impossible for its mem- 
 bers to obey the laws of Jesus Christ. In Matthew xviii. 15, 16, you wUl 
 read these words : " Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, 
 go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone ; if he shall hear 
 thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then 
 take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three wit- 
 nesses every word may be estabhshed." That they can do. " If he shall 
 neglect to hear them, teU it unto the church." How is a member of the 
 Church of England to do that ? If a member of the Church of England has a 
 misunderstanding or a quarrel with another member, he must take all these 
 steps, and at last he must go and " tell it to the church." What is he to do ? 
 What would he do in IsUngton ? Is he to call a vestry meeting and tell it ? 
 That would not be telling it to the churcli. Is he to go to an Ecclesiastical 
 Court and tell it ? Is he to go to the House of Lords and tell it ? Is he to go 
 to the Queen's Council and tell it ? It is utterly impossible ; and therefore 
 the constitution of the Church of England renders it entirely impracticable that 
 any one of its members could ever obey this cardinal precept of Jesus Christ. 
 But yon can obey it ; you liave practised it. " What is it," then, " wherein 
 ye are inferior to other churches ?" Not a whit are you behind them all. 
 
 IV. But again : is it in the call which was given to the preachers, to 
 minister to these congregations which they had gathered ? 
 
 This leads me to another consideration, namely, that the invitation given 
 to such a teacher to administer to them the ordinances of Christ regularly, is 
 a legitimate call to the office of a pastor. Jesus Christ " when H e ascended 
 up on high, gave some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; and some, evangelists ; 
 and some, pastors and teachers." They are teachers by the authority of 
 Jesus Christ, but they are pastors by the authority of the church. I do not 
 believe in the doctrine which was asserted by some of our young men, some 
 seven years ago, that all their authority was received from the church ; no, I 
 believe that the ministry is received from the Lord Jesus, but the pastorship 
 is received from the church. Jesus Christ has authorised every man to be a 
 teacher ; but he is my teacher, only by my own choice, by mj^ own will, and 
 by my own sanction. And in order to show how the ministry differs from 
 the pastoral ofiice, consider for an instant. No man in a Christian church 
 would say, ' I believe I am called of God to be a deacon ;' but any man might 
 say, 'I believe I am called of God to be a minister — to be a preacher ;' he 
 has received his ministry from the Lord Jesus. But nevertheless, his au- 
 
186 RECOGNITION SERVICIi AT LOWKR STREET CIUrEL, ISLINGTON. 
 
 tliority to teach any given church is received from that cliurch, and from 
 that church alone. Let me ilhistrate this hy a very few considerations, to 
 show that the choice of oflficcrs is altogether vested in the church. For in- 
 stance : the members of a church, however small in number they may be, are 
 the best judges of who will suit them. AVhy, even in England all men are 
 deemed the best judges to choose who shall teach them in the sciences, and in 
 the arts, and in the schools, and in seminaries of hterature ; however difficult 
 the case of bodily ailment may be, every man has a right to choose his own 
 physician ; and however intricate his affairs may be, the English Constitution 
 supposes that he may choose his own lawyer; and beyond all this, it supposes 
 that peasants and artisans may choose their own senators, the very makers of 
 the law ; but worst of all, the Church of England supposes, that although men 
 can select their own physicians, to take care of their bodies — although they 
 can select their own lawyers, to manage their own temporal afTairs — although 
 they can select their own senators, to make their laws — they cannot choose 
 their own minister, their ov/n pastor, their own clergyman. Now is this 
 right ? You know well, that in all this you are not " inferior to other 
 churches." How does the minister of the church of England get introduced 
 there ? He must get what is called a title. He must get some friendly 
 clergyman to let him read prayers for a given time. That is his title to enter 
 the ministry. And not only so, but even a bishop must get an election or 
 consecration. But how is all this ? Why, the late affair in our own city 
 throws so much light upon all the legerdemain of making men clergymen and 
 bishops, that it is almost an insult to ask an intelligent church like that of 
 Islington — " What is it wherein ye are inferior to Bow Church" — what is it 
 wlierein ye are inferior to St. James's, Piccadilly — in the choice of your minis- 
 ter, and in the choice of your bishop ? 
 
 V. In the next place, the public announcement of such an invitation, by 
 the lifting up of the hands of the members of the church, and where attaina- 
 ble, by the laying on of the hands of the jjresbytery, is to all intents and 
 purposes a valid ordination. 
 
 " What is it," then, " wherein ye are inferior ?" In the validity of ordina- 
 tion ? Not at all ; for you will find, if you read the Scriptures, that ordi- 
 nation in the Scriptures means the suffrages of the church. And what is an 
 ordination ? A public expression of the choice of a church, accompanied 
 with the devotional services of prayer, fasting, and imposition of hands by the 
 presbytery. Upon this question I feel I cannot possibly enlarge ; but we are 
 gathered together here to-day, as a presbytery, to witness your solemnities. 
 We have come, however, by your invitation ; we claim no right to be here. 
 On this occasion the presbytery is present, not to overturn the suffrages of 
 the church, but by your invitation to receive them. We come here, not to 
 give authority to our beloved brother Mr. Marchmont to administer the ordi- 
 nances ; his authority is derived from Christ alone ; but his authority to 
 administer them to you is derived from you alone. If, however, the Church of 
 England professes to communicate anything in this particular, there we confess 
 our inferiority. But what is it that the Church of England Bishops convey ? 
 Is it anything like animal magnetism ? Is it anything like the mesmeric 
 touch, by which an ecclesiastic can throw a young candidate into an ecclesi- 
 astical state, by touching his religious or ecclesiastical organs ? But is it true ? 
 If we thought there was anj^ reality in it, we might as well put in for a share 
 of it. Were not our Puritan forefathers ordained by episcopahan bishops ? — 
 and therefore, unless we have sadly degenerated, whatever came from the 
 episcopal touch upon the heads of our Puritan and Nonconformist forefathers 
 has not, perhaps, altogether escajied from their dissenting successors. But 
 this jugglery, this legerdemain, of making a man a clergyman by the touch 
 of a bishop's hand, I cannot conceive of anything similar to it, except that of 
 consecrating burial-grounds. That Englishmen, who are the disciples of 
 Locke's Philosophy and Bacon's Experimental Pliilosophy, could believe that 
 any change is made in any tliree aei'es of ground, by a bishop, from his hand 
 nr from a shovel, scattering some soil which he has received from a previously 
 consecrated ground, and making such a difference in the soil that a dissenting 
 minister could not officiate fin it ; that Englishmen should believe this, and act 
 Rjwn this, is to me utterly unintelligible. 
 
RECOGKITION SERVICE AT LOU'En STIIEET CnAPEL, ISLINGHOK. 187 
 
 VI. I had some other thoughts hero, such as that a pastor ordained hy a 
 dissenting congregation is, to^iU intents and purposes, a New Testament 
 bishop ; but I would proceed to consider, that a church, a bishop, thus conse- 
 crated, ' as vou in IsUngton, are, to all intents and purposes, as to mflueuce 
 and authorfty, independent of all other churches and of all other bishops. 
 
 Only think of it— that there is no power in England, no power m Europe, 
 no power in the universe, that could make you form yourselves into a church ; 
 consequently, no power in England, no power in Europe, no power m the 
 world, could make vou receive any officers which you were not wilhng to re- 
 ceive.' Now you are independent. But by independent we mean, that other 
 churches cannot interfere with you. The cluirch in Claremont chapel cannot 
 interfere with you— the church in Union chapel cannot interfere with you. 
 You are perfectly independent in doctrine ; and I hope my dear brother will 
 have an opportunity of stating his doctrine in his own terms, and not in any 
 form of expression dictated by any man. We want a little more intellectual 
 liberty in this waj', even among dissenters, because I have found, (especially 
 since I came to London,) that our churches and ministers have their thirty- 
 nine articles, and that if any brother happens to have but thirtj" -eight, or if 
 he happens to have forty, he is looked upon with suspicion ; but I hope my 
 dear brother will assert his noble mdependence, and preach his doctrine in his 
 own way. And neither can anybody palm upon you any form of devotion. 
 You can conduct your devotional exercises in any way you like ; nobody can 
 tell vou that vou ought to pray in this way, or praise in another way. I am 
 sorry to find,'that among many ministers, and perhaps members of churches, 
 there is a disposition to favour a liturgy. A liturgy !— why, there was noth- 
 ing- of the kind in the early history of the Christian church. Paul instructs 
 his son Timothy to tell men how to pray " for kings and for all in authority. 
 If there had been such a thing as a form of prayer, he would never have given 
 that direction. 'But,' some dissenters say, 'they have such beautiful prayers, 
 such a beautiful Liturgy, such a beautiful service, in the church of England.^ 
 Beautiful ! has God ever promised to answer beautiful prayers ? Is "beauty 
 ever applied to prayer in the sacred Scriptures ? When a beggar comes to 
 vour door, will you ever give him anything merely because he makes a 
 beautiful praver ? When you send a petition to the House of Commons, wiU 
 it be granted because it is such a beautiful prayer? And when a poor 
 prisoner in Newgate sends a petition for a reprieve, will the monarch ever 
 grant it, because it is such a beautiful prayer ? Beautiful ! and where are 
 all these beauties ? Have you never experienced what you call beauty, in £n 
 extemporaneous expression of a mind and a heart wrestling with God? 
 Beauty ! do you never regard that as the worst of all epithets which can be 
 applied to the prayer of a man wrestling with God for the blessing which he 
 needs ? And not only in devotion, but also in discipline you are perfectly 
 independent. In the churches at Corinth and Galatia, for instance, there were 
 great doctrinal errors— they were not sound in the faith ; but no church 
 thought of interfering— the apostle addressed them in a letter. The church 
 at Antioch was shown to be independent of the church at Jerusalem, and the 
 church at Jerusalem was independent of the church at Antioch— they never 
 thought of interfering with each other's discipline or doctrine ; and therefore 
 it is quite apparent, that every church is independent of all other churches. 
 
 Vir. But finally, every such Christian church, gathered together by such a 
 minister, is perfectly distinct and separate from the political and religious con- 
 stitution of the nation or state in which it is formed. _^ 
 
 " What is it," then, " wherein ye are inferior to other churches ?"' The 
 union of the church and state is completely forbidden by one declaration of 
 our Saviour—" My kingdom is not of this world." A heathen monarch has 
 no power at all to interfere with religion. Only put the question to your- 
 selves : how is it, for instance, that the Queen of Madagascar has no power 
 nor authority to interfere with Christian churches there ? But suppose the 
 Queen of Madagascar (or any other country) were to become Christian, would 
 she have power then ? And supposing a king and a queen— (we have our 
 icing and queen, and the Wesley ans have their king and queen joining their 
 
 churches) supposing they were to become members of a Christian church, 
 
 would that church thereby acquire any new power ? You see at once that a 
 king becoming a member of a church is only like a constable or a magistrate 
 
188 RECOGNITION SERVICE AT LOWER STREET CIIAFEL, ISLINGTON. 
 
 becoming a member of a church ; they derive no new power from it, and they 
 confer no new power upon the church to which they attach themselves. 
 ' Ah ! but,' you say, ' is ihere not a passage in the Bible, where it says that 
 kings and queens are to become " nursing fathers and nursing mothers" to the 
 church of God ?' Yes, and we wish them to become such — by their own per- 
 sonal influence, by the principles on which tliey carry on their legislation, and 
 by the force of their example. A constable ought to nurse the church of 
 Christ — but not by his club ; a soldier ought to nurse the church of Christ — 
 but not by his sword ; a king or a queen ought to foster the church of Christ 
 — but not by his sceptre. " Nursing fathers and nursing mothers" they 
 ought to be ; but we \rish them not to get above their business. By all means 
 let them be nurses, but not heads of the household. Let them become nurses ; 
 but let them obey the laws of the family, and not make any new laws. Let 
 tliem become nurses ; but let them nurse all the children, without being the 
 fondlers of some and the oppoaers of others. What would you think if a 
 nurse in your family were to select perhaps a boy and a girl — let it be Harry 
 or Charles, or Elizabeth or Mary, and make all the other children in the 
 family pay tithe of pocket money to Harry and Elizabeth, as their right, in 
 order that they may have all kinds of indulgences and immunities ? Is that 
 nursing ? Well, then, you see this would not do in your own family ; neither 
 M'ould it do in the church of Cbrist. Therefore let kings and queens be merely 
 " nursing fathers and nursing mothers" to the cause of Christ, and no more. 
 
 Let me be indulged with just three words in conclusion. 
 
 Y ou have seen that in nothing are you " inferior to other churches ;" there- 
 fore, when by the providence of God you acquire a competency, and go to live 
 in some retired hamlet — or when, in your summer visits, you go to some 
 watering-place, oh ! remember there that in nothing are you " inferior to 
 other churches." Why is it that dissenters — why is that dissenting minis- 
 ters, wlien they go to watering-f)laces, take seats in Church-of-England 
 places, while there is, perhaps, a respected or a beloved brother in that retired 
 district, struggling against all the opposition of the squirearchy and hierarchy 
 of the Church of England ? Maintain your principles, and honour them, 
 wherever you are. But some London dissenters will say, ' We cannot get 
 any good there.' Why do you go to the Church of England, then ? Do you 
 get any good there ? I firmly believe, that if, when you came home, you were 
 to hear such sermons as you hear there, you would very soon wish your 
 minister to retire. Are you such " babes in Christ ?" Let me suppose that 
 you do not get any good there ; go there and do good. There is a brother 
 struggling in that watering-place against all the influence of Church and State, 
 and maintaining his Congregational principles, and the principles of Jesus 
 Christ. Then go there and do good ; you will animate that brother who is 
 preaching in that place ; you will strengthen that weak congregation which is 
 gathered together there. " What is it," then, " wherein ye are inferior to 
 other churches ?" 
 
 And you children of dissenters, study these principles ; read all the books 
 connected with them, and make yourselves masters of them, and never leave 
 them, never forsake them ; assert these noble principles, which make you 
 inferior to no churches whatever. Sabbath-school teachers, teach these prin- 
 ciples. Verily, we have been guilty for the last fifty years in this particular ; 
 we have been zealous — we have been quixotic — in teaching them the truths 
 of Christianity, without teaching them the principles of Nonconformity. 
 Teach, then, those principles to your children. 
 
 Finally, young ministers, let me just address a word to you. Maintain 
 these principles ; teach them to others ; abide by them as long as you live. 
 Some of you, perhaps, are j'oung men who had at first been intended to be trained 
 for a business, and had the avenue for usefulness and wealth before you ; but 
 }0u gave yourselves up to the work of the ministry — to teach the noble prin- 
 ciples of the New Testament. I welcome you with all my heart, and God will 
 not forsake you. But among you there ia another band — the band of the sons 
 of dissenting ministers. My dear brethren, I would say to you, " All hail !" 
 You have seen your father struggling with j)overty, struggling with obscurity, 
 struggling with the scorn of the clergyman, struggling with the contempt of 
 the squire — struggling to maintain these noble principles in the village or 
 
KKCOliNITlON SERVICE AT LOWEK STREET CU.VFEL, ISLINGTON. 189 
 
 thu town in which you were born. And oli ! you have seen and you have 
 felt all this ; and yet you have tl)rown yourselves into the noble course of con- 
 tinuing in the career of your father. You do not see the tears of your mother ; 
 you do not witness tliat gentle economy, with which she tried to save the 
 feehngs of your father, by striving to make both ends meet with wliat dis- 
 senters call a salary, but what every one else calls a pittance. But, my dear 
 young brethren, 1 congratulate you on your noble disinteresteduess, in 
 llirowing yourselves into that noble and glorious work of maintaining that tiie 
 principles of Congregationalism are " not inferior" to those of any other 
 church upon eartli. 
 i\lay God bless these hints, for Christ's sake ! 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Henderson (of Highbury College) then put 
 the usual questions, which were answered by Mr. Marc h- 
 mont; and, after the Designation Prayer, by the Rev. T. 
 Lewis (of Union Chapel), tlie following 
 
 Charge to tire iBinidter 
 
 WAS '^^LIVERED BV THE 
 
 REV. THOMAS RAFFLES, DD., LL.D., 
 
 (Of Liverpool.) 
 
 " GiviiKj no offence in anyihiny, that the ministry be not blamed." — 2 Cor. vi. 3. 
 
 It was an eulogium pronounced by our blessed Lord upon John the Baptist, 
 that "among those that were born of women there had not j'et arisen a greater 
 than he ;" and yet He declared, that "the least in the kingdom of heaven was 
 greater than the Baptist." How great, then, was the apostle Paul, who though 
 in his own estimation '• less tlian the least of all saints," was nevertheless 
 " the chief of the apostles ;" in zeal, in devotedness, in labour, in suffering, in 
 sacrifice, in privation, in efficiency and m success, surpassing and transcending 
 them all ! Among all the names that adorn the page of history, ancient or modern, 
 sacred or profane, next to that of his great jMaster, there are none that shine 
 with a brighter, purer lustre than his own. Of the noble elements that com- 
 pose his character, any one were of itself sufficient to impart real greatness. 
 What an illustration, then, of the true sublime, is the combination of them all ! 
 And how impressive is the spectacle — to see them all concentrated, fixed, ab- 
 sorbed by one great object, one momentous question — simply one — but that 
 one the Ijest, the brightest, the noblest tliat can excite or occupy the powers 
 of the human mind, namely, the glory of God in the salvation of the souls of 
 men ! 
 
 Tlie apostle Paul was a man of one end, and one aim, and one occupation ; 
 " one thing," said he " I do" — and he thought, and felt, and cared, and toiled, 
 and laboured, and prayed for nothing else ; and that was, that he might 
 "finish" his apostolic "course with joy, and the ministry wliich he had 
 received of the Lord Jesus." All he suffered and all he sacrificed had this end 
 in view. If he "endured all things," it was " for the elect's sake, that they 
 might be saved ;" if he " could even wish that himself were accursed from 
 Christ," it was " for his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh ;" if he 
 became " all things to all men," it was " that he might win some" to their 
 souls' salvation ; if he strove to " maintain a conscience void of ofi'ence toward 
 God and man" — if he " crucified the flesh," and " mortified his members," 
 that he might " give no oflence in anything," it was "that the ministry might 
 not be blamed," nor his usefulness be thereby impeded, but that he might in 
 all things approve himself as a minister of God. 
 
 You, my brother, have requested me to deliver to you a charge on this- 
 solcmn occasion — to address to you some admonitions and counsels, some di- 
 
190 RECOGNITION SERVICE AT LOWER STREET CHAPEL, ISLINGTON. 
 
 rections and encouragements, adapted to the position in which you now stand. 
 I can truly say, that I piiinfully feel the difficulty and the delicacy of attempt- 
 ing to do so. Well acquainted as you are with all that appertains to the 
 Cliristian ministry, familiarised as you have been, by years of experience, 
 with its toils, its anxieties, its responsibilities — what can I say to you, that 
 you do not already know ? what can I suggest to you, that you have not 
 pondered again, and again, and again ? But listen to this extraordinarj' man ; 
 hear the rapid sketch which he gives in this jiassage of his life and of his 
 labours. That shall be your charge: most solemn— most impressive — and 
 withal, inspired ! Tlie admonition suited to your present position shall be 
 drawn from that ! Happy for you, if in any measure, to anj' extent, with 
 any degree of success, you may be enabled to imitate his example and follow 
 in his steps ! " Giving no offence in anything, that the ministry be not 
 blamed : but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in 
 much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in impri- 
 sonments, in- tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; by pureness, bj'' 
 knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love un- 
 feigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of right- 
 eousness on the right hand and on the left, by honour and dishonour, by evil 
 report and good report : as deceivers, and yet true ; as unknown, and yet 
 well known ; as dying, and, behold, we live ; as chastened, and not killed ; as 
 sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing ; as poor, yet making many ricli ; as having 
 nothing, and yet possessing all things." What a catalogue ! It would occupy 
 days, and fill volumes, to expound it all. What a checquered scene ! What 
 a full cup ! What a baptism of suffering and sorrow ! Yet he was willing — 
 yea, he was eager, anxious, thankful— to endure it all, to realise it all — " that 
 the ministry might not be blamed," that its efficiency might not be impaired, 
 that all its great ends might be accomplished, and souls won, by his honoured 
 instrumentality, to Christ. 
 
 Let this great apostle, my brother, be your example. Study his character, 
 with profound attention and earnest devotion ; let his leading features distin- 
 guish yourself ; seek to be imbued with the same spirit — to be impelled by 
 the same motives ; let the love of Christ and the love of souls constrain you, 
 as they constrained him. That will render every burden light, and every 
 bitter sweet ; that will make the crooked straight and the rough places plain ; 
 that will elevate you above the love of life and the fear of death ; that will 
 bear you upwards and onwards, in the prosecution of your work, so that its 
 very toils shall be your rest, its labours your repose, till at lengtli, having 
 " fought the good fight, and finished your course, and kept the faith," your 
 brow shall be adorned with the imperishable wreath and the unfading diadem. 
 
 But till then, (and for the sake of the church, I would earnestly desire that 
 that may be a distant day,) let me commend to you the apostolic plan, and 
 the principles upon which the apostle proceeded in tlie prosecution of his work : 
 " giving no offence in anything," he says, " that the ministry be not blamed." 
 
 You will observe in these words — the conduct the apostle adopted, and the 
 motive by which he was influenced. His conduct Avas such as not to give 
 offence in anything ; and his motive was, that the ministry might be free 
 from blame. 
 
 I. First, then, let us direct our attention to the line of conduct which the 
 apostle adopted. He states it in the negative ; he says, " giving no offence." 
 Reverse it, and it is — prudently, cautiously, circumspectly, diligently, devoti- 
 onally, and in every way suited to his higli calling, his apostolic office, his 
 ministerial work : thus he conducted himself, and pursued his course through 
 a long and laborious life, until at length he '• finished that course with joy." 
 
 Now inasmuch as the M'ork of the ministr}' and the care of the churches 
 is committed to us, our position and our responsibilities resemble his ; and so 
 must our conduct also, if we would like him realise the great end of our 
 ministry, and secure the Master's approbation and promised reward. 
 
 In looking through the articles which the apostle enumerates, as constitut- 
 ing the circumstances in which he was placed, and the line of conduct which he 
 adopted, I select out of many the following : prudence — diligence — patience — 
 prayer. 
 
 L First, prudence. 
 
RECOGNITION SERVICE AT LOWEIl STREET CHAPEL, ISLINGTON. 191 
 
 We place prudence first, because of its vast importance to the usefulness of 
 a minister and tlie success of his ministry. That piety is an essential requi- 
 site to the Christian ministry, we must ncA'er cease to affirm and insist ; and 
 piety, too, of a superior order. In all that we are about to say, we assume and 
 take for granted its actual presence and habitual inliuence. But thou{;h all 
 other qualifications in the ministry be vain and worthless without this — 
 even this, tojiether with all others, in whatever dejjree tliey might exist, 
 would be to a large extent neutralized, in their influence and in their eticct, 
 by the want of prudence. And it seems to me that this is a prominent idea 
 intended to be convej'ed by the apostle, in the passage betore us ; for the word 
 here rendered "offence" literally signifies (as you know) " a cause of stum- 
 bling," and is at once significative of those words, and those actions, and those 
 tempers, which being thoughtlessly, recklessly, imprudently uttered, written, 
 done, displayed, are absolutely unfit for the character of a minister and 
 highly calculated to injure liis ministry, by exciting suspicion, aversion and 
 disgust. 
 
 Prudence is a virtue not very easily defined ; yet men are easily aware of 
 its absence, and they will promptly discover iis reverse. It assumes different 
 forms, it acquires different names, according to the aspects in which it is con- 
 templated and the scenes and circumstances in which it is to be displayed. 
 Sometimes it is a keen and quick sense of propriety, according to the position 
 which the man occupies and the duties which he is called to discharge ; some- 
 times it is tact and skill in the management of a delicate and difficult affair ; 
 sometimes it is that undefinable thing designated "common sense," and which, 
 if I may be permitted to say so with all gravity, I have often been tempted to 
 think the most uncommon sense of all, and from the absence of which all other 
 kinds of sense, though possessedin ahigh degree, have been of little utility to their 
 possessor ; sometimes it is presence of mind — or if presence of niind and pru- 
 dence be not, strictly speaking, the same thing, the former is essential to the 
 exercise of the latter — and the man to act, to speak, to conduct himself with 
 prudence, nmst have all his mental powers and mor.al feelings awake and 
 ready to serve him, as the case may be, or the emergency requires. I imagine 
 that men of business understand all this perfectly well ; they are fully aware 
 of its vast importance in their commercial transactions and concerns, and that 
 it is only bj' the practical exhibition of it, at the Exchange or the Market, 
 that they can amass wealth, on the one hand, or save themselves from loss 
 and ruin, on the other. 
 
 But in what scene of life, my brother — in wliat series of engagements — in 
 ■what circle of action and of influence — can prudence be of higher moment, 
 than in those connected with the Christian ministry ? Behold the man ! — 
 the minister — the preacher — the pastor ! How many eyes are fixed upon 
 him ! how many ears are open, to listen to reports respecting him ! — ej'cs and 
 ears of which he is himself unconscious — most intent, perhaps, when he is 
 least aware — best prapared when he may be least upon his guard ; eagle eyes, 
 — hawks' eyes, argus' eyes ; ears that can catch the Blightest whisper, and 
 eyes that can penetrate into the deepest retirement ! Oh ! let him not think 
 that he is ever alone, even with regard to his fellow -men ; at any moment the 
 intruder may be at hand, and there are " birds of the air" always ready to 
 " carry the matter." 
 
 The prudent minister, then, will be so in his speech ; he will " set a watch 
 upon the door of his lips, that he speak not unadvisedly with his tongue ;" he 
 will forbear the hasty expression, the rash design, the railing accusation, the 
 biting sarcasm, the slanderous report ; not less will he forbear the idle word, 
 the foolish jest, the language of buffoonery and folly — for such words are sure 
 to " give otfence," and on their account " the ministry" will be " blamed." 
 There was a time, indeed, when such buffoonery was more than tolerated, even 
 in the pulpit — this " foolish jesting" was not deemed inappropriate to that 
 most sacred place, on the most solemn occasions. But those times are happily 
 gone by, never to return ; and the men that were wont, by such methods, to 
 draw large congregations then, would, I apprehend, with a very few (if any) 
 exceptions, be left to preach to empty pews and benches now. And so it 
 ought to be. 
 
 But if he would so conduct himself " that the ministry be not blamed," the 
 same prudence must mark every action of his life, every production of his 
 
192 BECOGNITION SERVICK AX LOWER STREET CHAPEL, ISLINGTON. 
 
 pen, as well as every word of his tongue — every work of his hand, as well as 
 every sentence that falls from his lips. What an unhappy talent some men 
 have for writing caustic and cutting letters, which with more of feeling than 
 of thought are promptly sent upon their errands of mischief ! — and thus angry 
 aud petulant emotions, which otherwise, perhaps, would have passed away 
 and been forgotten with the occasions whicii excited them, have been embo- 
 died in enduring records, and remain a source of lasting evils. Such a talent 
 is by no means an enviable acquisition for a Cliristian minister ; and wliere it 
 does exist, and is productive, prudence will dictate, at any rate, a second or a 
 third perusal — a reconsideration of these productions, and that too after a niglit 
 of restored calmness to the mind ; and then, perhaps, in most cases, the mis- 
 cliief which these notes are calculated to accomplish would be avoided, by 
 their committal to the flames. And oh ! the pure, the elevated satisfaction 
 every sucli victory oJ^tained over a man's own spirit must yield ! — for " better 
 is he that ruletli his own spirit, than lie that taketh a city." 
 
 And may I be permitted to observe, that great blame is also attached to the 
 aiinistry, by the circumstance that the minister has stepped beyond the line of 
 his ministerial avocations, and intermeddled with matters not properly belong- 
 ing to him. Some have given offence by unduly prying into private and do- 
 mestic matters, by obtruding at hours which are not convenient, and by giving 
 their opinion when it is not required. Some have given offence by meddling 
 with that office in tlie church which being not spiritual, but secular, has been 
 wisely left to other hands tlian his. If he is left without interference to pro- 
 vide for the spiritualities of the church, he may surely leave its temporalities 
 with them. There is scope enough in the i)ulpit, and all that appertains to it, 
 for the pastor ; the " serving of tables," in all its departments, belongs to the 
 deacons, and may well be ieft exclusively to them. Some have given offence 
 and damaged their ministerial character and usefulness, by an urthappy pro- 
 pensity to undertake the management of mere temporal affairs and secular 
 trusts. Instead of saying, when solicited to this end — " Who made me a ruler 
 and a judge," to distribute property and to divide inheritances ? — they have un- 
 dertaken executorships, trusteeships, guardianships, and I know not what 
 responsibilities of that kind, which have caused such an occupation of time, 
 and such an absorption of thought, as Iiave seriously interfered witia the duties 
 of their ministry ; and still worse, their mode of administration has sometimes 
 been such as, wliether right or wrong, to induce in some quarters serious dis- 
 satisfaction, and in those quarters at least greatly to damage the reputation 
 of the ministry, and materially to impede its efficiency and success. While 
 if there be one, who, in this age of reckless mercantile speculation and 
 commercial gambling, is tempted to combine with the profession of a mi- 
 nister of the Gospel that of a sharebroker or stockjobber, it will be a miracle 
 indeed if neither he nor his ministry suffer blame. With temporal affairs and 
 monetary affairs a man must have more or less to do ; but surely a minister 
 will have as little to do with them as possible. " No man that warreth entan- 
 :gleth himself with the affairs of this life ; that he may please him who hath 
 chosen him to be a soldier." He will find in the warfare in which he is en- 
 gaged, a sufficient occupation for all his energies, without tlie adoption of addi- 
 tional incumbrance ; and happy is that minister, who with liis mind entirely 
 given to his work, is placed by his people above the reach of such tempta- 
 tions. 
 
 2. Secondly, another important article in the line of conduct adopted by 
 the apostle, is diligence. 
 
 He " laboured more abundantly than they all ;" and it is given as a proof 
 of his diligence in the M^ork of the ministry, that " from Jerusalem round 
 about unto Illyricura"— including (as you know) Arabia, Syria, Greece, the 
 Grecian Isles, Thessaly, Macedonia, and mdeed the greater part of the 
 then known world — he had " fully i^reached the Gospel of Christ." And 
 although the sphere of our labours, my brother, be of a far more contracted 
 kind, and neither the travels of even a Whitfield or a Wesley are assigned to 
 us, still I can conceive of no occupation requiring more of diligence, than that 
 of a pastor of a Christian church, and a preacher of the Gospel. What dili- 
 gence in the study ! what diligence in the pulpit ! what diligence in the class ! 
 what diligence in the chamber of disease ! what diligence in the committee- 
 room ! what diligence in the social circle ! what diligence with the head, and 
 
RECOGNITION SERVICE AT LOWER STREKT CIIAPEI., ISLINGTON. 193 
 
 with the heart, and with the liand, and with the feet, and with the mind, and 
 with tlie tongue, and with the pen ! what diligence everywhere and at all 
 times — in all ways and by all means — if he would make " full proof of his 
 ministry," if he would " approve himself both to God and man, a work- 
 man not needing to be ashamed," and so conducting himself as not to give 
 occasion of offence in anything — neither by his failure nor by his delinquency 
 expose the ministr}' to blame ! 
 
 What a close student he must be — if he would keep pace with an advancing 
 age, and maintain a freshness and a variety in his ministrations! A man of 
 ordinary powers and of common diligence may produce a few elaborate dis- 
 courses, and astonish his hearers with the splendour or the research of occa- 
 sional addresses from the pulpit or the platform ; a man may sustain an ave- 
 rage reputation for a year or two, and make a respectable appearance in public 
 for a limited period ; but he is a skilful workman, and his must be dili- 
 gence — diligence of no ordinary kind — who Sabbath after Sabbath, month 
 after month, year after year, through a long life spent in the same pastoral 
 charge, maintains an efficient ministry, and sHU brings forth from the trea- 
 sure of his richly-stored and well-replenished mind " things new and old." 
 
 ^V^lat diligence in the pulpit — so as to occupy his accustomed place with 
 punctuality and constancy, as often as the hour of worship recurs ; and that 
 not only in tlie more public services of the Sabbatb, but also in those minor 
 and more social services which the edification of the church may require ! 
 
 What diligence in the training of the young, and providing for them, as 
 they rise up into Ufe, by means of the Sabbath school, or the Bible class, or 
 any other method which the Christian student may suggest — affording that 
 instruction which their tender minds may receive, or their maturer minds may 
 demand ; so that the children which the church has reared may in the next 
 generation become the hand of its bounty and the arm of its strength ! 
 
 What diligence, by personal inspection and pastoral visitation, first to know 
 the real state of the flock, and then suitably to minister to its requirements — to 
 warn, to reprove, and to rebuke, no less than to cheer, to encourage, and to 
 direct — with all long-suffering and forbearance ! 
 
 What diligence and devotedness in the visitation of the sick, the afflicted 
 and the dying ! What diligence in teaching and preaching from house to 
 house — not in affected solemnity or rigid formality, but with warnings, aud 
 admonitions, and remonstrances, and encouragements, and prayers, which flow 
 from the heart, the seat of mingled fidelity and love ! All this were surely 
 enougli, and more than enough, fully to occupy the time and employ the ener- 
 gies of a man of more than ordinary powers of body and mind. 
 
 But we have work to do of which our fathers knew nothing, and which is 
 above and beyond that which properly belongs to the pastoral office. In their 
 days there were no Missionary societies, home or foreign — no Bible societies — 
 no Tract societies — no Town or City Missions — no Sunday schools — no Infant 
 schools — no Adult schools — no Ragged schools, and I know not what other 
 institutions that characterize the present da}', and open up scenes for laborious 
 occupation to our pastors and ministers of the Gospel — any one of which might 
 of itself supply ample employment for any little leisure which they could rea- 
 sonably be supposed to have at their command. And in truth, my dear Sir, it 
 is anything but what might be regarded as an amusement or recreation of the 
 mind, which such societies present to those who stand officially connected with 
 them. Most grave, and weighty, and solemn and momentous are their affairs, 
 and deep, and constant and anxious the attention they demand ; and more espe- 
 cially in the present day, v>"hen hundreds of eyes are upon them, and such is 
 the jealousy that prevails, and so intent are men upon keeping them up to their 
 mark in aU things, that it is even proposed to found institutions for the express 
 purpose of watching their movements, and detecting and exposing their failures 
 and defects. And to whom is the management of these great and noble insti- 
 tutions to be committed ? Exclusively to laymen ? I apprehend that they 
 would scarcely be willing exclusively to undertake the charge ; but would 
 they regard the ministry as free from blame, if we suffered it so to be ? At 
 any rate, such I think would be the case if an arrangement of that kind were 
 proposed in the provinces ; you may, however, have a larger pi'oportion of 
 laymen imbued with public spirit and adapted to the purpose in the metro- 
 polis. 
 
194 RECOGNITION SERVICE AT LOWER STREET CHAPEL, ISLINGTON. 
 
 Look, then, at the rapid sketch which we have given of the various labours 
 which devolve upon the Christian minister ; and add to these the many other 
 accidental employments, not usually contemplated and hardly to be described, 
 yet of constant occurrence, and think what must be the diligence of tlie man 
 who, in the midst of all these, would not, by the neglect of anything important, 
 give oifence, or expose the ministry to blame. 
 
 3. The third particular specified is patience. And this is in the superlative 
 degree : " in mucli patience." 
 
 Every representation given of our character in the New Testament only 
 confirms and enforces the necessity there is for a large measure of this Chris- 
 tian grace. We are soldiers, leaders, commanders, in the army of the living 
 God ; and we must have patience, if we would fight the fight, so as to obtain 
 the victory and receive the crown. We are husbandmen ; and the husband- 
 man must " wait for tlie precious fruits of the earth, and have long patience, 
 until he receive the early and latter rain." None of our ministerial avocations 
 must be performed with rash impetuosity, or conducted with indecent haste. 
 
 What patience there must be in tlie study — in reading, and meditation, and 
 prayer ! What deep thought ! what close investigation ! what patient 
 analysis, to ascertain and to exhibit, to the satisfaction of our own minds and 
 the apprehension and edification of our people, the correct meaning of doubt- 
 ful and difficult passages of Scripture ! 
 
 What patience and deliberation and caution, in dealiflg with cases of con- 
 science, whetlier in the pulpit or in the parlour, so as in no instance to mislead, 
 and by some fatal error, some unhappy misdirection, be the occasion of results 
 disastrous in their character, and pregnant with serious damage to the 
 ministry ! 
 
 What patience, and prudence, and tenderness, and endurance, in the visita- 
 tion of the sick, the afflicted, the bereaved, the distressed ! How must we 
 endure the prolixity of grief — the tediousness of sorrow! How must we bend 
 down the listening ear when the voice is feeble, and wait where there is diffi- 
 culty or reluctance to communicate ! In how many cases would restlessness, 
 or apparent impatience, on our parts, seal the lips of the sufferer, and prevent 
 that composure and confidence without which it is impossible to administer 
 rightly the counsel or the instruction wliich the occasion requires ! 
 
 Oh ! what patience does it require with timid disciples, with young and 
 Inexperienced converts — ay, and even with the gainsayers and those that 
 oppose themselves ! What patient investigation — wliat minute inquiry, to 
 ascertain the real character, the true condition, of such as come to us for 
 advice, and in states of mind almost endlessly diversified propose to us the 
 question — " What must I do to be saved ?" That question, my brother, it 
 will delight you to hear ; but, at the same time, you well know that no part 
 of your ministry involves a deeper and a more intensesanxiety, than the deal- 
 ing with such a question in private conference with one, whose mind is fully 
 awake to its paramount and infinite importance. 
 
 And as you must have " much patience" in the prosecution of your work, 
 so also you must exercise "much patience" with regard to the success and the 
 recompence of your labours. You must not expect to be able to thrust in the 
 sickle so soon as you have sown the seed, nor to receive your wages so soon 
 as you commence your work. I know that you will look for your reward in 
 your work ; I know that souls, converted to God through your honoured 
 instrumentality, are the wages you expect ; and though success is to be 
 neither the motive nor the measure of your work, stiU you will long for it 
 with ardent desire, and you will derive from it no small degree of encourage- 
 ment and enjoyment. Nevertheless, "though Israel be not gathered," yet 
 shall we, if found faithful, be " glorious in the eyes of the Lord ;" and though 
 men sink into perdition from under our ministry', yet will that ministry be 
 free from blame, and ourselves shall be " a sweet savour of God," even " in 
 them that perish." 
 
 We must exercise patience, then, and in us, as well as in our people, patience 
 must " have her perfect work." Indeed, it behoves us in this, as well as in all 
 other Christian graces, to be ensamples to the flock. We must pursue our 
 course with an undeviating, untiring perseverance ; for perseverance (as 5'ou 
 are aware) enters into the meaning of the word which the apostle here em- 
 ploys — patience and perseverance are combined in the meaning of th.at word. 
 
RECOGNITION SERVIC12 AT LOWER STREET CHAPEL, ISLINOTON. 195 
 
 Wo must perform our duties, and leave results, events and consequences to 
 (jod ; His aiiprobatiou and the testimony of conscience sliould maintain their 
 seat, while we tliink it " a small thing" to be judged ot our fellow-men. The 
 opinion of wise, judicious and prudent men we should treat with respect, — and it 
 is hard to conceive of a case in which those opinions shall materially differ 
 from the verdict of an enlightened conscience, or the testimony of the Word 
 of God ; but the conllicting opinions of the hasty, the prejudiced or the ill- 
 informed, should never affect us, nor induce us for a moment to seek, for the 
 sake of meeting their views and tlius securing their favour, to depart from 
 the course wliich Scripture directs and conscience approves. We are the 
 " servants" of our people, it is true ; but then it is " for Jesus' sake." We 
 are His servants, in a far higher sense than we are theirs ; and it is to Him, 
 and not to them, tliat we must look for our condemnation or our crown. 
 
 In the time of trial, then — in the midst of disappointment, vexation and 
 grief — when the answer to prayer and the fruit of labour seems long delayed 
 — when one and anotlier, of whom we had augured well, is " as the morning 
 cloud and the early dew" — when " hope deferred" has well-nigh " made 
 the heart sick," and with tlie propliet we have been ready to exclaim, "Who 
 hath believed our report ?" — oh ! then let us " in patience possess our souls," 
 and remembering that our work is with our God, that our witness is above, 
 that our record is on high, let us wait the disclosures and the decisions of 
 another day, and " endure as seeing Him who is invisible." 
 
 4. Finally, prayer. 
 
 It is true, the apostle does not distinctly name it ; prayer, as such, is not 
 included in the catalogue, except it be comprehended in the " watchings and 
 fastings," of which he speaks — as I apprehend it is ; but he was so pre-emi- 
 nently a man of prayer, he laid so much stress continually on the importance 
 of prayer, he so earnestly sought it at the hands of his brethren on his behalf, 
 and it is so important a thing for us, that it would have been a capital omis- 
 sion not to have named it here. What comfort or success have we a right to 
 expect in our ministry, without prayer ? Can you command an influence 
 which can alike comfort and edify the saint, without it ? You may have 
 learning, eloquence, erudition— you may have talents, and preach splendid 
 sermons — you may be highly intellectual, or profoundly metaphysical — you 
 may rise, and advance, and keep pace with the age — you may be fully 
 up to the requirements of the times, and in the judgment of wise and pious 
 men yours may be exactly the kind of ministry we want — ay, and it may 
 be a laborious ministry, and all that the combined and concentrated excel- 
 lencies of all the distinguished ministers that ever blessed the church or 
 the •' world could make it ; but if the Spirit be not poured upon you from on high, 
 it would be all in vain. And " the residue of the Spirit is with God," and He 
 bestows it in answer to prayer ; and if to the prayer of faith nothing can be 
 denied that is in harmony with the will of God, tiiat wiU apply to the Christ- 
 ian ministry, the most essential requisite of which is a spirit of dependance 
 and of prayer. 
 
 Thus, then, we must pursue our course — with prudence, with diligence, 
 with patience, with prayer; seeking to "give no offence" — not "in anything," 
 either by word or by deed. 
 
 II. And all, in the second place, " that the ministry be not blamed." A 
 very few minutes will comprehend what I have yet to say. 
 
 " That the ministry be not blamed :" — neither the minister, nor his minis- 
 tration, nor ministers generally, nor the ministry itself. You cannot well 
 separate these things ; if we suffer blame, all, more or less, suffer 
 it also ; and if the minister be blamed, the ministry is damaged. If there be 
 obliquity in the moral conduct of a man, his ministrations will be injured ; 
 and the delinquencies of the one minister will, to a certain extent, secure an 
 injurious influence upon all. Men are very far from discriminating in these 
 matters ; they are ready to exclaim — " They are all alike, and you may judge 
 of the institution by the men who minister in it." But the ministry is " not 
 to be blamed." 
 
 And it is to be regretted, that there is perhaps too much disposition to 
 blame the ministry, not merely on the part of our opponents and men of the 
 world, but even among those of whom, by reason of their professed attachment 
 
190 RECOGNITION .SERVICE AT LOWER STREET CHAPEL, ISLINGTON. 
 
 to it, we have a right to expect better things. Oh ! if there be a slander — if 
 there be a tale — if there be a report against a minister — where does it find a 
 freer circulation, or a swifter flight, than in what is called the religious 
 world ? Alas ! alas ! for us ! Here is a sense in which, as it regards minis- 
 ters, it may be said with truth — " The worst foes are they of their own 
 house." 
 
 And it is really marvellous on what different grounds men are disposed to 
 blame the ministry ; and arbitrary and capricious, after all, are their censure 
 and their praise. One man admires his minister — he is so hard a student ; 
 another thinks it would be better if he were a little less in his study, and a 
 little more among his people. One man would have a minister wholly devoted 
 to his own pastorate, and never step beyond its limits ; another would have 
 him render service to the cause of Christ at large, and devote a portion of his 
 talents and his time to the management or the advocacy of the great institu- 
 tions of the day. Some ministers are blamed, because they have too little 
 public spirit, and others are blamed, because they have too much ; nay, the 
 same man shall be blamed by different persons, on both accounts. 
 
 ' But is it possible,' you say, ' amidst such convictions of duty and propriety, 
 opposed to each other — is it possible to avoid giving blame ? is it possible to 
 escape censure ?' Perhaps not altogether ; perhaps there never was a man 
 that did ; and are we better than our fathers ? But the very circumstance 
 that we are thus exposed to observation, and thus liable to blame, should put 
 us on our guard, that there may be in us the least possible occasion for such 
 censure ; for after all, if the ministry be blamed, the most serious consequences 
 must ensue. 
 
 If the ministry be blamed, the adorable Founder of the institution is disho- 
 noured ; and men, by the contempt and scorn with which they regard the 
 ministry, will seem to say that in it He has been the author of an inefficient 
 and worthless thing. 
 
 If the ministry be blamed, the minister must suffer. His influence for 
 good will in that proportion be diminished ; he will lose the reward of his 
 work ; his own personal acceptance and safety may be brought into painful 
 suspicion and doubt ; souls may perish through his negligence, his indiscre- 
 tion, or his folly ; and if he himself is saved at last, it may be only " so as 
 by fire." 
 
 If the ministry be blamed, the honour of the church is sullied ; its prosperity 
 is impeded ; serious impediments are thrown in the way of such as may be 
 med%itiug upon the important step of seeking connection with it ; the edifi- 
 cation of many who have been accustomed to attend it, will be diminished, and 
 its ordinances and institutions will come to be lightly esteemed, and perhaps 
 in some cases loathed and despised. 
 
 If the ministry be blamed, infidelity will triumph, the enemy will blaspheme ; 
 and a sneering and scoffing world will exult and cry — " Aha ! so we would have 
 it !" Oh ! to these unholy triumphs God forbid that we should be suffered in 
 the smallest degree to contribute ! Better that our right hand should " forget its 
 cunning" — better that our tongues should " cleave to the roof of our mouths" 
 — better for us if we had never been born — than that we should thus offend, 
 and do such fearful damage to the cause we love ! 
 
 Rather would I anticipate for you, my brother, a nobler course and a 
 brighter close . May you live long, and labour faithfully and successfully for God ! 
 May seals be added to your ministry continually — and souls be given to you for 
 your hire ! May you live in the affections ot your people, and be sustained by 
 their zealous cooperation and their fervent prayers ! May you see the peace 
 of this Jerusalem, and witness its growth and increase in numbers and in piety ! 
 May every day, as you advance in life, add something to your weight of cha- 
 racter and influence throughout this neighbourhood ! " When the eye seeth 
 you," may it "bless" you! "When the ear heareth you," may it "give 
 witness" to you ! Instead of " giving offence in anything," so " that the 
 ministry be blamed," may you excel in all things that can promote its 
 efficiency ! May you be a pattern, an example — the very model in men's 
 imaginations of a good minister of Jesus Christ ! Until, at some far distant 
 period, if such shall be the will of God, you shall " finish your course with 
 joy," and lay down your life and labours in the grave, leaving behind you a 
 name that men will love to cherish, and a memory on which their children and 
 
UECOGNITION SERVICE AT LOWEK STREET ClIAPEL, ISLINGTON. 197 
 
 their children's children will delight to dwell, whilst the adieus of earth are suc- 
 ceeded by the greetings of Heaven, and the grateful farewells of a sorrowing 
 people are exchanged for the approbation of your Lord : " Well done, good 
 and faithful servant." " Well done ;" ' thou hast " fought the fight" — hence- 
 forth, and for ever, thou shalt wear the crown.' 
 
 The Rev. J. STOUGHTON, (of Kensington,) 
 
 THEN DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING 
 
 ^lilirf00 to t!)e QSf^ntcf) aitti (Eomvegation. 
 
 A SOLEMN charge has heen addressed to your minister ; he has been re- 
 minded of the responsibilities which he has to bear, and the duties he has 
 to fulfil, in relation to the world, and the church at largo, and especially in 
 relation to you. Now as mutual relations involve mutual duties, and a^ these 
 run in pairs, and on parallel lines, duties on the one side requiring that duties 
 on the other side should keep pace with them — it is proper that you should be 
 addressed on the subject of those obligations which arc binding upon you. 
 The pastor has Ustened to appropriate wise and affectionate counsels ; and now 
 it is proper for the people to enquire — " And what shall we do ?" Let an 
 apostle answer the question : — 
 
 " Do all things ivithout murmurings and disputings : that ye may be blameless 
 and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and 
 perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the 
 word of life ; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, 
 neither laboured in vain." — Philippians ii. 14 — 16. 
 
 The charge here given is most comprehensive and appropriate ; every word 
 tells. It is a call to the suppression of strife, the cidtivation of union, and the exer- 
 cise of affection and love ; it enjoins a blameless, truthful and consistent deport- 
 ment in all your relations as Christ's disciples, regarding yourselves as " the 
 sons of God," — bearing that holy name, and sustaining that elevated character, 
 without exposing yourselves fairly to the rebukes of men, or the reproaches of 
 conscience. And all this the apostle enforces by motives of the most solemn 
 and impressive kind. 
 
 On this occasion, we must attempt to unfold to you the way in which you are 
 to give practical expression to the pious dispositions and habits which are here 
 inculcated. By cultivating these you will be nourishing the roots of rich and 
 varied excellence in your connexion with this Christian church. 
 
 In advancing to the notice of those duties, in the consideration of which the 
 passage I have read as a motto rather than a text wiU assist us, by reminding 
 us of great principles, and by suggesting appropriate illustration, it will be 
 desirable to urge upon you, first, and as the basis of all that is to follow, the 
 careful and sedulous cultivation of personal piety. This has been urged upon 
 the pastor ; with no less propriety do we urge it upon the people. 
 
 As a Christian church you profess to be a society of believing and faithful 
 men. Without piety you have no business in a Christian church. You are 
 like rough unhewn materials placed among the polished stones, (those marvel- 
 lous stones instinct with life,) which constitute the Lord's spiritual temple. 
 You are Uke so much hay and stubble, mixed up with the gold and silver, and 
 other precious things. You are out of your place in the Christian church — 
 your unfitness for the station you occupy may be undiscovered by your 
 fellow-men, but there is One who knows and marks your true character and 
 condition, whose eye detects at a glance the heterogeneous elements which the 
 builders of the church, either through carelessness, or wont of skill, or that 
 inability to discern the secrets of the heart which the wisest feel, have been 
 striving to cement with the stones which God himself has dugout of the quarry 
 of nature, and formed and fashioned for the living temple by His own mighty 
 Spirit ; and that all-seeing One will at length return to discern between the righte- 
 ous and the %vicked, between the worthless and the vile, when he will separate 
 the false professor from the sterling Christian, and will s« eep away all that is 
 
 THE PUtPIT, VOL 03.— NO. 1,389. — MARCH 9, 1S48. Q. 
 
198 RECOGNITION SERVICE AT LOWER STREET CHAPEL, ISLINGTON. 
 
 hypocritical and unhallowed out of His church, and throw it among the 
 moral refuse of the universe. Piety — sincere, humble, earnest piety — is essen- 
 tial to your characters as members of a Christian church, and if any one here 
 feels at this moment an accusing and condemning conscience stirring within 
 him, a conscience that accuses him of carelessness or duplicity in so moment- 
 ous a matter as that of joining a Christian church, let him remember that in 
 the eye of Heaven he is a marked man ; and if he do not by timely repentance 
 and faith become possessed of the requisites for church fellowship, which he 
 ought to have had at first, the mark of God's righteous displeasure will cleave 
 to him through eternity, as a presumptuous intruder into the temple on earth 
 — and from the temple in heaven he will be everlastingly shut out, as unfitted 
 for its work and worship. 
 
 While piety is necessary to the consistent maintenance of a Christian pro- 
 fession under any circumstances, may I be permitted to observe, that it is 
 peculiarly requisite in the members of congregational churches, in order to the 
 maintenance of our principles, and the working out of our system ? Congre- 
 gationalism, devolving (as it does) so much on the people, so much of power, so 
 much of responsibility, requires, more than any system, that every man who 
 adopts it, should cultivate largely the spirit of personal religion. For the 
 prosperity, nay, even the prolonged existence of congregational churches, in 
 anything like a state of order, individual piety is essential. Let our churches 
 be made up mainly or in any considerable proportion of ungodly men, and they 
 are likely to become fierce democracies ; the uncontrolled passions of unre- 
 generate nature raging among them, like demons that no chains can bind, 
 tearing to pieces the whole ecclesiastical framework of the system, and scatter- 
 ing it to the winds of heaven. 
 
 And further : Congregationalism is but a means to an end. It is not to be 
 maintained simply for its own sake — it is to lead to something further, higher, 
 better, holier than itself. The moral purity of the church, as the light, the 
 joy, the salvation of the world — the efficient discharge of the missionary office, 
 by the special instruction of mankind, their guide to truth, to holiness, and to God 
 — the conversion of the human family to the discipleship of Christ, and the 
 diff'usion of God's glory through a darkened world, these are the subhme ends 
 for which the congregational system is framed and fitted, and without reference 
 to which the system itself is of little worth. Let it be kept in perfect order ; 
 but if it be not worked for the accomplishment of these heaven-appointed pur- 
 poses, it is reduced to a mere piece of machinery, fit for a museiun or a shew- 
 room — worth looking at indeed — a specimen of ingenious contrivance, but 
 nothing more. 
 
 Our system must be worked out, or we may as well abandon it ; but oh ! to 
 work it out, what wisdom — what integrity — what faith — what humility — what 
 devotion — what zeal — what love — are requisite ! Our system, we may add, is 
 but an instrument — not a motive power. The voluntary system resolves itself 
 into the absence of coercion — Christian professors are just left to act according 
 to their conscientious convictions. Compulsion is withdrawn ; but there 
 must be piety to create convictions which will spur on to effort — there 
 must be something to act on the system, or it will not work. If we only get 
 the voluntary system, without the spirit of faith, and love, and power, without 
 the spirit of true religion, without the spirit of its divine author, we have a 
 piece of machinery without any spring, any motive power to work it ; we have 
 a train — a train of carriages and trucks — but no engine ; — and we may boast 
 of our system, as much as we please, but it will stand still, and effect nothing, 
 except as it is propelled onwards by the mighty power of heaven-born piety. 
 Our system, brethren, bears a direct relation to the piety of its supporters ; and 
 this I hold to be one great recommendation of it, — personal spiritual religion is 
 every thing to us — thorough-going Christian principle, the constraining love 
 of Christ, can alone evoke the energies of voluntaryism. The spirit of the living 
 creatures must be in the wheels ; where the spirit goes, they will go — where it 
 stands they will stand — when it is lifted up, they will be lifted up, — for the 
 spirit of the living creatures is in the wheels. 
 
 The cultivation of piety, then, as Christians and congregationalists, is your 
 first grand duty. This prepares for, and is the spring and life of aU others. 
 
 Now we have looked at the foundation, the root of all you have to do — and 
 in entering upon a more detailed view of your duties as members of this 
 church, I think they will be found to branch off" in the following directions. — 
 
RECOGNITION SERVICE AT LOWER STREET CHAPEL, ISLINGTON. 199 
 
 I. Thp duty you owe to the great Head of the church, in relation to the man 
 whom you now recognize as your pastor. 
 
 I carefully express it thus, because it is proper for you to remember, that, 
 while the duties we are now about to enforce relate to our brother, properly 
 speaking, they are duties owing to God ; though man be the object to which 
 they refer. God is the authority by which liiey are binding. Kightly discharged, 
 they will not terminate on him, but tliey will touch him with comforts and 
 blessings as they rise upward to God with acceptance and favour. In this 
 matter " do all things without murmurings and disputings," readily, cheerfully, 
 loWngly ; be " blameless and sincere," without rebuke from God or man, a 
 pattern to all churches, of consistent and christian conduct towards the man of 
 God, whom in God's name you have received as your shepherd and bishop. 
 
 1. Love him, as the man whom you have chosen, for he has not been 
 palmed upon you by a secular patron, or appointed by a presbytery ; he has 
 not been sent down to you by letters from Her Majesty, accompanied by the 
 summons of a fictitious conged'elire, to be followed by the farce of confirmation, 
 of which such notable examples have been afforded of late. Thank God, we 
 are free from all that ; your minister has been elected by the voluntary 
 unbiassed suffrages of the people. Love him, then, as the man whom 
 God has given to you, in accordance with your choice, and in answer to your 
 praj-ers. Love him, as the man who devotes himself to your welfare, who 
 feels it his duty to spend and be spent in your service, and who makes it his 
 grand aim, to present every one of you faultless in Christ Jesus. Love him, as 
 the man who loves you, whose heart beats with affectionate concern for your 
 welfare, and whose sympathies gush forth toward you in an ever flo^ving stream. 
 This duty of loving your minister lies at the foundation of all the other duties 
 you owe him. Where this is wanting, mere outward attention is a worthless 
 and unwelcome form, and when this is cultivated, all which is requisite to be 
 done by you for his comfort and happiness will follow as the natural result. 
 
 2. Hear him ; and do it candidly. Ministers are often far more sensible of 
 their ow-n defects, than their people can be. The duties of the ministerial 
 office, you must acknowledge, are of no easy character. To preach so often on 
 subjects which, though various, have a general resemblance, and to furnish 
 from time to time, if not new arguments, yet new illustrations, modes of expres- 
 sion, and methods of appeal — to do this year after year before the same people — 
 and in the present day, when on the one hand the increased intelligence, and may 
 I not add, the craving curiosity after the novel, the original, and the striking, 
 on the part of our congregations, make acceptable preaching more difficult than 
 ever : and when, on the other hand, the pastoral and public demands on the 
 minister's time, in the shape of conducting and animating all kinds of benevolent 
 agencies are becoming most oppressive and engrossing ; under such circumstances 
 to keep up a style of interestmg preaching, requires mental, to say nothing of 
 bodily vigour, of no ordinary description. If I were preaching to my own peo- 
 ple, I should say, wonder not if we are sometimes tame, dull and uninteresting ; 
 we cannot always preach alike ; I wish most heartily we could. Oh ! were 
 you acquainted with our feelings sometimes as we enter the pulpit ; our sense 
 of insufficiency, oiu- want of mental elasticity, our physical languor, our reli- 
 gious depression, our jaded spirits, our thousand cares, our deep discou- 
 ragements, arising from the unimpressivcness of some minds whom we address, 
 added perhaps, sometimes, to the known distaste of others for our style and 
 manner of preaching altogether ; if you knew all this, it would be utterly im- 
 possible for you not to hear us with candour and kindness. 
 
 Hear your pastor regailarly. You have chosen him as your instructor, and 
 have therefore become his pupUs. You call upon him to teach— this supposes 
 that you are ready to come to school to learn. You expect him at the 
 appointed time in the pulpit ; and this implies that you at the same time 
 should be in the pew — nothing short of some very good reason can excuse 
 your absence. One knows not on what principle to account for the conduct of 
 some persons, with regard to their minister, and their acknowledged place of 
 worship ; sometimes they are there — sometimes not there ; to-day they come 
 — next Sunday they are missing. This morning you see them in their place ; 
 to-night you look for them in vain. Now this at least is certain, that the mys- 
 terious movements of people of this class greatly depress the minister's spirit, 
 and discourage his efforts. The sight of vacant pews, which ought to have 
 
200 RECOGNITION SERVICE AT LOWER STREET CHAPEL, ISLINGTON. 
 
 been filled — or pews occupied by strangers, instead of the persons over whom 
 the pastor's heart especially yearns, and for whom he may have prepared some 
 particular message, has not unfrequently spoiled a good sermon ; and thus the 
 absentees have, at the same time, deprived themselves of benefit, pained their 
 pastor's heart, and injured their fellow-members to an incalculable extent. 
 
 Hear him devoutly. Pray for him before you come — and pray for him while 
 you are here. What a relief to a pastor's mind to know that he has a share — 
 a large share in his people's supplications ! What blessings does he expect 
 to receive in answer to such intercessions ! He is engaged in a conflict. He 
 is a soldier of the cross. He is fighting with the powers of the woi'ld and the 
 princes of hell. Be to him what Moses was to Israel. Lift up your hands in 
 prayer. Keep them lifted up, till the sun of life goes down on him or on you, 
 and the evening of death either removes you far away from the scene of strife, 
 or sees him returning home in triumph from the battle. 
 
 3. Eespect his official authority. 
 
 " Remember them that have the rule over you ; submit yourselves — for 
 they watch for your souls." This means something. While, on the one hand, 
 the most absurd notions have been entertained of ministerial authority, and it 
 has been deemed the result of a mysterious power handed down from age to age 
 in the apostolical succession — the creation of an undefinable influence, hallowing 
 every one, no matter whom, who has received the mystic grace from prela- 
 tical hands ; — on the other hand, some have gone so far as to divest ministers 
 of all sacred official authority, and have considered them simply in the light of 
 .speaking brethren, or chairmen of a Christian club. Thus, while some have 
 exaggerated, others have annihilated the influence of the ministry, as recog- 
 nised in the Scriptures. Now ministers, clearly, are appointed to rule over 
 the churches in the name of Christ. Not to legislate, but to execute the laws 
 which Christ has revealed ; not to coerce, but to exert a moral influence which 
 every good man will feel himself bound to respect ; not to utter their own 
 fulminations, but to expound and apply the decisions of the Bible ; not to 
 tyrannize over the consciences of men, but to speak the truth in love. The 
 ministerial authority, such as the Scripture recognizes, be it observed, is such 
 as only the Christian can understand, such as only the Christian will feel, such 
 as only the Christian will be disposed to obey. The respect paid to such 
 authority will depend on the state of the heart. If your piety be of the right 
 stamp, you will feel it your duty and your privilege to be subject to him who 
 has been appointed over you in the Lord ; to bow to the administration of the 
 law by his hands ; to refrain from all opposition to the legitimate exercise of his 
 pastoral authority ; to do all things which he enjoins upon you by scriptural 
 warrant, " without murmurings and disputings," " that you may be blameless 
 and inoffensive, the sons of God without rebuke ;" remembering always that 
 to be unruly in the church is to incur the displeasure of the King of Zion — 
 that to walli disorderly is to subject yourselves to the stroke of that sword of 
 excision — that spiritual sword, which, though it pierces not through the hard 
 scales, and the tough skin of arrogance, pride and obstinacy, vrill inflict a wound 
 on the humble and sensitive mind " which no skill can heal, and no ointment 
 mollify." 
 
 4. Supply your pastor's temporal wants. Ministerial support is fixed by the 
 apostle upon equitable grounds. It is matter of right, not of charity — a debt, 
 not a donation. " The labourer is worthy of his hire" — the keeper of a vine- 
 yard, the shepherd of a flock, are deserving of remuneration — and so are 
 ministers. It does not, my brethren, rest with you, to support your pastor or 
 not, as you please ; to give or withhold your contributions, just as you like ; 
 but you are stringently obliged by the law of Christ, to minister to him your 
 carnal things, in return for his ministration of spiritual things. Nor is this 
 support to be doled out after a niggardly fashion. " Have we not power," asks 
 Paij, " to lead about a sister or wife, as well as other apostles ?" by which I 
 apprehend he meant that such support as might be needful for his family, as 
 well as for himself, was his indubitable right, his legitimate claim. And, 
 when, in another place, he lays down as a pastoral quaUfication, that the 
 bisliop be " given to hospitality," that surely impUes tlaat the people are to 
 furnisli the bishop with such resources, as will enable him at once to be hospi- 
 table and honest. But all this will " be done without murmurings and 
 disputings," if love be the law that regulates your contributions ; and though 
 
HECOGNITION SEKVICK AT LOWER STREET CUAPEL, ISLINGTON. 201 
 
 the revenues of your bishop will never be equal to those of my Lord of London, 
 or his Grace of Canterbury, yet they will be ample enough to supply his wants, 
 and to promote his comfort too. 
 
 n. The second great branch of your duties relates to this church, of which 
 you are members. 
 
 1. And here the passage I have read presents an exhortation to union. The 
 caution against murmurings and disputuigs, is in effect a call to maintain 
 " the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace." There must not only be the 
 absence of strife, but the presence of love. In some churches there may be no 
 " murmurings and disputings," simply because there is no activity, vigour, 
 and life. The calmness is the calmness of death — the peace the peace of tlic 
 grave. The only kind of union really of worth in a Christian church, is a 
 union of loving hearts — of souls quickened by the Spirit of God and throbbing 
 with heaven roused sympathies — a union which excludes not variety — a union 
 in which the dead in trespasses and sins can have no fellowship. Go into a 
 museum of natural curiosities, where dried and stiffened plants, and stone- 
 encrusted fossils are arranged with great precision and perfect uniformity, 
 and there you have a type of some churches, where all things are done 
 " decently and in order ;" " miu*murings and disputings" are never known. 
 And then visit the scenes of Lebanon to which the prophet Hosea points, — 
 and see the lilies adorning the valleys — the cedars crowning the hill-tops — the 
 olives skirting the sides — the corn patching here and there the swelling slopes 
 — and the vines creeping in beautiful strips over the rocky ledges, all full of 
 life and breathing forth their balmy fragrance — a scene rich in variety, yet 
 perfectly harmonious, because the Lord is as the dew unto Israel ; and there 
 you have the picture of a living and spiritually united church. Those who 
 are distinguished by the milder virtues, the gentler forms of Christian 
 excellence, may be compared to the delicate lily — and those who exhibit moral 
 elevation of character, and robust endurance, and lasting vigour, may be 
 likened to the storm-defying cedar — and those who are full of vivacity and 
 freshness, may be said to grow like the vivacious olive — and those who are 
 lowly and jhumble, and yet fruitful Christians, may be described under the 
 similitude of corn — and such fragile spirits as cling for support to other minds, 
 seeking their strength in Christian friendship and sympathy, may be aptly 
 figured by the creeping, dependent vine ; yet all are combined and united — 
 without envy, jealousy, murmuring. 
 
 The church abounds in moral varieties, one person possessing what another 
 lacks. It is vain to wish that all should be fashioned according to the same 
 type. For all to be ahke vigorous, alike gentle, ahke cheerful, alike active, 
 — that all should think ahke, judge alike, feel alike, on all points — it would 
 not be the unity of life and nature. Tliere is beauty in diversity, for beauty 
 is opposed to monotonous sameness, as well as to disorder. There is strength 
 in diversity, for strength is the result of the harmonious combination of many 
 elements. There is perfection to be gathered out of diversity, the only 
 perfection that exists under heaven, for in no one individual can there be found 
 tlie aggregate of all excellence. And from the combination of these various 
 individuals in a church, (all centres of life,) there springs the noblest union. 
 For every one will acknowledge without hesitation, that the highest unity, 
 the most perfect universality is that which comprehends, combines, and 
 reconciles the utmost fullness of diversities. Then have we union, when, as 
 in the church at Jerusalem, with men and women of different characters, ages, 
 habits, tastes, and natural disposition, there is but one heart and one mind — 
 the living all-pervading heart and mind of love. In such a church, while 
 there will be differences of judgment and opinion, freely expressed, fully 
 canvassed, there will be a grand harmony of affection and will, and all things 
 will " be done without murmurings and disputings." 
 
 2. We have an exhortation to consistenc3\ " That ye may be blameless and 
 harmless, (or sincere,) the sons of God without rebuke." Not giving the lie to 
 your profession by the unchristian tempers in which you indulge, and the un- 
 christian conduct which you manifest ; not occasioning the enemies of the cross 
 to speak reproachfully of you, and of the Gospel ; not affording them room to say 
 with scorn — • As to all this fuss which the people at that chapel make about 
 their religion, I do not see that they are a whit more honest, honourable, 
 truthful, virtuous, and amiable than their neighbours — so far from if, I think 
 
202 RECOGNITION SERVICE AT LOWER STREET CHAPEL, ISLINGTON. 
 
 a good many of them are not so much so." Alas ! such things may justly be 
 said with regard to some churches — let them never be said of yours. 
 
 I have been thinking, — members of churches may be divided into four classes. 
 1 Those who do good. 2, Those who do harm. 3. Those who do both. 4. Those 
 who do neither. Now at least belong to the last cla«s. At least do no harm. At 
 least let your consistency be negative. Yet that will be a poor barren consistency ! 
 It will yield no advantage to the church, and no comfort and joy to your own 
 souls. But the inconsistency that is positive, that is seen in fierce outbreaks of 
 wicked temper, like the belchings of a volcano, that is seen in the violation of 
 truth and justice, in the rending asunder the very bonds that hold society together, 
 that is seen in malicious speaking, and cruel slander, scattering abroad fire-brands, 
 arrows, and death, such inconsistency brings a stigma on the member, and a curse 
 on the church, such as I pray God none of you may ever know. And remember, 
 further, that as you have identified yourselves with this church — as you have 
 become its members, and have brought yourselves under certain obligations in 
 reference to it, consistency requires that you should discharge them — otherwise you 
 will not be blameless — you will not act sincerely — you will not be exempt from 
 rebuke. Consistency requires that you should take an interest in the affairs of this 
 church — consistency requires that you should attend its meetings for business and 
 for prayer — consistency requires that you should maintain its discipline — consis- 
 tency requires that you should be jealous of its reputation — consistency requires 
 that if a brother trespass against thee, thou shouldst tell him of his fault, between 
 thee and him alone, before thou tell it to the church — consistency requires that to 
 the utmost of your power you should be willing to contribute to the support of 
 those well-arranged forms of Christian benevolent agency, which cluster round this 
 church. And all this unity, affection, consistency, and devotedness you will have 
 to exhibit "in the mid ^t of a crooked and perverse nation" — a description applicable 
 to the land in which we live as well as to that in which the Pbilippians dwelt. There 
 is a great Idea of crookedness in our times, and in our country, crookedness in legis- 
 lation, crookedness in literature, crookedness in trade and commerce, crookedness in 
 the habits, spirit, temper, and disposition of society. You. are by your consistency 
 and efforts, by drawing out the straight lines of Christiaaity, to demonstrate the 
 world's crookedness, and at the same time by the same means to try as far as you 
 can to make the crooked things straight and the rough places plain. 
 
 III. This brings us to notice the third branch of duly, which relates to the world. 
 " Ye are to shine as lights in the world." 
 
 You will remark that this precept is an illustration of the principle that the 
 Almighty employs intermediate agencies in the bestowment of his benefits. The 
 object of the divine benevolence indicated here, is the bestowment of light to the 
 minds of ignorant and unrenewed men. It is to be conveyed through a medium — 
 Instead of pouring it at once from His own hand on the hearts of the benighted. He 
 employs His church ; he calls you to be to the moral world what the sun, 
 moon, and stars, are to the natural world, that is, light- bearers. You will further 
 remark, that the position here assigned to Christians, and to you, is most honourable. 
 It makes you God's agents, representatives, mirrors in the midst of the benighted 
 earth. "I am the light of the world," said Jesus Christ when He was on earth ; 
 now He is gone to heaven He calls on you, as it were, to stand in his place, to 
 catch the light of His example, and the light of His truth, and the light of His love, 
 and to pour it on the world. And you will again remark, that this office of 
 enlightening men is not entrusted to sucK agency as many would have expected — 
 At first it was not entrusted to Egyptian Priests, and the Persian Magi, and Grecian 
 Sages, and Jewish Rabbis ; and now it is not entrusted to philosophers, and 
 legislators, and statesmen. No, churches, believers, Christ's followers, however 
 scorned, these are the God -sent teachers of mankind — the divine illuminators of 
 the dark earth. You will be reminded too of the striking contrast that is to be 
 maintained between the church and the world. I look round upon the earth, and 
 I see everywhere moral, religious, spiritual darkness. But in the church there 
 should be 'light — the contrast should be visible— the light should be separated 
 from the darkness— the Christian should be as pure as others are depraved, as 
 spiritual as others are secular, as benevolent as others are selfish, as devout as 
 others are careless, as much under the dominion of faith as others are under the 
 dominion of sense. The contrast, I repeat, should be visible— visible in the family — 
 visible in the social circle — visible in the market — visible everywhere. 
 I You are then, you see, my brelhien, to let your characters shine. As indivi- 
 
RECOGNITION SERVICE AT LOWER STREET CH.VPEL, I3MNGTOX. 203 
 
 duals you are to resemble so many floating lights, modestly and ([uielly sparkling 
 over life's ocean, like stars on the bosom of the dark waters. And as a collective 
 church you are to resemble a collection of brilliant lamps, and reflectors placed to- 
 gether on the top of a lighthouse. . 
 
 And you are to shine by your voluntary, combined and well-organised efforts. 
 You are to hold up, and to hold forth, the Word of life, through the medium of 
 City, Home, Foreign, Colonial, Universal Missions. Thus, you are to resemble 
 that noble building in the western coast of England, which rears its head aloft 
 above the Eddystone rocks, holding up its beacon fire, to attract and guide the 
 mariner, and bearing en its deep foundation the memorable words — " To give light 
 and to save life." Think of your responsibility. If through your neglectitig to keep 
 the lamp burning in this moral light-house, any of your fellow-men in this vicinity, 
 or elsewhere, should miss the way to heaven ; if souls, through your neglect, I say, 
 should founder and perish, how awful will be the blame ! how heavy the condemna- 
 tion that you will receive from Him who says, " All souls are Mine ;" and who 
 has commanded you to " look diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God!" 
 
 All must join in this dispensation of light. " The manifestation of the Spirit 
 is given to every man to profit withal." " As each has received the gift, so let him 
 minister the same as a good steward." Wisdom will teach a man what good work 
 he is fit for, and that he should do. In the church of Rome, in Paul's time, 
 there was plenty of work done, because there was a place for every one, and every 
 one was in his place. The lamps and reflectors for giving light to the world were 
 well arranged. Like David's men, the people were well drilled, could keep rank, and 
 marched in order. That church was eminently useful, shed beautiful, clear, steady light 
 on tlie world, because the people attended to Paul's direction — " We being many 
 are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then 
 gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us 
 prophecy according to the proportion of faith ; or ministry, let us wait on our minis- 
 try ; or he that teachetli, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation ; he that 
 giveth, let him do it with simplicity ; he that ruleth, with diligence." They blended 
 tleir lights together in one stream of radiance. That church at Rome v/aa a 
 model church. Every man helped according to his several ability ; and I do not 
 believe that God ever calls a man, a woman, or a child into the church, but He has 
 some work for them to do there, some light for them to shed, some niche that he or 
 she is fitted to occupy ; only, unfortunately, some never find it out, and therefore 
 the niche is vacant, and the person is idle, or he changes place with somebody else, 
 attempts what he is not fit for, and thus creates all manner of.confusion. 
 
 By every approved method of individual effort and social organization, man, 
 woman and child in this church should strive to dissipate and scatter tlie darkness of 
 the world, and especially of this immediate neighbourhood. Let this be a working 
 church — throughout, from the least to the greatest, be workers. Life natural and 
 spiritual is given to you, that you may work— that you may work for God and for 
 souls. Work ought not to be thrown into the hands of a few. All should share 
 in work. Let this church be a household without an idler, a hive without a drone. 
 
 May I add, that if you would be eminently useful, if you would be conspicuous 
 lights in the world, zeal is not the only requisite— piety the only qualification ? A 
 ship will not sail without wind ; but it will make a sorry voyage if it has only the 
 gale to guide it. 
 
 God hath not given us, says Paul, " the spirit of fear, but of power, of love and 
 of a sound mind." A triple endowment that, of the highest worth — " power," the 
 antithesis of feir, energy of character, calm decision, resolved purpose, a spirit of 
 independence, one that will lead a man to work alone, if others will not help him ; 
 a spirit of earnestness, a steady habit of pursuing an object; that is a spirit of 
 " power." " Love," the apostle adds ; that is, the spirit of deep compassion, genuine 
 tenderness. "A sound mind," he further specifies; by which we understand 
 sobriety of judgment, a clear comprehensive view of things, a power of keen dis- 
 cernment, of wise discretion ; to use the language of an old writer — " to have wit 
 enough to find out whai's good, to eschew what's bad, and to make the best use of 
 either." Practical wisdom ; not merely the knowledge of right principles, but the 
 knowledge of the right way of applying them. These three— love, power, and a 
 sound mind, are the Errand prerequisites for emminent usefulness. Not love alone, 
 that makes a mere sentimentalist ; not power alone, that makes a rugged character 
 like a rock without verdure ; but the two combined, love softening and giving life 
 to power, power supporting and giving energy to love ; and a sound mind added 
 to both. We cannot be eminently useful without binding round us this triple cord 
 
204 RECOGNITION SERV'ICK AT LOWER STREET CHAPEL, ISLINGTON. 
 
 of Christian virtue. Powerless, we lack the means ; cold hearted, we lack the 
 motive ; ignorant and foolish, we lack the right method. Without power, we are 
 like a ship becalmed ; without love, we are like a ship icebound ; without judgment, 
 we are " like a ship driven of the wind and tossed." The three make a vessel with 
 sound timbers, ample canvass and a skilful pilot, and it shall make a prosperous 
 voyage. 
 
 IV. But we must conclude with one word.'as to the motive adduced by the apostle. 
 " That I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither 
 laboured in vain." 
 
 That day which will reveal august scenes — the universal gathering — the presence 
 of angels — the great white throne — the glory of the Redeemer — the terror of the 
 lost — the burning of the world ; that day when Christ will come to complete His 
 mediatorial enterprise, to place the top-stone on the temple^of redemption, to put the 
 finishing stroke to the work of mercy, and shed upon His people the crowning bless- 
 ings of salvation, breaking off the last fetters of corruption from their bodies, and 
 crushing beneath His feet the enemy of their souls. At that day, the relationship 
 between pastor and people will be recognized. Civil, social, domestic bonds are 
 overlooked. Nothing is said of the meeting of kings and subjects, masters and ser- 
 vants, man and wife, parents and children ; only the meeting of pastor and people. 
 From the association, then, formed on this day, there arise immortal bonds of fellow- 
 ship, to be recognized on that day. The parties among whom the pastor labours may 
 be scattered ; mountains may rise and oceans roll between them ; some may forget 
 the man who has instructed them, and he may never know in this world many who 
 have received his instructions; but the responsibility of having ministered to them 
 will always attach to him, and the responsibility of having enjoyed his ministry will 
 always attach to them ; and a Divine hand will group them together at the last 
 day, as possessing in part a common history, and as implicated in mutual respon- 
 sibilities. You and your pastor will form such a group, and when thus you meet 
 what recollections will arise! "To rejoice in the day of Christ;" to hail the 
 Judge's advent ; to exult in His appearance, when many shall cry, " rocks, fall on 
 us ; hills, cover us ;" to look around with calmness on the wreck and desolation of 
 this vast world; to feel, as the foundations of it. crackle under our feet, and its 
 smoke goes up to Him, that we have lost nothing — oh ! how unutterably sublime ! 
 That will be joy ! Let my bosom remain through life a stranger to every emotion 
 of pleasure, which temporal things can awaken ; let me pass through the lowest 
 depths of adversity and affliction ; let me be reviled and persecuted, and my name 
 be cast out as evil ; let my days be darkened with the thickest clouds, and my 
 nights be uncheered by a single star, if I may but haTC joy at last ; if 1 may but 
 be saved in the day of the Lord ; if I may but have confidence before Him at His 
 coming. So prays your minister. So prays many a one here. 
 
 Now remember, so far as your minister's joy is concerned, it is possible for you 
 to contribute to it. If you are consistent, it will be remembered to his honor then ; 
 if you are found to have been faithful, it will afford him satisfaction then ; if you 
 hold up his hands, he will reap the fruits of your cooperation then ; if you help 
 him to save souls, they will gather round and bless him then. If you love the man 
 of your choice, you will feel the power of this motive, and will strive to add to his 
 usefulness now, that you may add to his joy and blessedness hereafter. 
 
 We part at the foot of the judgment-seat. Solemn place of parting! We shall 
 soon meet round it in reality. May this thought be ever present to our minds I 
 May it occur amidst the scenes of future pastoral intercourse between your minister 
 and you, rendering your mutual joy deep and solemn ! May he preach, may you 
 hear with the judgment-seat in view; may it be seen as the background of all your 
 prospects; may it produce faithfulness in him — obedience in you, and elevated 
 piety in both. And now, my brethren, with that judgment-seat before us, in the 
 presence of men and angels, before God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, who 
 shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing, "I charge you, to do all 
 things without murmuring and disputing=, that ye may be blameless and harmless"' 
 the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, 
 among whom shine ye as lights of the world; holding forth the word of life, that, 
 your pastor " may rejoice in the day of Christ, that he has not run in vain, neither 
 laboured in vain." 
 
 The Rev. J. C. Harrison (of Somer's Town,) concluded 
 the Service with prayer. . 
 
PHOTOMOUNT 
 
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