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 A CHARGE, 
 
 TO THE CLERGY OF THE 
 
 AECHDEACONRY OF THE EAST RIDING 
 
 ORDINARY VISITATION, 
 
 A. D. 1845. 
 
 ROBERT ISAAC WILBERFORCE, M.A. 
 
 ARCHDEACON OF THE EAST RIDING. 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, LONDON ; 
 
 R. SUNTEB, YORK. 
 [Price Su'-pence.]
 
 TO THE CLERGY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE ARCHDEACONRY OF THE EAST RIDING, 
 
 THIS CHARGE, 
 
 PUBLISHED AT THEIR REQUEST, 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY 
 
 DEDICATED. 
 
 Henry Mozley and Sons, Printers, Derby.
 
 A CHAEGE. 
 
 My Reverend Brethren, 
 
 We may commence our yearly business with 
 the less reference to politicarevents, inasmuch as our internal 
 polity has enjoyed an unwonted respite from parliamentary 
 enactments. The denial indeed of the nearly unanimous 
 prayer of the Clergy for the preservation of one of the most 
 ancient Sees in this Island, we have all probably witnessed 
 with regret. One gratifying circumstance, however, has 
 attended the discussion, not only that none of our Prelates 
 expressed themselves favourable to a step, against which the 
 Church so generally protests, but also that one of the greatest 
 deficiencies in our ecclesiastical system — the small number, 
 namely, of its higher functionaries — has been publicly 
 lamented by those whose position gives them opportunity to 
 amend the evil. The signal mischief which this deficiency has 
 inflicted upon the Church, it were needless to state to per- 
 sons who like yourselves are conversant with its practical 
 wants. What greater impediment for example obstructs our 
 pastoral efficiency than that infrequent ministering of con- 
 firmation which is its necessary result. Were confirmation 
 ministered every year, as it would doubtless be, if the powers 
 of our Bishops corresponded to their wishes, we should not have 
 to lament that young persons leave our schools, and are lost 
 amidst the occupations of life, without being dedicated to 
 God's service by the public ratification of their Baptismal 
 covenant. And what is still more material, we should not 
 be compelled to the painful alternative, either of admitting 
 those who want the knowledge, or the seriousness, which 
 would bring them as meet communicants to the Lord's 
 Table, or else of rejecting persons who before another oppor- 
 tunity occurs may have yielded to some less hallowing in- 
 fluence. The Church of course designs that none should be 
 confirmed who are not meet to be communicants. And to 
 admit to Confirmation without such preparation of heart as 
 should bring persons to the Lord's Table, is either to under- 
 value the rite or to profane it. Hence the small estimation
 
 in which Confirmation is held in the present day: since it 
 does not practically involve that seriousness of mind, which 
 ought to accompany it. No wonder if men are found who 
 despise an ordinance, which is too often approached in a 
 careless and inconsiderate state. And yet this evil can never 
 be remedied till the recurrence of Confirmation at the least 
 every year gives opportunity of deferring without altogether 
 abandonina: it. 
 
 The Clergy ought not to lose sight of another measure which 
 has been submitted to the Legislature, but to which small 
 attention has been given by the public — the Bill for consoli- 
 dating Ecclesiastical Courts. Of its worldly efi"ects it is not 
 to my purpose to speak, but one most serious objection of a 
 religious kind deserves your notice. The Bill proposes, 
 virtually, to substitute a Royal Court in the place of those 
 heretofore held by Bishops, and to vest in it their testamentary 
 and matrimonial jurisdiction, while that jurisdiction which, 
 strictly speaking, respects the punishment of sins, is to be ex- 
 tinguished in name as it is already in operation. Now it has 
 long been the opprobrium of our Spiritual Courts, that the so- 
 lemn sentence of excommunication, whereby men are severed 
 from the spiritual blessings of the Church of God, has been 
 used by them as a mere weapon of carnal policy. The excuse 
 for this perversion has been that disobedience to the Church's 
 Courts is a practical rejection of her authority, and that the 
 sentence is justified by the nature, if not by the amount of trans- 
 gression. The defence might easily be shown to be invalid ; 
 and Bishop Gibson long since complained that the sentence of 
 excommunication had lost its awe, by being prostituted to 
 unworthy uses. But by the Bill now before the Legislature, 
 it is proposed to perpetuate this greatest abuse of Courts 
 Ecclesiastical, although its sole palliation has ceased to be 
 applicable. Excommunication was allowed to be an improper 
 sentence in the secular transactions, even of a Bishop*'s 
 Court ; it was justified because the Court which inflicted it, 
 was that of a Bishop. But by the 55th section of the pre- 
 sent Bill, her Majesty's Court of Probate is in similar cases 
 to pronounce sentence of excommunication, although its 
 employment is neither justified by the source whence it is de- 
 rived, nor the occasions on which it is exercised. Of course 
 such sentence would be illusive and visionary, for spiritual
 
 power can be derived only from spiritual sources, but the 
 public voice should be raised against so profane an abuse of 
 expressions the most holy. 
 
 Another question of a religious nature, in which you must 
 all feel interest, has occupied no little portion of public at- 
 tention ; but however fitting it may be that we should express 
 our opinion on the subject, its consideration seems out of 
 place, when we meet to transact our own business, and dis- 
 cuss our own duties. So much only may be said, that the 
 government measure respecting Irish Education contains a 
 principle by which no party would be so greatly benefitted 
 as the Church of England. For it seems designed that hence- 
 forth the several religious interests which divide the nation 
 should be allowed free scope to evolve for themselves their 
 inherent tendencies. On this principle indeed the annual 
 grants for home education have for some time been appor- 
 tioned, and it is a proof of the exertions made for Church 
 schools that of the sum of £80,000. which was expended last 
 year, 7-8ths was allotted to their share. Not that pecuniary 
 aid is asked for by the Church, her endowments were never 
 derived from the state, neither does she desire to be enriched 
 by public money; her sole want is expressed in one word — 
 liberty. Now this boon can be less consistently refused by a 
 Legislature, which is indifferent to the nature of the opinions 
 entertained by its subjects. Yet allow the Church the op- 
 portunity enjoyed by all other societies of adapting her laws 
 to her situation, and her means to her wants, and her innate 
 vitality would soon effect all those great reforms, which the 
 public exigencies demand. If she continues unequal to the 
 mighty task before her, the blame is theirs who from interest 
 or policy consent to fetter those powers, which might make 
 head against the increasing tide of infidelity. 
 
 To some this may seem a visionary confidence. But I am 
 unable to renounce my deliberate conviction that the Church 
 of England contains within herself ample means for that 
 work of reconstruction which evidently awaits her. We live in 
 an age in which the principle of voluntary confederation 
 has taken the place of that compulsory union, in which the 
 minority was compelled to subordinate itself to the general 
 will. The world, henceforth, is to consist of parties, not of 
 nations. Our wisdom then must be to heal those internal
 
 divisions, which interfere with the free development of the 
 Church's life. For this end much may be done by private 
 efforts ; by more constant reference to the Church's laws for 
 our own guidance, and by the suasion of a mild and evan- 
 gelic charity towards those who oppose us. Our great 
 work is at home — the building up of our own flocks, the 
 quickening of our own graces, the increase of love and con- 
 cord with one another. These are efforts which cannot fail 
 us, because they depend for their effect, not on the opinions 
 of men, but on God's favour. As to the members of other 
 bodies, it is a compensating circumstance that every increase 
 of their institutions is in one respect an augmented security 
 for our own. For proscription can never befal one portion only 
 of the community, and the contributors to the Centenary Fund 
 have entered into unconscious recognizances to respect the 
 more ancient landed subscriptions of the Church of England. 
 This is one consequence of that principle of toleration, which 
 however paradoxical in theory, is in practice adapted by 
 God's providence to the circumstances of the world, and which 
 those, who, like myself, believe it most favourable to the de- 
 velopment of truth, must desire to see carried out in its ex- 
 tremest latitude. 
 
 But it is time to turn from these more general topics to 
 our immediate duties. Considerable progress has been made 
 during the last year in the great work of restoring our 
 ancient edifices. This is the first subject which suggests 
 itself; for though new Churches are wanted in several locali- 
 ties, yet their erection would in general be useless, unless 
 endowments could be found for the support of fresh clergy- 
 men. But in numberless parishes we have structures, often 
 of great interest and singular beauty ; yet gloomy, damp, 
 sordid, they bear witness to centuries of neglect. To render 
 them fit places, wherein to worship the Lord in the beauty 
 of holiness, is clearly our first work. This has been done 
 during the past year in the most commendable manner at Full 
 Sutton, where through the exertions of two individuals, for one 
 of the meanest has been substituted one of the most satisfactory 
 village Churches in the Riding. The Rev. T. F. R. Read, 
 the main agent in this good work, also deserves our thanks 
 for procuring the erection of a school at Eastrington, in 
 Harthill West, in which Deanery he has acted as Secretary
 
 to the Board of Education. His recent removal from 
 among us would be a subject of great regret, were it not 
 for the hope that the larger parish into which he is trans- 
 planted, will afford him a wider field of usefulness. Another 
 equally satisfactory work, now approaching its completion, 
 is the re-erection of All Saints' Church, at Rise, through the 
 wonted liberality of Richard Bethell, Esq. The new Church 
 is a beautiful specimen of early English architecture, its spire 
 will be a fresh feature in the neighbourhood, while its in- 
 ward arrangement will afford better opportunity than was 
 formerly supplied for the collective worship of Almighty God. 
 Among partial improvements, must be noticed the restora- 
 tion of the beautiful Chancels of St. Mary's, Etton, and St. 
 Augustine's, Hedon. In each of these parishes the Clergy 
 have made most laudable efforts, and it may be hoped that in 
 each structure the ancient character will in time be fully 
 developed. The great work of the year, however, is the 
 internal re-arrangement of the two magnificent Churches 
 of the Holy Trinity, Hull, and of St. Mary's, Cottingham. 
 The result will, no doubt, repay the Vicar of Cottingham, 
 and the Vicar and Churchwardens of the Holy Trinity, 
 Hull, for the difficulties which they have had to sur- 
 mount. And the example of Churches, in which public 
 worship can be properly conducted, cannot be inoperative. 
 I am far from regarding this as a mere question of taste, in- 
 asmuch as the due arranp^ement of our Churches is subser- 
 vient to a higher end — the full participation, namely, in 
 common worship. Let me seize the occasion to say a word 
 to those lay representatives of the Church, whom I have the 
 pleasure of seeing around me. We have heard something 
 this year of the rights of the laity. The claim is one which 
 I delight to recognize. The true rights of the laity con- 
 sist in their title to take part for themselves in God's 
 worship, to ofi'er up their own prayers as a portion of that 
 collective sacrifice which their minister as the public servant of 
 the congregation presents to God. In this respect, their 
 situation contrasts most favourably with that of God's ancient 
 people, who were limited to a distant place, and a deputed 
 worship, while none but the more favoured sons of Aaron 
 might draw near to the Divine Presence, and kneel before it 
 with the solemn assurance of accepted prayer. Your privi-
 
 8 
 
 lege on the other hand is to have access with confidence to 
 those courts, where the Great King takes up His dwelling, 
 while the Christian Priesthood — no longer a separate caste and 
 kindred, — is sufficiently honoured in being taken from the 
 congregation to offer that homage towards which all contri- 
 bute. Let me entreat you then not to allow the rights of 
 the Christian laity to slumber in your hands. Do not leave 
 us of the Clergy to lift up our voices alone in the midst of 
 the congregation, as if you had no sacrifice of prayer and 
 praise to render, and might not freely intermingle in the ser- 
 vice of God. Do not suffer us to kneel before you, while 
 you sit silent and withdrawn, as though self-condemned to a 
 Jewish isolation. Especially may this be said to those whose 
 Churches have been lately freed from the inconvenient and 
 unsightly partitions, by which they were hitherto incum- 
 bered. You may have been debarred hitherto from doing 
 justice to the collective character of the Church of Christ ; 
 but why forget any longer that you are yourselves members 
 of that one family of the Christian Israel, which should bear 
 common part in prayer and praise ? 
 
 Another important subject is the increase of schools. A 
 large school-house has been this year erected in connexion 
 with St. James''s Church, Hull; a roomy and convenient 
 building of the same kind has been raised at Hornsea ; and 
 school-houses, respecting which I cannot speak from personal 
 inspection, at Eastrington and Sutton on Derwent. 
 
 During the past year Rural Chapters were held in North 
 and South Holderness, Harthill South, North and West, and 
 in Buckrose. In the Deanery of Dickering the session of 
 the Rural Chapter was prevented by the illness of the Dean. 
 
 So much respecting the incidents of the year. Let us now 
 give a few minutes to one of those general topics, to which 
 it has been usual to advert on similar occasions. And in doing 
 so, my wish is to build as little as may be on individual 
 judgment, but rather to draw attention to some of those 
 deep principles, which have been enshrined in the hallowed 
 wisdom of our ancient formularies. We may not, indeed, 
 forget that this Court has authority to deal with all questions 
 which come lawfully before it. Such jurisdiction belongs 
 to it of course, an inferioi' degree, under appeal to 
 the higher authority of the Bishop. But while neither the
 
 Archdeacon nor his superior have any legislative authority, 
 which according to the Canons of our Church resides in 
 convocation alone, to expound the law after the manner of 
 other Judges, is inherent in the nature of the inferior as well 
 as of the superior Court. Wherein there cannot be a better 
 model than the practice of the sages of the Common Law, 
 who sustain their decisions by constant reference to the prin- 
 ciples and precedents of our happy constitution. In the 
 same manner shall some remarks be made on a very impor- 
 tant subject — the best manner of giving instruction from the 
 pulpit. On former occasions your attention has been drawn 
 to the due celebration of the Sacraments of Baptism and the 
 Lord's Supper, as well as to the immense consequences 
 which might be anticipated, if public worship were to become 
 in fact what it is in name, the collective sacrifice of the 
 people. The topic which seems naturally to remain is that of 
 preaching. Herein then my wish is to stir up your pure 
 minds by way of remembrance. Nothing but God's grace 
 can touch the heart ; unless there be this preparation, the 
 words of remonstrance and exhortation would be alike in 
 vain ; but those who are spiritual will not reject advice, which 
 is tendered in the spirit of love. 
 
 The importance of the ordinance of preaching, it is need- 
 less to say, can hardly be over-rated. Remember that we 
 have the great mass of the people of England brought 
 together every Lord's day ; — under circumstances singularly 
 favourable to quiet consideration, — and during such period 
 as is desired, we may inform, inflame, and admonish them. 
 What better opportunity could be opened to earnest men ? 
 The popular attention besides, bespeaks much of the feeling 
 so well expressed by Hooker, that the discourses which 
 they shall hear " can have public audience but once," so 
 that " if they be let slip for the present, what good soever 
 they contain is lost, and that without all hope of recovery." 
 True it is that preaching would be far more effectual if a due 
 attention to Catechetical instruction had prepared our people 
 for the mysteries of the faith ; yet, as it is, what mighty 
 effects might attend it? Perhaps its importance cannot be more 
 clearly illustrated, than by the selection of an individual case. 
 Suppose a Clergyman to hold private discourse with a parish- 
 
 A 5
 
 10 
 
 ioner who was to appear the very next day in God's presence. 
 How earnest and affectionate would be his exhortations ; how 
 anxious would he be that the soul, which was committed to his 
 trust, should not pass unwarned before the awful tribunal. And 
 yetweneverascendthepulpitwithout addressing those to whom 
 God's house may be opened for the last time. And what reason 
 is there why our advice should be less earnest, because it is 
 addressed in common to many ? If we would in this manner 
 individualize our people ; would select a few as representing 
 the wants of several classes, and set forth such truths and 
 such exhortations as seemed likely to go to their hearts, not 
 only would our manner gain more life, but our words would 
 gain more reality. We should be in no danger of feeding our 
 people with such sermons as unhappily were usual in the last 
 century, and which rather deserve the title of moral essays, 
 than of practical admonitions to dying men. This style r f 
 preaching, it is to be hoped, is now nearly abandoned. Much 
 excellent advice may no doubt be found even in the pages of 
 heathen moralists, and before the light of gospel truth had 
 visited the earth, its importance may be readily admitted. 
 It was the faint reflection of those glorious mysteries, which 
 the Jewish covenant in a measure gathered together, that in 
 the fulness of time they might be bodied forth in the Divine 
 realities of the Christian revelation. He who gave two great 
 lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light 
 to rule the night. He gave the stars also. But what mad- 
 ness were it to walk by the feeble and glimmering rays of 
 natural reason, or even by the reflected light of the earlier dis- 
 pensation, now that the glorious Lord of Day has ascended 
 the heavens. 
 
 If however it were unwise to rest satisfied with mere 
 moral preaching, it would scarcely be more reasonable to 
 make our sermons controversial. As the Church of Eng- 
 land indeed pursues a middle course between the supersti- 
 tions of Popery on the one side, and the irreverence of Lati- 
 tudinarianism on the other, our people must of course be 
 guarded against those dangers, which beset them on the 
 right hand and on the left. But whatever exceptions may 
 be involved by particular times and places, a controversial 
 style of preaching is neither adapted to produce right re- 
 sults, nor founded on any deep philosophy. The attainment
 
 11 
 
 which we should desire for our people consists not in notions 
 but in conduct : it is important that they should 6e, not be 
 called, Christians : and further, we should regard them not 
 as judges of argumentation, but as men who require to be 
 fed with the sincere milk of the word. Now a controver- 
 sial style of teaching would be too apt to harden the heart, 
 and thus to defeat that greatest of all objects of our ministry 
 — the winning: of souls to Christ. 
 
 If, then, our wisdom consists neither in the exhibition of 
 mere formularies of natural morality, nor in the argumenta- 
 tive handling of controverted doctrines, it follows that our 
 preaching should be such as would rest the practical inculca- 
 tion of a holy life upon the acknowledged principles of the 
 Christian covenant. What is this but to say, that our 
 preaching is to be Evangelical, and that it is to the office of 
 Evangelists that we are called. This is no doubt the true 
 mode of preaching ; to set forth the Gospel in its fulness and 
 freedom, as dependent on' the character and offices of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. For the efficacy of this teaching we have His 
 own promise : " I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw 
 all men unto me." But then it must be done in reality, not 
 by the bare reiteration of certain phrases, but by the actual 
 leading men to Him whose example must be engendered by 
 His grace. And the necessary steps will be manifest from 
 an unbiassed estimate of the real condition of our people. Is 
 it possible to doubt that we shall find men among them, who 
 are wholly indifferent to the truths which we communicate ? 
 We stand up on the Lord's day. They listen to our words. 
 But follow them to their week-day employments. Are they 
 truly leavened by Christian principles ? Is chastity, temper- 
 ance, and honesty predominant in their lives ? Has the 
 aspect of the world been so far changed by the religion of the 
 Cross, that men can trust one another in their dealings, apart 
 from the restraints of the law, or the opinion of society ? 
 Do servants obey their masters as in the Lord ? Are 
 masters mindful of the religious good of their dependents ? 
 Do they strive to acquit themselves of their great respon- 
 sibility, as those who must themselves give answer before 
 their Master above ? 
 Now in such cases what less is needed, than that total change
 
 12 
 
 of purpose, which from the slaves of Satan may make men 
 the servants of Christ. They need in short to be converted. 
 They need to be turned from their old to new objects. This 
 must be the basis of all instruction. Till men are disposed 
 to give serious attention to what we propose, our arguments 
 and advices are frivolous. What use in explaining to them 
 how to serve God, while they have no mind to serve Him. To 
 convert the sinner from the error of his ways, to induce him 
 to flee from the wrath to come, and to lay hold on eternal 
 life, — this is the beginning of all improvement. But it may 
 be well to notice a difficulty, by which this essential duty may 
 seem to be embarrassed. To preach conversion may be 
 deemed in some way inconsistent with that assertion of the 
 doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration, which is so plainly 
 made in the Prayer Book. A notion this, which must be 
 equally injurious, whether it blinds men to the great bless- 
 ing which Holy Scripture teaches us to look for in Baptism, 
 and which the Church so emphatically acknowledges, or 
 whether it induces an unreal tone in dealing with the actual 
 condition of mankind. But in truth, the^ two principles 
 present not the slightest inconsistency. In asserting as she 
 does the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration, our Church 
 is bearing her testimony against the Pelagian Heresy, which 
 would represent men as able to serve God of themselves. In 
 opposition to this ancient error she maintains that children 
 not only imitate, but inherit evil. From the earliest dawn 
 of reason they have a corrupted nature to oppose. And yet 
 we exhort them from the first to a life of holiness. The 
 Church System of Education, developed in the Catechism, 
 is to deal with the first lispings of understanding, as though 
 they might be directed to God's service, to teach the scarcely 
 conscious infant to return thanks for having been brought 
 into a state of salvation, to pray for its continuance, and to 
 strive after full obedience to the commandments of God. To 
 say that children could do all this of themselves were rank 
 Pelagianism. Unless they gain some new relation towards 
 Almighty God, what power have they of serving him in this 
 world, and what covenanted assurance of acceptance in the 
 next. By those indeed, who deny children to be fit objects 
 of religious teaching, Baptismal grace is naturally con- 
 temned, but the Catechism enforces upon us a different course.
 
 13 
 
 and though there may be individuals whom a happy incon- 
 sistency saves from the logical result of their own principles, 
 yet history teaches that no body of men has ever lost sight of 
 the truth of Baptismal Regeneration, without final declension 
 through the various stages of Pelagian error into the chilling 
 rationalism of Socinus. 
 
 Against such errors the Church is naturally on her guard. 
 But why should this prevent us from telling men who live in 
 sin that they need conversion ? The grace which has been 
 given to them in Baptism will not save them unless they use 
 it. Nay, rather, the abuse of God's gifts will only increase 
 their condemnation. Is not the change total from a life of 
 sin to a life of holiness ? Why not imitate then our ancient 
 worthies in calling the Baptized sinner to conversion ? The 
 omission of such a topic will tend more than anything else to 
 give the appearance of unreality to our teaching. No doubt 
 it is to be regretted that our discourses must be so indiscrimi- 
 nate : no doubt it were better, if according to the ancient 
 model we could give to each his 'portion of meat in due sea- 
 son, if there were separate times to reason with the care- 
 less, and to build up the faithful ; but taking our opportunities 
 as we find them, we can hardly look upon our flocks, without 
 seeing those who are plainly in the gall of bitterness and 
 bond of iniquity. Let us seriously lay to heart then their 
 miserable condition. Let us bethink ourselves what they 
 want. Let us endeavour by God's help to give utterance to 
 the advice which they require. This will impart a mean- 
 ing and reality to sermons, for which human eloquence would 
 be a poor substitute. Let a man speak as though he himself 
 deeply felt the danger of sin, as though under a lively 
 impression how fearful it was to go contrary to that holy 
 will which rules the universe, as though heaven and hell lay 
 open before him ; and he saw the souls of his fellows taking 
 eventful flight towards their irrevocable destiny — and he will 
 knock at the door of men's hearts with an importunity which 
 it will be impossible to refuse. 
 
 Here, however, there is need of another caution : what 
 men want is a real, not an apparent conversion. To see a 
 person turn his attention to what has been heretofore neg- 
 lected, to see him renounce some sins to which he was 
 addicted, to see an appearance of interest in the service of
 
 14 
 
 God, and in the words of public exhortation— these are such 
 changes that it is no unnatural conclusion perhaps that all 
 the work is done, that the danger is now over, and that the 
 converted man has nothing more to do than to be thankful 
 to Him who hath called him out of darkness into His mar- 
 vellous liirht. 
 
 Now if it be of primary moment to warn the wicked of 
 the necessity of conversion, it is not less material to remember 
 that conversion is not all that is required. The very weight 
 which is properly attached to seriousness of mind may make 
 men think that seriousness is sufficient. Whereas it is the 
 road to a holy life ; and not itself holiness. " Resolution," as 
 Bishop Taylor remarks, "is an imperfect act, a term of re- 
 lation, and signifies nothing but in order to the actions ; it is 
 as a faculty is to the act, as spring to the harvest, as eggs 
 are to birds, as a relative to its correspondent, nothing with- 
 out it." " Resolutions therefore, are but the gate and por- 
 tal towards pardon ; a holy life is the only perfection of 
 repentance." Now it is in testing the reality of penitence, 
 that we may derive especial help from those ancient formula- 
 ries, which lend themselves to no partial theory, and serve, 
 therefore, as landmarks, to assure us that we tread the 
 path in which saints and martyrs have preceded us. Some 
 practical hints are required as to the means of dealing with 
 men's consciences. Our business is to suggest such princi- 
 ples of self-examination as may open the eyes of the self- 
 deceiver, and obviate that worst species of hypocrisy, which 
 by means of a few honied phrases imposes upon itself. In 
 what part of our Book of Common Prayer are we to look 
 for such directions ? There^, is a time when all men need to 
 scrutinize the reality of their faith, when the hollow preten- 
 sions of a party zeal and a worldly decorum are alike insuffi- 
 cient to appease the mind, when we are forcibly recalled to 
 the recollection of past deeds, and the anticipation of future 
 judgment. At that awful season of sickness, when " death 
 and eternity appearing at the 'door occupy the whole field of 
 vision," how does the Church meet the penitent. Let us hear 
 her own words. " Now, therefore, taking your sickness, 
 which is thus profitable for you, patiently, I exhort you in 
 the name of God to remember the profession which you 
 made unto God in your Baptism. And forasmuch as after
 
 15 
 
 this life there is an account to be given \into the righteous 
 Judge, by whom all must be judged, without respect of per- 
 sons, I require you to examine yourself and your estate, both 
 towards God and man, so that accusing, and condemning 
 yourself for your own faults, you may find mercy at our 
 heavenly Father's hands, and not be accused and condemned 
 in that fearful judgment. Therefore, I shall rehearse to you 
 the Articles of our Faith, that you may know vvhether you 
 do believe as a Christian man should or no." 
 
 This first portion of the sick man's examination is not 
 altogether that which modern theories, or modern prac- 
 tice would suggest. The Church does not of course suppose 
 that mere intellectual assent to certain dogmas is a passport to 
 salvation, but her words are equally at variance with the 
 current notion that the excellence of faith depends exclusively 
 on its earnestness. It is not the warmth of feeling with 
 which men believe, but the reality of the truths accepted, to 
 which she gives the first place. Salvation by faith does not 
 mean, according to her teaching, that men's sole work is to 
 persuade themselves of their acceptance and safety, a view of 
 things, according to which a Mahometan would have at 
 least as good a claim to Heaven as a Christian, but that 
 satisfaction having really been made for the sins of men by 
 the one sacrifice of Christ our Lord, and our acquittal 
 depending on the merit of His work, not on that of ours, 
 — therefore, our first step must be to profit by all those exter- 
 nal but unseen realities, which are set forth as constituting 
 the Gospel covenant ; that these have a real outward body 
 and actual existence, but for which there could be no holy 
 life, and no Christian end. And that which gives to belief 
 its peculiar prerogative, is that of all these things not sense 
 but faith informs us. Yet to determine which among all the 
 truths of the world unseen are of primary importance, to 
 know what are those hidden realities which are involved in 
 the belief in Christ, which Scripture speaks of as necessary, 
 to learn what is meant by that " Catholic Faith," without 
 keeping which " whole and undefiled," men will " without 
 doubt perish everlastingly" — these are points on which we 
 obviously need some guidance, respecting which, no thought- 
 ful man would wish to be left to the dictates of his own fancy, 
 or the reasonings of his own understanding. Flere it is.
 
 16 
 
 therefore, that we have such assistance from the formularies 
 of the Church. Do we ask what are the essentials of sal- 
 vation ? The Church has settled them, not merely by 
 making them the Articles of Communion, but by setting 
 them before every one of her sons, in that most awful crisis 
 of his mortal destiny, as the criterion whereby he is to 
 decide, whether he does believe as a Christian man should 
 or no. This is a discrepancy from the practice of the Church 
 of Rome, by which undoubted belief in all her declarations 
 is declared essential either to communion or safety, whereas 
 the Church of England adds nothing to that ancient Creed, 
 which from the first has been held to contain the essentials of 
 salvation. Those whose office it is to teach, are required indeed, 
 and most fitly, to declare their mind on many other subjects, 
 which in modern days have been controverted or mistaken. 
 Such is the purpose of course of the thirty-nine Articles, to 
 which the clergy are required to subscribe. But the thirty- 
 nine Articles are not made terms of communion, they are not 
 set forth as fundamentals of belief like the Articles of the 
 Creed. For to these alone does the Church require men to 
 consent at their Baptism, esteeming no terms necessary for 
 communion with her, which are not necessary for communion 
 with Christ : and with these she closes the eyes of the dying 
 
 believer. .mindf^ 'o-^dmii ninmvdi i[& 
 
 Now in noticing the unprofitableness of controversial 
 preaching, it was of course never meant that attention to 
 doctrines was superfluous, or that these fundamentals of belief 
 could safely be neglected. But it is one thing to preach 
 the Gospel without reserve, and another to preach contro- 
 versy. The first consists in the establishment of truth, 
 the second in the demolition of error. To exhibit the Trinity 
 in Unity in all its offices, to set forth Christ as truly present 
 among us through the medium of holy things, to show the 
 acting of the Divine Spirit, by which that one superhuman 
 society, the Church of God, is distinguished from all earthly 
 and voluntary communities, to trace its efficacy and influence 
 in the communion of holy men, and the communication of su- 
 pernatural blessings, to lead men therefore to discern their 
 ascended Lord in word and sign, in prayer and sacrament, 
 — all this is to be done without lapsing into controversial 
 language, and with the least possible reference to those un-
 
 17 
 
 happy errors, by which the present times are overcast. This 
 is surely the more important, because there are some points 
 on which we shall lie open to the imputation of magnifying 
 ourselves, even while our object is to magnify our oflBce. In 
 such cases what could be so repulsive as the controversial 
 tone of a party disputant? Only let us keep close to that 
 fundamental verity, which the Church inculcates. The 
 Articles of the Creed, all of them, are essentials of belief. 
 They must be built up as actual realities in the conviction of 
 our people. If any be omitted, an opening will be left for 
 the intrusion of heresy. Discretion in the manner of teach- 
 ing we are allowed, but we dare not practise such reserve in 
 setting forth the Gospel, as not to aim at the gradual commu- 
 nication of all its tenets. For the Church to which we have 
 vowed obedience, not only exacts an admission of them from 
 each of her members, but requires us also to commend them 
 all to the belief of the dying. 
 
 And here it is impossible to overlook that singular assist- 
 ance in teaching the doctrines of the Gospel, which is afford- 
 ed by the progressive arrangements of the Christian year. 
 The seasons of Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Whitsuntide, 
 the feast of the Epiphany, of our Lord's Ascension, and of the 
 Blessed Trinity, are occasions which of themselves inculcate 
 all the main truths of Theology. What need we then, save to 
 adopt the tone, which these seasons suggest, and the great 
 mysteries of our Faith will be brought in the most interest- 
 ing, as well as instructive method before our people. In 
 this manner the benefits of novelty will be combined with 
 those of uniformity, and what is read from the desk will be 
 consonant in tone with what is spoken from the pulpit. A 
 sermon which would be equally fitting during the forty days of 
 fasting, which precede Easter, and the forty days of triumph 
 which follow it, may be assumed at once to be wanting in 
 that appositeness, which gives to advice its greatest eflacacy. 
 And what would be a still greater evil, that practical regard to 
 His destiny and actions, whose earthly course has left its 
 traces in all conditions of life, and sanctified every circum- 
 stance of humanity, on whom the Churchyearly waits from 
 the hour of His birth to the hour of His triumph, that sun of 
 the Christian system, from whom all its seras of time com-
 
 18 
 
 mence, whose betrayal, death and resurrection we commemo- 
 rate in the services of every week, would by such negligences 
 be weakened or effaced. 
 
 But it is not only in elucidating a right belief, that the 
 service for the Visitation of the Sick assists us, it proceeds to 
 say further, " then shall the minister examine whether the 
 sick person repent him truly of his sins, and be in charity 
 with all the world : exhorting him to forgive from the bottom 
 of his heart all persons that have offended him ; and if he 
 hath offended any other to ask them forgiveness ; and where 
 he hath done injury or wrong to any man, that he make 
 amends to the uttermost of his power." After which there 
 shortly follows, " here shall the sick person be moved to 
 make a special confession of his sins, if he feel his conscience 
 troubled with any weighty matter," And then comes the 
 Form of Absolution, dependent of course upon that power 
 of the keys, which has always been exercised by the 
 Church. On this portion of the service I will only say that 
 it appears inconsistent with the opinion which has been attri- 
 buted, perhaps unjustly, to certain parties, that there is no 
 assurance of the forgiveness of sins committed after Baptism. 
 Of course any return to sin increases the difficulty as well 
 as the need of repentance, while at the same time it should 
 diminish our confidence in the reality of professions ot 
 repentance, which former experience would furnish reason 
 to suspect, but to deny to " them that truly repent, that 
 Remission of Sins" which Almighty God "has left com- 
 mandment to His ministers to pronounce," to call in question 
 not man's sincerity, but the mercy of God, would seem 
 to be the very mistake which was long ago condemned 
 by the Universal Church in the person of Novatus. Our 
 present business, however, is only with the tests which this 
 service supplies for ascertaining the reality of conversion. 
 Now here we meet with two of primary moment, con- 
 fession and compensation. Let us take them in order. 
 In respect to confession, it is left to the discretion of the 
 penitent in what degree he shall avail himself of the oppor- 
 tunities of confidential communication with the minister, but 
 that in some way or other he is to canvass his individual acts, 
 and to scrutinize the several parts of his conduct, is of neces-
 
 iy 
 
 sity involved in that true repentance of his sins, which is 
 required of him. 
 
 Here, then, the thing to be borne in mind is, that it is 
 material that men should confess their sins, rather than 
 confess their sinfulness. Nor can there be a more important 
 function of preaching than so to open men's eyes to the 
 holiness of God's law and the blackness of their own conduct, 
 as that the long forgotten oftences, vvhich have gradually died 
 away from the memory, should come forth in their true 
 colouring, as thej'^ will one day appear before men and 
 angels. What new meaning would such a process give to 
 the words of our service, " But Thou, O Lord, have mercy 
 upon us, miserable oflenders. Spare Thou them, O God, 
 which confess their faults ; restore Thou them that are peni- 
 tent : according to Thy promises declared unto mankind in 
 Christ Jesu our Lord." A strange notion prevails in the 
 present day, that to confess the general sinfulness of man's 
 nature, and our own participation therefore in the com- 
 mon guilt, is a work of peculiar difficulty and intrinsic merit. 
 Whereas, what does it cost a man to confess what is common 
 to humanity, who knows not that it is the very nature of man- 
 kind to take pleasure even in the exaggeration of their com- 
 mon ills ? But to have a deep feeling of those ])articular 
 points, in which he has been himself culpable, to lay his 
 linger on the individual faults, whether of lust, anger, covet- 
 ousness, or ambition, by which he has himself offended against 
 Almighty God, — this is truly humbling to the pride of 
 man, and is an evidence of that broken and contrite heart, 
 which God will not despise. Is there a single Clergyman, 
 who has visited men in their last hours, without finding an 
 abundance of persons, who expressed readily enough their 
 general sense of sinfulness, but replied to more searching 
 questions, that no particular sins troubled their minds ? It 
 is of course improbable that men should pass through life 
 without committing some faults, for which they ought to be 
 peculiarly penitent. And in many cases the testimony of 
 others leaves no room to doubt, that the absence of any recol- 
 lection of specific sins arises rather from the supineness than 
 from the purity of their conscience. Now what can be more 
 fatal than such a state of things ? Here are persons who 
 turn the truth of God into a lie, by making His mercy the
 
 20 
 
 excuse for their impenitence. Surely we shall be guilty of 
 the blood of souls if we do not use every effort to deliver men 
 from the fatal delusion which would substitute a mere gene- 
 ral expression of faith and repentance, so readily made when 
 there is nothing to renounce, for that individual self-exami- 
 nation, and that heartfelt penitence which give reason for 
 hoping that the remembrance of men's sins is grievous, and 
 the burthen of them intolerable. 
 
 For this purpose that injunction of our service is peculiarly 
 useful which exhorts men " where they have done injury or 
 wrong to any," to " make amends to the uttermost of their 
 power." What is peculiarly important in this advice is that 
 the criterion M'hich it proposes to men is of such practical 
 applicability. It would not be difficult probably to find per- 
 sons who suppose that their professions of faith in Christ 
 are of a kind to be accepted, although their neighbours have 
 injustice or unkindness to complain of, for which there has 
 been no attempt to make retribution. Here is a means 
 then of ascertaining the reality of men's words. Their con- 
 duct towards God does not admit of the same easy apprecia- 
 tion as their conduct towards their brethren. Their neigh- 
 bours are often at hand to accept their humiliation, or to profit 
 by their honesty ; for our sins against God we cannot com- 
 pensate. Probably it is on this account that the Church lays 
 such stress on this part of duty : not only is it of primary 
 importance by itself, but it affords a test or scale by which 
 the nature of that more general repentance, which we owe to 
 God, may be best appreciated. ^ss 
 
 For if we bear in mind the preparatory service through 
 which the Church leads us to the Lord's Table, we shall see a 
 distinct purpose to suggest that individual examination of our 
 acts towards God, which would harmonize with this survey 
 of our conduct towards our neighbours. We are reminded that 
 " it is requisite that no man should come to the Holy Com- 
 munion but with a full trust in God's mercy, and with a 
 quiet conscience." And what subjects are especially brought 
 before us to suggest the topics, with which the conscienceshould 
 be conversant? Not the general necessity merely of the con- 
 version of the heart to God ; this, however requisite, would 
 not be sufficiently particular. Our attention is called there- 
 fore to the Ten Commandments, as containing so many
 
 21 
 
 heads, under which the several offences against Goo's hiw 
 may be classified. This was an addition to our Communion 
 Service at the Reformation, when the practice of confession 
 to God's ministers ceased to be compulsory, and the penitent 
 was invited instead to render individual confession to God 
 Himself. The service is built therefore on the principle that 
 to lay the constituent parts of God's law before men is an 
 essential requisite for that momentous task to which they 
 are called. Whether our people are fully alive to the im- 
 portance of this examination of their individual actions, whe- 
 ther they diligently try and examine themselves, and that not 
 lightly and after the manner of dissemblers before God, but 
 by a serious scrutiny of each particular of their conduct, is a 
 thing which may well be doubted. And probably there is 
 no course which the minister could more profitably adopt 
 when he visits a sick bed than to read over in order the Ten 
 Commandments, as the best means of examining whether 
 men " repent them truly of their sins," pausing upon each 
 for a few moments, and asking the sick man to consider 
 seriously whether those extended topics which each Com- 
 mandment suggests do not furnish some subjects of self-con- 
 demnation. This is nearly the method adopted in Bishop 
 Wilson's Parochialia, the best book probably for the 
 guidance of a young clergyman. Its employment would 
 make his visits to the sick a serious and profitable inquiry 
 into the real disorders of their spiritual being, instead of that 
 mere friendly gossip, which may be suitable enough for a 
 casual visitor, but not for those who have care of souls. 
 One grand difficulty in the present day is to make this point 
 duly felt ; to keep alive the feeling that our responsibility for 
 men's souls is not confined to the limits of a public exhortation, 
 but that it extends to that individual dealing with the con- 
 sciences of men, which can be best discharged singly and in 
 private. Here, as elsewhere, the pastoral care, which in 
 former days was armed with compulsion, must now be ef- 
 fected by persuasion. We make no attempt to compel men 
 to save their souls, but our work will be most ineflSciently 
 performed if they do not feel that we are invested with an 
 authority by God, that we visit them to call their sins 
 to remembrance, and to produce such strict inquiry into their 
 \aBta 08 gniaifijno)
 
 22 
 
 real state as may anticipate the awful revelations of the day 
 of doom. 
 
 Private communications of this kind would suggest the 
 considerations, by which our public formularies require to be 
 elucidated. To those therefore, who, like myself, are con- 
 vinced that our Prayer Book contains that view of religious 
 truth which is consonant to the mind of God's spirit, 
 and to such a belief we are all solemnly pledged, there can be 
 no safer or more obvious course than to use simply and in its 
 integrity that service by which the Church speaks to the sick 
 and dying, and to found our ordinary advice on the principles 
 which are adapted to these seasons of exigency. Should it 
 ever happen indeed that the Clergy used such portions of the 
 Liturgy as the law compelled them to retain, but declined 
 into other paths the moment obedience ceased to be com- 
 pulsory, should they be content with eulogizing the Prayer 
 Book instead of employing it, it were idle for them to expect 
 that men would think them sincere members of a Church, 
 which they were unwilling to obey, or that they were honest 
 in praising those Reformers, the pressure of whose moulding 
 hand she still exhibits. The employment therefore of the 
 Service for the Visitation of the Sick ; its constant employ- 
 ment ; the employment of the whole of it, or at least of so 
 much as time or occasion requires — this is not only essential 
 if we would ourselves be honest men, but is of primary mo- 
 ment as suggesting the topics and principles of our public 
 teaching. 
 
 I will conclude with one further subject, the most im- 
 portant after all, the most difficult, fraught with the greatest 
 blessings to our people, to ourselves the- real secret of tran- 
 quillity and hope. I have reminded you, my Reverend Brethren, 
 on former occasions that your example was of more moment 
 than your teaching ; that words were outweighed by actions. 
 Let me now put the same subject in a different form ; let me 
 remind you that the most material qualification for the 
 preacher's office is a regenerate heart. To speak of subjects 
 which we do not relish, of conflicts, in which we have not been 
 conversant, of practices which we have not tried, must always 
 be an insipid and lifeless task. Its incredible weariness to a 
 man''s own heart must ever make it wearisome to others. 
 And therefore, the truly godly man will always be the best
 
 23 
 
 preacher. He may lack the endowments of talent and ora- 
 tory, he may have none of those qualifications which shake 
 the market place, and rouse the popular mind to phrenzy, but 
 the deep experience of his own struggles cannot fail to interest 
 those who are conversant with the same trials. Do we want 
 guidance along a dangerous track, we refer ourselves not to 
 the man of ability and eloquence, but to one, by whom it has 
 been habitually traversed. Thunder and lightning may dazzle 
 and amaze, but it is the gentle rain from heaven which re- 
 plenishes the earth. 
 
 This is no doubt the reason why sermons are so often unpro- 
 fitable. Those who write them have not lived enough in the 
 habit of prayer and meditation ; they have not fasted and wept 
 for the sins of themselves and their brethren ; they do not feel 
 the incalculable value of immortal souls, and the fearful ha- 
 zard of making shipwreck of salvation — how, then, should 
 they speak to men as ambassadors of Christ or stewards of the 
 mysteries of God. It was no light estimate of the importance 
 of souls which led the Lord of all to exchange the glories of 
 heaven for the manger and the cross, neither will any man 
 really preach Christ who does not follow Him. For this reason 
 has our Church enjoined us to make every Friday, the weekly 
 anniversary of our Lord's death, a day of fasting and self-de- 
 nial, that this perpetual recurrence of seasons of devotion might 
 deepen our impression of things divine, and that the impress 
 of our Master's example might hallow our daily life. I am 
 aware that there are some who scoff at this command of our 
 Church, and more who neglect it. But the approach of 
 public dangers, or even those private visitations, age, pain, 
 and sickness, may te^ch men lessons in which the instruc- 
 ters of the people are yet untaught. Above all, I rest in that 
 grace of God's spirit, which I ask for you, which I entreat 
 you to ask for me, that we may be guided amidst the doubts, 
 and armed against the dangers of our ministiy. 
 
 Would we gain then the power of kindling other men's 
 devotion ; the first qualification is to be ourselves devout. 
 Never spake our great Herbert with profounder truth than 
 when he reminded us that " the Parson's library is a holy 
 life," for that " the temptations with which a good man is 
 beset, and the ways which he used to overcome them, 
 being told to another, whether in private conference or in 
 the Church, are a sermon." Do we fp('l. thprpfnm fhof ..„..
 
 24 
 
 work is hard to perform, that our progress is less than could 
 be desired, that men's hearts are hot influenced as they 
 should be, that the ordinances of the Church are undervalued, 
 that is, the blessings of God"'s grace neglected, we have 
 our remedy, that personal advancement, which is the true 
 method of benefitting our brethren, which will draw down 
 God's blessing not only on ourselves but on our land. " O 
 my people, enter into thy closet and shut thy doors about thee." 
 The aspect of public affairs certainly is not such as to 
 give satisfaction to considerate men, albeit that faith is in- 
 compatible with fear. But sure I am that all improvements 
 in the mind and temper of the age must begin wit^h those 
 who stand nearest to the altar. So long as they are bound 
 to devotions, which they do not care to render, and to self- 
 denials, for which they seek an excuse in the incogitaney of 
 others, what marvel, if the stream be as turbid as its foun- 
 tain. Our course, therefore, my Reverend Brethren, is clear. 
 It is one of private happiness, not less than public good. Let 
 us live upon our blessings. In prayer, in the use of God's 
 public ordinances, in self-examination, in self-denial, let us 
 seek God's favour for ourselves and our people. This course 
 will unlock the treasures of His bounty, who holds the hearts 
 of all men in His hands. For the praise of men, as we 
 ought not to desire, so will it be indifferent whether we gain 
 it. But we shall gain what is more material, peace of 
 conscience, a heart exercised in God"'s service, the sense of 
 His presence in whom is the fulness of joy, and at whose 
 right hand there is pleasure for evermore. 
 
 H. Mozley and Sons, Printers, Derby.

 
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