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THE DUTY i
OF A CANONICAL ADHERENCE
mtmi of toe tis&uvrt*

A SERMON, &c.
Price Is. 6d.

THE DUTY
OF A CANONICAL ADHERENCE
TO THE
Uitual of tfje ©fjut cf).
A SERMON
PREACHED IN THE CHURCH OF SAFFRON-WALDEN
> On Thursday, July 23, 1818,
AT THE SECOND TRIENNIAL VISITATION
OF THE
RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD
WILLIAM LORD BISHOP OF LONDON.
BY
CHARLES JAMES BLOMFIELD B. D.
ONE OF HIS LORDSHIP'S DOMESTIC CHAPLAINS
RECTOR OF CHESTERFORD AND
FORMERLY FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGB.

Published by his Lordship's Command, and at the Request of the Clergy.

CAMBRIDGE

Printed by J. Smith, Printer to the University; >
FOR J. MAWMAN, AND F. C. & J. RIVINGTON, LONDON ,- YOONGMAN,
SAFFRON-WALDEN ; AND J. DEIGHTON & SONS, CAMBRIDGE. ,
1818

TO
THE RIGHT REVEREND
AND
RIGHT HONOURABLE
WILLIAM HOWLEY D.D.
LORD BISHOP OF LONDON
WITH UNFEIGNED ADMIRATION
OF THAT FIRM BUT TEMPERATE EXERCISE
OF PASTORAL AUTHORITY
BY WHICH THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
IS AT ONCE STRENGTHENED AND ADORNED
THIS DISCOURSE i
IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED
BY HIS OBLIGED AND DUTIFUL SERVANT

C. J. BLOMFIELD.

A SERMON,
8fc. Sfe.

Psalm XLV. 13.
The King's daughter is all glorious within : her clothing
is of wrought gold.
A hese words form a part of that remarkable
song of gratulation, in which the royal Psalmist
announces » the union of the Messiah and his
Church. Filled with the dignity and importance
of the event, which he beheld in prospect with
a prophet's eye, he breaks forth into the noblest
strains of panegyric ; and paints the grace and
majesty of the bridegroom, the beauty and splen
dour of the bride, with all the richness of oriental
imagery. So striking is the testimony, which is
afforded by this inspired ode to the divine nature
of the Redeemer, and to the dignity of his Church;
that some commentators, who neither believe the
one, nor respect the other, have taken great pains,
and invented various hypotheses, to reduce this
sacred composition to the level of a common epi-
thalamium, composed, as they say, by some Jewish
A

2
bard, comparatively modern, in honour of an
Assyrian king.* To all which we are content to
oppose the single, but sufficient testimony of the
Apostle to the Hebrews ; who expressly declares,
that the poem contains the words of inspiration ;
and that the royal personage, who is described as
being true, meek, and righteous, and blessed for
ever, is no other than the Son of God ; " whose
throne is for ever and ever, and the sceptre of
his kingdom is a right sceptre f." And if so,
there can be no doubt, but that " the King's
daughter/' described in the text, as being " all
glorious within," is the Church of Christ ; of
which the Apostle says, that " Husbands ought to
love their wives, even as Christ loved the Church,
and gave himself for it — that He might present it
unto himself a glorious Church, not having spot or
wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be
holy, and without blemish."^
Considered in this point of view, the words
of the inspired Psalmist are very remarkable.
The Messiah goes forth in meek and holy dig
nity, pre-eminent in grace and righteousness,
to meet that Church, which had been prepared
for Him in the eternal counsels of God, before
the foundation of the world. The prophet, in
a solemn address, desires her to consider the
* See Rosenmuller's Introduction to this Psalm.
t Hebr. i. 8, Q.
t Eph. v. 25..

dignity, which this election confers upon her;
to look upon herself as separate from the
world ; from that family of sinners, to which,
before the Messiah's advent, she had belonged;
to listen with reverence to Him, who was to be her
guardian and instructor ; and to worship Him as
her God. " Hearken, O daughter, and consider;
and incline thine ear; forget also thine own
people, and thy father's house, so shall the King
greatly desire thy beauty ; for He is thy Lord, and
worship thou him." And then, as if struck with
the symmetry and graciousness of the Church,
now coming forth with gladness and rejoicing to
meet the Redeemer, he exclaims, "The King's
daughter is all glorious within : her clothing is of
wrought gold:" a concise, but striking description
of that inward purity, and that outward decency,
which are characteristic of the true, scriptural
Church of Christ. And he seems to consider that the
one is a fit emblem and appropriate designation of
the other. About the former qualification there can
be no controversy. It is agreed on all hands, that,
according to the order of commendation in the
text, the first requisite for the Church of Christ
is, that she should be "all glorious within." It
is there that the beauty of holiness must shine;
the spiritual graces and gifts of faith and piety ;
" with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit,
which is in the sight of God of great price."* So
the heavenly Church is described in Revelations,
* 1 Pet. iii. 4.

as being "arrayed in fine linen, clean and white ;
for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints."*
But although, as far as He is concerned, whose
eye discerns "the hidden man of the heart," these
inward dispositions are the chief requisites, to
conciliate his favour, and affection towards His
Church, and to obtain from Him a more effectual
holiness ; yet, for the general purpose, which she
has to answer upon earth, of promoting amongst
mankind the growth of the Redeemers kingdom,
it may be expedient, that her outward appearance
should in some manner correspond to the cha
racter which she has to support. It is therefore not
without a meaning, that the prophet immediately
subjoins, " her clothing is of wrought gold."
This brief description suggests several conside
rations, which are of peculiar interest and im
portance in the present state of the Christian
Church, and which can no where be enforced with
greater advantage or propriety, than before an
assembly of it's ministers, whose duty it is to up
hold, as well by practice and example, as by sound
argument, and scriptural authority, the decent
and seemly beauty of that Establishment, which
they conscientiously believe to be the most condu
cive to the maintenance and propagation of the
true faith.
The first observation which occurs is this; that
* Rev. xix. 8.

the Psalmist here speaks of a visible church. The
former circumstance of his description might be
applied to the invisible church of Christ ; not so
the latter, which specifies not only an abstract
quality, but a splendour which is visible and de
fined ; " her clothing is of wrought gold." She is
not only distinguished by those spiritual qualifica
tions, which form the connecting bond of " the
general assembly and church of the first-born;"
but may be recognized by the same correspond
ence of external symbols and inward righteous
ness, which is said to have characterized Simon,
the son of Onias ; " When he put on the robe of
honour, and was clothed with the perfection of
glory, he made the garment of holiness honour
able."* Religion, abstractedly considered, is purely spi
ritual ; and consists entirely in that faith and de
votion of the mind and will to God, which are
indicated by all the various acts of worship, and
charity, and self-denial : for these, properly speak
ing, are rather to be esteemed the fruits and tokens
of religion, than the quality itself. It is true, that
for all practical purposes they may safely be spoken
of under that denomination ; yet always with a
reference to the motive and disposition of mind.
With this reservation must be understood that
affecting definition of the Apostle, that "pure reli
gion and undcfiled, before God and the Father, is
* Ecclus. i. 11.

this ; to visit the fatherless and widows in their
affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the
world."* It is, however, extremely difficult, not to
say impossible, under the present constitution of
the human mind, to attain to that high degree of
spiritual religion, which shall be altogether ab
stracted from, and independent of, the objects of
sense. For what man has carried his speculations
to such a height, as not to connect with the idea
of religion, as soon as he hears the name, the
sensible acts of thanksgiving, and prayer, and
alms, the mortification of his own appetites, and
the relief of other's wants ; which yet, as I have
said, are, in strictness of speech, the indications and
effects of religion ? In fact, such a spiritual abs
traction would be very inconsistent with the state
of things, in which the Divine Providence has
placed us ; and with our constitution, as material
beings, whose soul is given us, to influence and
regulate the body, and in return to derive its im
pressions and materials of reflection from without,
through the medium of the senses. As it is neither
practicable, nor could have been intended by our
Creator, that the soul should be uninfluenced by
the sensations of the frame which it inhabits, the
great object of a reasonable creature must be, so to
regulate the one by the other, so to make the sen
sitive part subservient to the reflective, that both
may co-operate towards producing the great ob-
* James i. 27.

jects of his being, viz. the glory of God, and his
own eternal happiness.
Since, therefore, even the most spiritual acts
must in some way or other be dependent upon the
senses ; it follows, that these cannot safely be laid
out of the account, in our inquiries either into the
duties of religion, or into the best methods of im
planting and cultivating it in the mind. And ac
cordingly we find, as might naturally be expected,
that He, who made us such as we are, and knows
what He has made, has, in all the revelations of His
will to mankind, in all His ordinances concerning
their relation to Him, taken into account their
mixed and imperfect nature, and has given them
sensible helps to the conception of spiritual truths,
to. the performance of spiritual duties. This is a
natural and satisfactory account of the divine insti
tution of prayer and sacrifice, and of the use of
types and symbols, which are intended to produce
certain effects upon the mind, by the intermediate
agency of the senses. The utility and necessity
of these provisions will appear the more clearly, if
we consider, that in all ages of the world, the
great mass of mankind have trusted more to their
senses than to their understanding ; and are but
seldom prepared to go far beyond that which they
see and hear.
Here then we may perceive, in the nature of
things, a reason, why Religion has always had,
and always must have, its externals. In ordaining

8
outward forms of worship, God condescended to
human infirmity;* and secured the aid of the
senses on the side of spiritual piety. Not that
there was any intrinsic virtue or efficacy in such
forms, considered independently of the end they
were intended to answer, except that, which is
essentially inherent in all acts of obedience to the
divine will. But so it is ; the service of God has
had, from the very beginning, some ceremony
attending it, and that too by His ordinance and
appointment. Spiritual ends, in the economy of
all His dispensations to mankind, have been pro
moted, if not attained, by the regulated use of
adscititious and extrinsic aids ; which also have
served for the important purpose of reminding
men, by their typical propriety, of those inward
and invisible qualities with which they were con
nected by His ordinance.
It was probably with a kind consideration for
the imperfection of the human mind, that our
Saviour, in his new dispensation, altered the out
ward ceremonies of religion as little as possible.
Sacrifice was abolished, because it had been from
the beginning of the world only a type of that one
great propitiatory offering, which was to be made
once for all, in the person of Christ himself. But
the most material appendages of the service of
God were retained, with such changes and modifi
cations, as the different polity of the Christian
* See Hales's Golden Remains, p. 158.

Church rendered necessary or expedient. And
therefore He sanctified two great rites, which were
familiar to the Jews, to be the two Sacraments of
his Gospel ; of which the outward and visible signs
are intended to impress upon the mind such sen
timents of their nature and purpose, as may qua
lify it to receive the inward and visible grace.*
It is impossible to do justice to this most impor
tant subject within the limits of a single dis
course. It will be sufficient thus briefly to remind
you of the great and incontrovertible principles,
upon which depends the necessity of the external
and formal part of religion. Let me, however,
advert, by the way, to the arguments, which these
considerations will suggest, for the propriety and
utility of that important ceremony, which so many
young Christians have this day gone through, to
the spiritual improvement, under God's blessing,
of their own souls, and to the promotion of true
religion. These advantages are such, as to justify
the Church in retaining a pious and impressive
rite ; which, although it has not the distinguishing
marks of a sacrament, is perpetually expedient
and useful, though not necessary, to salvation.
I proceed then to another consideration, closely
connected with the former. Having shown the
necessity of some sensible medium, by which reli
gious impressions may be communicated to the
mind, we are naturally led to consider, what ought
* See Mede's Works, I. p. 435.
B

10
to be its essential qualities, where there is no ex
press direction in the Word of God, under all the
different forms which it may assume, according to
the necessities or the inclinations of men.
About some of these no difference of opinion
can exist. That the externals of religion should
be so constituted, as best to promote the growth
of inward piety, and at the same time to be con
sistent with the precepts of the Gospel, and with
the directions of the Apostles, is a position, which,
in words, no one will venture to deny. At. the
same time it is so general, as to leave open a wide
door for disagreement and dissension about forms.
This is not what I am now about to consider. But
let me intreat your most serious attention to a
simple and unquestionable truth, not only founded
on the nature of things, but sanctioned by the
uniform practice of God's Church, from its first
establishment; that all the outward means, em
ployed for the purposes of religion, should be
suitable to the ends which they are intended to
answer: that they should be adapted to make such
impressions upon the minds of men, as may cor
respond to the nature of religion itself : and that
therefore they should be, though simple, yet dig
nified ; easy to be understood, yet not inspiring
contempt; partaking not only of the spirit, but
somewhat of the beauty of holiness ; grave, yet
decent; majestic, though not superb. So will the
rites and solemnities of religion inspire a just no
tion of its intrinsic excellence ; the outward form

11
will be in harmony with the vital and spiritual
part; and through the eyes and ears of men, intro
duce it, by God's gracious assistance, to the heart.
The same principle, of making the external
means correspond, as far as may be, with the sen
timent which they are intended to excite, is acted
upon, without question or cavil, in all the institu
tions of civil life : and no argument in its behalf
holds good in any case, which is not applicable to
religion. If any person can believe, that the laws
of his country would be better respected, if they
were publicly administered, without any regard to
solemnity and outward circumstance; or that to
divest the magistrate of his robe and mace of
office, would increase the respect paid to legitimate
authority; he may, perhaps, be convinced, that
the ceremonial part of religion is a useless and
superfluous incumbrance. But the fact is, that
every sect of Christians, with perhaps a single
exception, acts to a certain degree upon the prin
ciple in question. And I trust that I am guilty of no
breach of Christian charity, when I express my
belief, that it is generally owing to want of means,
rather than of inclination, where the place of wor
ship for non-conformists is not as well constructed,
and as handsomely furnished, as the Church.
Understanding, therefore, the Psalmist's expres
sion in the text, to include all that reasonable and
well regulated ceremony, which is conducive to
spiritual ends, we may surely, without presumption,

12
or disparagement of other national churches, say
of our own, " the King's daughter is all glorious
within ; her clothing is of wrought gold." Ob
serving that rational and happy moderation, which
alone can render any reform beneficial, she con
tented herself with laying aside such solemnities
as were injurious to the interests of spiritual reli
gion; and so much of the ceremonial part of devo
tion, as tended to encumber, rather than to dignify,
the service of God. The Fathers of our Church
were not merely learned divines, and acute logi
cians, but men of practical knowledge, who well
understood the human mind, and the helps which
it requires from without. Accordingly they were
careful to retain all such ordinances, as were calcu
lated to convey suitable impressions of religion ;
and to preserve an orderly conformity in the pub
lic worship of God ; at the same time cautiously
abstaining from attributing to any outward forms
of human ordinance a virtue which they do not
possess, " and from seeking to draw any opinion,
either of divine necessity upon the constitution, or
of effectual holiness upon the, ceremony;"* not
attributing any portion of the incommunicable
honour of God to the institutions of his creatures,
but respecting and valuing the latter, in proportion
as they tend to promote the former.
These observations are applicable, not merely
to the degrees, or vestments, or decorations, or
* Bp, Sanderson's Judgment in one Vino, p. 99.

13
ceremonies, properly so called, of the Church, but
to the whole of its constitution, its canons, and
ritual ; as well to the words, as to the mode of
celebrating the offices of public prayer. Through
out the whole there is a most distinguishable regard
to the Apostolic precept ; " let all things be done
decently and in order,"* an endeavour to combine
an impressive gravity and solemnity, with an
affecting earnestness and scriptural simplicity. And
I cannot but remark, that if the Canons of the
Church were uniformly observed, if not in all
cases literally, at least according to the spirit of them ;
and if the office of Common Prayer were always
performed in a manner calculated to give full
force to its energetic and dignified expression of
devotion ; if we could all bear in mind, how much
depends upon the place, the tone, the air, nay the
garb, in which the minister of the Gospel is seen
by his flock, preceding and directing their public
devotions : if, I say, the ordinances of the Church
were thus brought into full play, and had scope
to produce their effect; a great number of our
Christian brethren would entertain more just and
worthy notions of religion, at least of social wor
ship, than we now find to prevail.
The reformers of our Church had evidently two
great objects in view; first, to render the truths
and comforts of Christianity accessible to all men ;
to preach the Gospel to the poor; secondly, to
* 1 Cor. xiv. 4a

14
invest all the public offices of religion with such
a moderate degree of splendour and dignity, as
might strongly mark a 'distinction between the
most solemn service in which a created being can
be engaged, and the ordinary transactions of life ;
and even between the public and impressive worship
of the sanctuary, and the devout, but quiet aspira
tions of domestic piety. And it is undoubtedly
adverse to the spirit, if not to the letter of our
canons, to collect individuals of different families
together, for the purpose of common worship, in
any other place than in the consecrated house of
God, or with any other forms than those, which our
Church has appointed, as best calculated to pro
mote the ends of religion ; and to the strict obser
vance of which all its ministers, at least, are bound
by the most solemn and sacred obligation.
And whoever takes into consideration the strong,
though imperceptible, influence, which the princi
ple of association exercises on the train of men's
thoughts, cannot fail to recognize the wisdom and.
propriety of those regulations, which are intended
to maintain unimpaired the solemnity and import
ance of public worship. Most assuredly those
Christians will soon be brought to think less of the
duty of joining in one general act of common
devotion in the sanctuary, who know that they
have opportunities of meeting together in another
place, perhaps somewhat more conveniently, to
hear the same service performed by the same mi
nister. An extension of the same principle will.

15
by degrees, naturally lead them to stay at home,
where they may, perhaps, pray with less inter
ruption, and read a better discourse. Nor need I
hesitate to affirm, that, in proportion as this effect
takes place, religion itself suffers in point of dig
nity and public estimation, where the authorized
minister of the Word descends from the teacher's
chair, and the Church congregation is identified
with that of the conventicle. One of the great
ends of a national establishment is lost sight of;
and a door is opened to confusion and dissent.
The Church is no longer clad in those vestments
of appropriate beauty of which the prophet speaks ;
she is no longer " a city set on a hill, which
cannot be hid."
There is one obvious argument against this,
or any other unauthorized deviation from the ca
nonical practice of the Church; and that is, that
however innocent it may be in itself, it sanctions
the principle of innovation; and prepares the way
for more flagrant departures from the ritual of the
Establishment. Still keeping in view that imperfection of human
nature, which leads us to form our judgments from
what we see and hear, we may perceive abundant
reason for the exercise of a sound discretion, as to
the language in which we speak of religious sub
jects; whether in our addresses to the Fountain of
holiness ajid mercy, or in our expositions of scrip-

16
tural truths. We are bound in duty, if we be not
prompted by judgment and taste, to adhere to the
incomparable model with which the Church has
provided us ; to observe, as far as our respective
talents will permit, the same tone of fervent yet
rational piety, the same perspicuous yet noble
style of expression, the same devout and solemn
language in speaking of the object of all religion,
which in so eminent a degree characterize the
Liturgy of our Church. The ear soon misleads
the judgment; and he who habitually hears the
most sacred things spoken of in the same easy lan
guage of familiar regard, which we use towards ob*
jects of temporal and transient interest, will cease,
by degrees, to feel that awful and overpowering
sense of the supreme majesty and dominion of
his Creator, of the inexpressible worthiness and
mercy of his divine Redeemer, of the mysterious
but powerful agency of the Holy Spirit, which
prompts the serious and reflecting man to
prostrate every faculty of his soul in humble and
silent adoration, with a dread lest he should think
or say any thing unworthy of Him, whom even the
blessed Spirits in heaven address not, but in the
language of submissive devotion. At least all our
pastoral discourses and prayers should be couched
in words of gravity and reverence, suitable to the
dignity of the subject. The reason, which Solo
mon gave for the magnificence of his temple,
holds good in all that concerns the public ser
vice of God, where circumstances permit. " The

17
house which I build is great — for great is our God
above all gods."*
It may be said, that mankind at large cannot
be made too familiar with religion. And this, in
one sense of the word, we readily concede ; but in
another, and more common acceptation of the
term, we as confidently deny it. That the great
truths and doctrines of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
should be brought home to every man's bosom ;
that he should be taught to mix it's motives with
all the feelings which actuate his conduct in life ;
that he should maintain a regular and conscien
tious intercourse with the records and the teachers
of his faith ; and that, in this sense, he should be
familiar with religion, — to accomplish this, is the
great end and object of our ministry. But to
teach our simple and unwary brethren, that there
is nothing awful or sublime in religion ; to speak
of the divine attributes and operations in coarse
and colloquial language ; to endeavour to lower
it's truths to their comprehension, instead of ele
vating, by gradual and judicious instruction, their
minds to the comprehension of it's truths; to ad
dress the Deity in the phrase of personal endear
ment; to talk to them of their divine Saviour, the
uncreated Son of God, in words which we should
hesitate to apply to an earthly superior; to debase
their notions of the sanctifying Spirit, by persuad
ing them that they need be at no trouble to secure
* 2 Chron. ii. 5.
c

18
his influence, or to retain it; and thus to make
religion familiar to them — is surely a method of
edification, not more inconsistent with all our no
tions of the reverence due to our Almighty Maker
and Redeemer, than with the language of the
Apostles ; whose writings afford no example what
ever of the confident familiarity, with which some
presume to approach the mercy-seat of God. It is
but daubing the wall with untempered mortar,
which has neither beauty nor tenacity. To those
Christians who use a mode of expression concern
ing the object of all worship and praise, which
would be deemed unceremonious and disrespectful,
if addressed to a prince or a magistrate, we may
apply the rebuke, which God uses to the Israelites,
who offered in sacrifice the blind, and the lame,
and the sick; "Offer it now to thy governor;
will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy
person? saith the Lord of Hosts."* But surely it
is neither impossible nor difficult, at once to ob
serve the Apostle's precept, to " utter by the tongue
words easy to be understood,"f and " to use great
plainness of speech,";}; and yet to maintain that
tone of dignified instruction and exhortation to
ward our flock, whiclf becomes those, who are
"ambassadors for Christ ;" that unaffected humility
and reverential awe, in our addresses to Him who
created, and redeemed, and sanctifies us, which may
best express our sense of our own inferiority and
unworthiness. " Be not rash with thy mouth ;
* Mal. i. 8. t 1 Cor. xiv. a. j 2 Cor. iii. 12.

19
and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing
before God ; for God is in heaven, and thou upon
earth : therefore let thy words be few."*
In a word, let us bear in mind, that the Church
should, in external guise and semblance, in visible
majesty and propriety, be in some degree emble
matical of that glorified spouse of Christ, "in whose
light the nations of them that are saved shall walk ;
and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory
and honour to it."f To decency and order no
thing is more necessary than uniformity of prac
tice : and until something better than the ritual
and canons of our Church can be devised, for the
purpose of promoting the growth of spiritual and
intrinsic piety, by the judicious and well-regulated
application of decent solemnity, let us not, my
brethren, by unauthorized and individual innova
tions, weaken that effect, so much of which depends
upon consistency; nor endeavour, in compliance
with our own taste or judgment, to alter the
fashion of that " clothing of wrought gold," the
lustre of which, thanks be to God, still remains^
after the lapse of ages, undiminished and unim
paired. By endeavouring to preserve an agreement
between the vital part of Christianity, and those
ritual institutions, which are calculated to animate
and refresh the spirit, where the flesh is weak, we
* Eccles. v. 2. f Rev. xxi. 24.

20
shall pursue the most effectual method, under
God's grace, of drawing the attention of our hear
ers to the great doctrines and duties of the Gospel;
till they are qualified for an entrance into that
more perfect state, where all will be spiritual, and
pure and holy : till " they come unto mount Sion
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of
angels, to the general assembly and church of the
first-born, which are written in heaven, and to
God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just
men made perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of
the new Covenant."*
* Hebr. xii. 22.

NOTES.

P. 9. Two great rites, viz. Baptism, and the Paschal
Supper. Concerning the baptism of proselytes amongst
the Jews see Lightjbot's Harmony, on John iii. 23.
P. 1 1 . Every sect of Christians, Sfc. The female
enthusiast Antonia Bourignon would fain have met (ac
cording to the proverbial tendency of extremes) the
doubters and free-thinkers, in abolishing the priesthood,
and all the outward ordinances of the Gospel. Upon
which Leslie remarks " Her disciples may make the same
excuse for her, which the Quakers do sometimes, That
they are only so far against the outward institutions of
religion, as they hinder the inward and spiritual part.
But this is only a deceit of the devil, to make us throw off
the outward institutions of Christ's appointment, as hurt
ful, or useless things : whereas to the due observance of
them, the promises of spiritual participations is annexed.
And they were ordained as means and channels, whereby
the spiritual graces of the Spirit of God are conveyed."
Preface to the Snake in the Grass, p. x.
P. 14. if is undoubtedly adverse, Sfc. The reasons
which rendered expedient the seventy-first Canon, which
prohibits ministers from preaching in private houses, apply
with equal force to the irregular celebration of divine ser
vice in an unusual place. These reasons I have briefly
stated in my discourse ; and I would earnestly entreat
certain of my brethren to consider, that the sanction which

22
they give by their presence and ministry to those anoma
lous assemblies which are called "Prayer-meetings," must
tend directly to weaken, in the minds of their flock, that
sense of the utility and importance of public worship,
which it should be their constant study to strengthen and
keep alive. I have been informed that, in some cases,
the parochial minister has taken to his aid a lay-assistant,
or deputy, whose province it is to perform the extra-
canonical offices of devotion, and to teach the people,
by degrees, to regard with indifference the legitimate and
apostolical form of ordination to the ministry.
I cannot refrain from adding a few words upon an
other irregular practice, to call it by no harsher a name,
which, I have reason to believe, prevails amongst some
of the clergy, who embrace the peculiar tenets of Calvin :
I mean a custom of curtailing and mutilating the Service
of Baptism, so as to bring it somewhat nearer to their own
notions of regeneration. I leave them to reconcile, as
they are able, with their own consciences, this departure
from the terms of that solemn declaration, to which they
subscribed " willingly and ex animo" upon entering into
Holy Orders ; the second Article of which is, " that the
Book of Common Prayer containeth in it nothing contrary
to the Word of God ; and it may lawfully so be used, and
that he himself will use the form in the said book pre
scribed in public prayer and administration of the sacra
ments, and none other." The fourteenth Canon (to
which every minister has declared that he will conform),
directs that " all ministers shall observe the Orders, Rites,
and Ceremonies prescribed in the Book of Common
Prayer, as well in reading the Holy Scriptures, and saying
of prayers, as in administration of the Sacraments, with
out either diminishing, in regard of preaching, or in any
other respect, or adding any thing in the matter or form
thereof." And as the framers of the Liturgy have well
observed ; " altkough the keeping or omitting of a cere-

23
mony, in itself considered, is but a small thing ; yet the
wilful and contemptuous transgression and breaking of a
common order and discipline, is no small offence before
God. Let all things be done among you, saith St. Paul,
in a seemly and due order: the appointment of which
order pertaineth not to private men ; therefore no man
ought to take in hand, nor presume to appoint or alter
any public or common order in Christ's Church, ex
cept he be lawfully called and authorized thereunto." I
mention the subject here, chiefly as affording a satisfactory
proof, that some, who impugn the doctrine of baptismal
regeneration, find the language of our Church, in this
solemn service, too plain to be misconstrued, too strong
to be eluded. Their only resource, therefore, is to blot
out so much of it as they cannot digest ; although it is
difficult to say what is too hard for their digestion, who
can wilfully alter and deprave the prescribed form of
administering a sacrament, to which they have declared
their unfeigned assent and consent. To those who think
themselves authorized by a spiritual illumination, thus to
deviate from that line of public duty which they have
solemnly bound themselves to observe, we may recom
mend the just and sensible caution of the Fathers of our
Church : " It is not the part of a Christian, under pre
tence of the Holy Ghost, to bring his own dreams and
phantasies into the Church.*
* Homily for Whitsunday, Part II.

By the same Author,
1. A SERMON preached at Aylesbury, June 1, 1815,
at the TRIENNIAL VISITATION of the Lord BisHor
of Lincoln.— Published by desire of his Lordship and the
Clergy. 2. A SERMON preached at the First Annual Meeting
of the Aylesbury District Committee of the Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge.— —Published at the request of
the Committee. 3. A SERMON preached before the University of
Cambridge, December 29, 1816.  Published by desire of
the Rev. the Vice-Chancellor.

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