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education, to serve in its sacred ministry. This now is the object for which you have combined; and, as far as your powers extend, the Church will be furnished with ministers of this description. And what joy must it give you to usher even one from obscurity into the vineyard of our Lord, with a heart warmed in the sacred cause of his Master; qualified to rouse the sinner to repentance; to animate and encourage the saint in his painful conflicts; to pour balm into the wounds of the afflicted of every description; and successfully lead all, who are not incorrigibly perverse, in the ways of peace and happiness. To behold this, or even to anticipate it, will afford you more true joy than all the splendours that can be procured by wealth; than all the gratifications the world can give. This joy is divine; it flows directly from God, and brings us in to conformity with his image. He, when he saw us all perishing, sent his own Son into the world to redeem us. When, therefore, we see others perishing, and use our efforts to provide for their escape, we act towards them as God has acted towards us all; and, by so doing, we please him, and become in our degree like him. I hope, therefore, that it is purely with this pious and benevolent design that you have entered upon your present undertaking.

The Church to which you belong was never perfectly organized in this country till since the Revolutionary War; its defects, therefore, till that time were principally to be ascribed to its mutilated state; but it has at present all the officers assigned it by its Divine Head and Founder; and, therefore, requires nothing now but the careful attention of its private members to their duty; and that these officers should be such as the nature of their functions require, not only to adorn it with external beauty, but to make it all glorious within. You, respected Ladies, are now contributing to both of these purposes. By uniting your endeavours to find out and educate suitable young men for the ministry, you are fulfilling a duty highly becoming you as private mem,

bers of the Church; and if you are equally attentive to all your social and domestic duties, and successful in this, you will then have been instrumental in rendering the Church what it was designed by its Divine Founder, to be a city worthy the joy of the whole earth; its public officers respected and venerated for their learning, wisdom, and piety; and its private members following them in the ways of peace and holiness.

That all who are called to officiate in the sacred office, to the preparation for which you are uniting your endeavours and contributing of your substance; that all such should be richly furnished with knowledge, and plentifully endowed with wisdom and grace, is deeply felt by him who addresses you; who, conscious of his own defects, is sometimes almost ready to sink under the weight of his charge..

Think for a moment of the situation of a minister, under the awful responsibility of the charge of immortal souls; the necessity of being called upon perpetually to speak something that may be profitable to his hearers; frequently invited to attend scenes of the most tender distress; to sooth the afflicted; to administer consolation in the chambers of the sick, the sorrowful, the dying; sometimes sought too by departing souls, that have made no provision for the world into which they are entering; and requested by them to speak that peace to their troubled minds, which he finds it not in his power to do; to direct tender consciences in the most difficult instances of duty; desirous of doing right, of pleasing, and saving all; yet subject, from infirmity, to err in doing his best; to displease, even when he does right; and to fail of his object, when he has done all his Master requires him to do. This, you must see, is a difficult situation." Who is sufficient for these things?" and who, that has undertaken them, can escape many days or many nights without a bleeding heart, and a mind agitated with the most painful sensations?

Yes, these are the difficulties, the duties, the sorrows, to which the

young pupil you are contributing to prepare for the ministry is to be call ed. I presume, therefore, that you will grudge neither pains nor expense in furnishing him with all they can bestow, to qualify him for so difficult an undertaking. Nor will you, under the sense that all the ministers of religion have like passions and infirmities as other men, cease your prayers for them, that they may be replenished with heavenly grace, and continually watered with the dew of the Divine blessing. But, after all the endowments with which they can be furnished, and all the prayers you can offer for them, they may not always be successful. They may plant and water, but it is God only that can give the increase; as all does not depend on the seed which is sown by the husbandman, but much on the soil; so it is with the preacher. Unless the hearers are prepared for a suitable reception of the word, it will not take effect; it will bring no fruit to perfection.

Let me here impress it upon you, my female friends, that the Church you are endeavouring to serve is not like a military regiment, seeking, by competition with others, glory and renown, merely by swelling her numbers, or giving external brilliancy to her exploits; much less is she set in hostile array against any who are called by the Christian name. No, she has a very different end in view, which is to promote and preserye truth. This is committed to her as a sacred deposit, which she must keep, if all men speak evil of her, and forsake her; even if she suffers persecution for so doing; otherwise she loses the character, given by an apostle of the Church, as being the ground and pillar of the Truth. It is the spirit of her divine organization and all her institutions to impose humility and meekness into the minds of all her members; to dispose them to subordination and order within their own sacred fold; to bind her children together in the tenderest charity; and to expand their hearts with the most benevolent affections for the whole of the human race. She refrains, in her

ministry, from mingling with others in the offices of religion; not from the want of personal respect for their talents, their piety, or their worth; but from a persuasion that it not only tends most to the preservation of the integrity of her own institutions, but that it is best calculated to secure a permanently good understanding even with those with whom she is so unhappy as to differ.

Our claims to correctness are founded in the persuasion that our ministry, in all its orders, is of divine institution; and that it has descended to us through the channel appointed by Christ himself; in the belief that our worship, doctrines, and sacraments are entirely conformable to the gospel; not in the opinion that our members are, personally, of all others the most holy, that they are the peculiar favourites of God. No, such arrogance would be very unbecoming the followers of a meek and lowly Master.

It is in the view I have now given you of the ministry, worship, doctrines, and sacraments of our Church, that we suppose it our bounden duty to conform to its ordinances, to preserve it in its purity, and to continue in its unity. But all this requires no hostility to any other Church. As those others are satisfied of the correctness of theirs; as they are engag ed in the same holy cause with us, of promoting piety and virtue in the world; it becomes us to respect them for their good intentions, and to rejoice at their success in arresting sinners in their course to ruin, and bring ing their minds into the penitent, meek, humble, devout, and charitable frame, required by the gospel of Christ.

We should not wish to thwart them in their honest endeavours to do good; but only mildly point out to them the particular in stances in which we suppose them to be mistaken. This benevolent office we must likewise expect from them in their view of things; and if, for doing it, either we or they are offended, it will be unreasonable, and indicate rather the pride of the old man, than the meekness and humility of the new. A haughty contempt of

any of our fellow-creatures is extremely wrong; and harshness of feeling and expression, towards any who are called by the Christian name, is totally inconsistent with the spirit of our religion. To censure any, as destitute of holiness of heart, who profess this religion, and do not dishonour it by the impurity of their lives, is the height of impiety and preIsumption; it is assuming a prerogative of God, who alone can try the hearts of men; and flying directly in

ners; a most scrupulous regard to your social and domestic duties; and a regular and devout attendance upon all the sacred ordinances of the Church; I hope you will thus adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour.

May God, for Christ's sake, effuse his Grace into your hearts for this holy purpose; and may his blessing rest for ever upon you.

ings of Redemption,

the face of one of his most peremp- A PRAYER for the inestimable Blesstory commands, " Judge not, that ye be not judged." No, it rather becomes us to treat them with the most scrupulous delicacy; to be tender in speaking of the points of difference between us; never to interfere with their concerns, except in cases in which we can be useful to them, consistently with our own principles; to live with them in the exercise of all kind offices to associate with them as friends, and cherish for them the sincerest affection; to be gratified with all their spiritual attainments; and, humbly conscious of our own defects, sincerely hope they do excel us in many things good and praise-worthy; and that both they and we may at length arrive at such Christian perfection, that we may, according to the design of our common Master, nally become one fold, under one Shepherd; and so hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and righteousness of life here, that we may hereafter come to that blessed place, where division shall be known no more; and all, with one heart and one voice, unite in shouting forth the everlasting praises of God and the Lamb.

I hope, therefore, respected Ladies, that with such views of our religion, and such dispositions of mind, you will persevere in your attachment to the Church to which you belong; that you will continue your endea vours to promote its welfare; that you will do all in your power to fur nish it with intelligent, pious, and accomplished ministers; that you will, by the purity of your lives; the modest and amiable simplicity of your man

ETERNAL God, the Lord and Father of all things both in Heaven and on earth, I prostrate myself before thee in all humility, and raise my heart in grateful praise and thanksgiving for the inestimable blessing which thou hast vouchsafed unto the sons of men, in sending thine onlybegotten Son, the mighty God, the Prince of Peace, as thou hadst promised by thy holy prophets. I bend in gratitude before thee for this gracious gift, this high behest, which thou, in thy merciful love towards the creatures of thy hand, hast bestowed upon me, vouchsafing to redeem, through the intercession of thy pure and immaculate Son, a rebellious people, and to turn them from their perverse and sinful ways to the pure worship of thee, through the means and mediation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the heir of all things, the brightness of thy glory, and the express image of thy person. I praise, I laud, and I extol thy mercy and loving-kindness towards us: O, let my gratitude bring forth the fruits of goodness, and aid me with thy Holy Spirit to put off the old, and to take upon me the new man; that so, by devoting myself to thy service in purity of worship, and simplicity of heart, the great sacrifice and atonement which thou hast accepted for the transgressions of our former nature may not have been made in vain. Endue me with thy grace, and strengthen me in thy faith, fear, and love, that I may wean all mine affections from the things of this world, and fix them on

the promises of that bliss eternal, which thou hast given me through thy Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, for ever and ever.

FAITH, an EXTRACT.

BOTH St. Peter and St. Paul, in speaking of the all-sufficiency of faith, guard their doctrine from abuse, by alluding to one or more of its essential properties, in order that their converts might not boast of an inefficient creed, while their hearts and conduct were unrenewed. Faith that purifieth the heart and worketh by love, could not easily be supposed to mean a mere barren assent to the truth of Christianity.

Among the characteristic properties of faith, there is no one more remarkable than that mentioned by St. John, and to which allusion has been already made, namely, that it "overcometh the world." It is evident from universal experience, that no other principle can produce this effect. Faith, however, performs it by a mode of operation peculiar to itself; by presenting to the view things that are invisible, and showing their great superiority to the vanities of time and sense. The reason why men prefer this world to that which is to come, is not that their judgment is convinced, but that their passions are allured. Heaven is allowedly the greater object, but it is distant and invisible whereas the world is ever at hand with its fascinations. It assumes every shape, addresses itself to every passion, obtrudes into every recess. We are never free from its influence. Whatever we see around us is the world, and if we look into our own hearts, the world and worldliness are triumphant there. The voluptuous man worships it in the shape of pleasure; the covetous, of gold; the ambitious, of honour; the retired, of ease. It dwells in cities; but, not confined to these, it seeks the lonely retreat; it enters the temple of the Almighty; it intrudes into the closet of the most

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heavenly minded Christian. Persons the most unlike in every other respect are here equally enslaved. The profli gate and the moralist, the infidel and the ostentatious devotee, are undet its influence. Business and pleasure, pride and pretended humility, sensual and intellectual enjoyments, all par take more or less of the world.

An object thus prepossessing, and thus obtrusive, must, of necessity, influence our minds, unless something more important be introduced. "Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." It brings Heaven nigh. It antedates eternity. It prevents the unhallowed intrusion of the world by pre-occupying its place, and presenting to the mind objects infinitely more impor tant, and which are overlooked only because they are remote and spiritual. Upon every earthly scene it inscribes, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity;" while it invests every thing relating to a future world with inconceivable importance. Men in general view Heaven as a dream, and earth as a reality, and their conduct corresponds to their perceptions; but faith reverses the scene, and thus "it overcometh the world." It presents motives to duty more forcible than the highest temporal considerations, whilst it assures us of that divine encouragement and support which alone can enable us to surmount every impediment. This is a double influence, and is not easily counteracted.

OBEDIENCE, an EXTRACT.

Ir is to the motive we must chiefly look for the immense difference between the moralist and the Christian, the Pharisee and the genuine disciple. The good works of the one spring from a principle of gratitude and af fection; those of the other from habit, or expediency, or fear, or at liest from an arrogant expectation of purchasing Heaven by the performance. The one is an obedient child, the other an unwilling slave,

If, however, an earthly parent would not be satisfied with an obedience

wholly unprompted by affection, why should we offer the same insult to our Father which is in Heaven? No person who loves any object better than his Creator, can be said to be truly obedient. God requires our supreme and unrivalled affections; which being once engaged, our conduct will necessarily become holy and acceptable in his eyes.

To render obedience complete, it must be constant and unremitted. There are no excepted moments in which a rival is allowed. Amidst the fatigues and the anxieties of life, our spirit must be uniformly Christian. Religion, though not always in our thoughts, must be so interwoven with the first springs of action, as to be always conspicuous in our conduct. Surrounded with the worshippers of the world, we must never bow our knee to their enchanting idol. The apostle exhorts us in the very same verse both to be diligent in business and "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;" so that the importance of our callings in life is by no means an excuse for our neglect of eternal concerns. God is far from accepting that aguish piety which works itself up into a warm fit of devotion every seventh day, and then contentedly shivers and freezes the other six. Our devotion should be the regular glow of a soul in spiritual health, and not the alternate frost and fever of mere sentimental Christianity. A few tears shed in passion-week will not evince our love for the Redeemer, if we are deliberately" crucifying him afresh, and putting him to an open shame" during the remainder of the year. Unusually solemn occasions, it is true, call for unusually solemn acts; but the general impression should remain long after the individual act has ceased. The Gospel being intended for all ages, and climates, and conditions in life, was made of such a nature that its energy might be unintermitted in every possible variety of circunistance. Had it simply consisted of a stated routine of ceremonies, its operation must frequently have been sus pended, or even rendered wholly impracticable; but what season or cir

cumstance is there which can prevent the obedience of the heart? In business and at leisure, at home and abroad, in prosperity and adversity, in sickness and in health, the habitual desire to obey God will find means to operate in acts appropriate to the occasion. There is no moment in which there is not soine temptation to be avoided, none in which there is not some duty to be performed.

NATIONAL EDUCATION SOCIETY.

(From the Religious Monitor.) On the 5th of June, the National Society, for the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church, held its annual meeting at the Central School, in Baldwin's Gardens.

His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury took the chair, supported by the Archbishop of York, and the Bishops of Exeter, Salisbury, St. Asaph, Carlisle, Ely, Chester, Gloucester, Oxford, and Landaff; the Archdeacons of London, Buckingham, Northumberland, Huntingdon, and Chichester; Lords Kenyon and Radstock; Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Duncombe, Mr. Ashton Smith, Mr. G. Gipps, and a numerous and highly respectable assembly of the clergy and laity.

The Archbishop of Canterbury opened the business of the day in nearly the following words :-" I have the honour to meet you for the sixth time, to receive the Annual Report of your General Committee; and I meet you with more than ordinary satisfaction, because the hopes which I ventured to express when last I filled this chair have been realized. The law officers of the crown, by the gracious directions of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, have prepared a charter, which, having received the sanction of the great seal, has been this day accepted by your Committee, on behalf of the memhers at large; and the National Society now constitutes one of the great incorporated charities of the empire I now request the Secretary to read us the Report."

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