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Heaven; if, fascinated by the poetry of the preacher, their thoughts have been diverted from that which should be the subject of his preaching, "Jesus Christ, and him crucified;" let us take the field with more vigorous language and with sounder doctrine, that our congregations at least may not deceive themselves into a false security, and that the rays of the gospel may not only shine upon the head, without warming the heart into life, and health, and action.

Surely the unadulterated word of God, faithfully preached through the length and breadth of this land, as the wise arrangement of parochial ministrations intends it to be preached; surely the stream of wholesome religious instruction thus conveyed into the remoter corners of the country, is sufficient to spread a blessed fertilization all around; and therefore have we not reason to fear that our present critical condition has been partially the consequence of our want of zeal and energy in this most holy cause?

But if the appearance of peace and safety has lulled the activity of some among us, and dissent has been suffered to increase without opposition; if false notions of liberalism, inconsistent with the liberty of the gospel, and with the revealed word of God, have obtained among us, unexposed and unreproved; we have now at least no such excuse for lukewarmness or lethargy. All who of recent years have entered the ministry of the gospel have seen the signs of an approaching storm ; and in us, the younger clergy, who have embraced the profession with the full knowledge that we were living in troublous times, to be found sleeping at our post would be more palpably criminal.

Nevertheless, although our circumstances are alarming, and the times are critical, they are far from desperate; "though we are troubled on every side we are not distressed, though perplexed, not in despair." The Lord is still on our side, and his Holy Word, the 'sword of the spirit,' rightly used, will disperse all his adversaries. But if we would avoid farther ruin and ultimate discomfiture-injury to the cause of Christianity in the annihilation of our National Church-the battle must be now fought, and that by us. We must devotedly throw ourselves into the breach that the enemy have made in our walls, and fight the good fight of the true faith as if the issue of the battle depended upon the exertions of our single arm. Imagine not that I would degrade our consecrated Churches into an arena for political discussion, or waste the opportunity of religious instruction in idle examination of unprofitable questions; but with sound doctrine I would wish to put to flight a host of artful fallacies that are now sapping the foundation of the Established Church, and ultimately aiming at the subversion of our Protestant Faith.

In conclusion then, I would affectionately urge my fellow la

bourers in the vineyard of the Lord to provide themselves out of the Word of God, out of the Fathers of our Church, and out of the SOUND DOCTRINE of our second fathers, (who fought for us the battle against Popery, and, dying at the stake, delivered, as their richest legacy, the unsealed Bible to their children,) from these authorities to derive sufficient information to meet the enquiring spirit of the times, and to answer the crude objections of the worldly wise. The day is gone by when the dictum of the Church, or the advice of the Minister, was sufficient to recommend a rule of conduct; and we must now call forth from their late seclusion those arguments which originally established the doctrines and discipline of our Church. It were a sad neglect on our part if the awakened intelligence of the age were to be ranged in the service of the enemy; with the demand for knowledge we must be foremost to comply, and we need not fear the consequences if we base it upon Christian principles, and carefully guard it with sound doctrine. The taste of the public will distinguish between that which is spurious, and that which is true gold; and the blessing of God will unfailingly attend our conscientious endeavours to advance the honour of His name and word.

May we then arm ourselves for the conflict, and go forth to the battle trusting in the Lord of Hosts. Let us lose all thoughts of self, of self-interest, and self-indulgence, in the desire to promote the honour of our Master. Let us wage no war of opinions amongst ourselves, but engage with all our energies in a crusade against sin and infidelity. "PREACHING the WORD, instant IN SEASON and OUT OF SEASON; reproving, rebuking, exhorting, with all LONG SUFFERING and DOCTRINE." "Neither counting our lives dear unto ourselves, so that we may finish our course with joy, and the ministry which we have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the Grace of God."-(Acts xx. 24.)

Any profits that may arise from this publication will be added to the subscription for the repairs and enlargement of Colnbrook Chapel; and the smallest donations for the same object, from the friends of the Established Church, will be thankfully received by the Lecturer and the Chapel Wardens.

E. VARTY, Printer, 27, Camomile Street, Bishopsgate.

THE FIELDS WHITE UNTO THE HARVEST;

9

A SERMON,

PREACHED IN WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL,

ON BEHALF OF

THE HAMPSHIRE SOCIETY

FOR THE

Education of the Poor

ON THE PLAN OF THE REV. DR. BELL, AND IN THE PRINCIPLES OF THE
ESTABLISHED CHURCH,

ON TUESDAY, JULY 4, 1837,

BY

BIB

THE REV. GEORGE MOBERLY, D.C.L.

LATE FELLOW AND TUTOR OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD:
HEAD MASTER OF WINCHESTER COLLEGE.

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.

WINCHESTER :

JACOB AND JOHNSON, COUNTY NEWSPAPER OFFICE.

ST. JOHN, IV. 35, 36.

SAY NOT YE, THERE ARE YET FOUR MONTHS, AND THEN COMETH HARVEST? BEHOLD I SAY UNTO YOU, LIFT UP YOUR EYES AND LOOK ON THE FIELDS, FOR THEY ARE WHITE ALREADY UNTO HARVEST.

AND HE THAT REAPETH RECEIVETH WAGES, AND GATHERETH FRUIT UNTO LIFE ETERNAL: THAT BOTH HE THAT SOWETH AND HE THAT REAPETH MAY REJOICE TOGETHER.

OUR blessed Lord uttered these remarkable words after his conversation with the woman of Samaria at the well of Sychar. When she had left Him, in order to bring some of the inhabitants of the city to see and speak with Him, His disciples came in the meanwhile, and besought Him to eat. To this request He replied, that He had meat to eat which they knew not of, namely, to do the will of Him by whom He was sent, and to finish His work; meaning thereby that, in speaking with the woman of Samaria, and instructing her candid though sinful and guilty mind respecting the approaching salvation, He was doing what was more necessary and delightful to Him than meat and drink. He then continues, in the words of the text, "Say not ye, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white

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