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At few periods of the day is more time commonly lost than in the lounging-time after breakfast. The pastor will be careful to avoid this; and probably he will make his appointments with his parishioners

* 2 Cor. x. 5.

between the hours of nine and ten, and hold himself open to all comers for advice, guidance, and assistance daring that special hour.

From ten he will have three hours of uninterrupted study, except on stated days, when the Church services or school visitation require time to be deducted from this period; and at this time he will be storing his mind with the wisdom and experience of those who, having lived by the faith of the Son of God, have left on record their impressions of His sacred Word. Then he will make his notes and sketch those suggestive outlines which will afterwards afford him materials for filling out into regular discourses. Then he will enter into his common-place book memoranda of his reading; and in addition to his thoughts on the earlier ages of the Church, will, side by side, accumulate extracts from the judicious Hooker and the weighty Bull; the spiritual Leigh ton and the classical Donne; the suggestive Joseph Hall and the illustrative Jeremy Taylor; the argumentative Gloucester Ridley and the discursive Burnett; the thoughtful Field and the accurate Spanheim; the learned "Waterland and the careful Hammond ; the logical Pearson and the ingenious Magee, not to mention the crowd of able and instructive writers of still more recent date; and all his reading he will carefully and

accurately square by that one Book, which is the great authority to which his Church defers; which

must be his own first, chief, and central object of study, and which alone " maketh wise unto Salvation," even the canon of Holy Scripture.

With a mind thus strengthened by study, and deepened in its power by acquired wisdom, the p Jor will emerge from his library pre-pared to enjoy an hour of social recreation with his family and friends; or if he be a lonely man, to refresh at once his mind and body with his needful supply of daily bread: and when this hour is past, the afternoon will remind him that it is time to begin his daily walk, combining health and recreation and duty in the fulfilment of a series of visits among his flock.

As the pastor's influence over his assembled congregation can only be secured by a judicious as well as devout exercise of his gifts in public, so must he be thoughtful and careful if he hopes to succeed in gaining spiritual influence over his parishioners in domestic and private ministration.

It has been well observed that " the house-going minister makes the church-going people;" and this witness is true. In the pastor's out-of-door labours from two to five p.m., he will find means, by a judicious distribution of his visits, to see all his parishioners in their turn. He will be careful to make his visits not so short as to seem hurried, and not so long as to be tedious. By visiting at this season of the da^

he will not be likely to interfere with the mealtimes or domestic business of the poor,—periods when he should, with scrupulous delicacy, abstain from intruding on their privacy.

On his return home about five o'clock he will be well entitled to an hour's rest for correspondence or refreshment; and after six o'clock it will be advisable for him, as a rule, to devote the remainder of the evening to social and domestic intercourse, and to the enjoyment of lighter than theological literature, with the exception of some two, and occasionally three, evenings in a week, which may be profitably

employed in the work of evening-class teaching of some kind, or to the composition of sermons. Of these latter he will do well not to compose more than one in the course of the week; for if he writes more than he reads, he will soon exhaust his originality, and become tedious and uninstructive to his congregation by a mere repetition of old and familiar ideas.

One word of warning should here be uttered against the too frequent waste of time and strength in habitual evening engagements. The town-pastor should be especially on the watch against this temptation.

When the time for family prayer is past, then will come the opportunity of an hour's careful employment in strict privacy, in devout reflection, and careful summing up of the day's work done for God. Now will the diary be made

*

up, and notes of the pastoral work be drawn out; and that not hastily or roughly, but in neat and regular form, easy of reference for any future time.

Such a day as this, my younger brethren, may appear to some of you to require more labour, care, and self-government than you feel yet fully prepared to give; but, believe me, that days like these will be the days of your life that you will look back upon with thankfulness at its close. Happy will it be for you if you never have to write perdidi diem in your diary.

It is no long time since one of the Crimean chaplains told me that when lying in imminent danger,—as he then supposed in articulo mortis, though by God's mercy he was saved,—his previous life rose as in a panorama before his mental vision, and of all he recalled, that only seemed of value which had been spent in spiritual and direct communion with God, or in the actual discharge of appointed duty.

Let then the close and daily walk with God be ever uppermost in your minds; and remember that a thorough self-government in all things can only be achieved by the subordination of your natural wills to the

revealed will of God, beneath the ever freshening and transforming grace of the Holy Ghost, which is shed abundantly on the seeking believer for Jesus Christ's sake.

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SECOND SERIES.

LECTURE I.

MISSIONS, AND THEIR REFLEX RESULTS IN THE

PARISH.

It may be remembered by some now present, that on a former occasion I endeavoured to lay down the principles and method of pastoral government, and sought to give an outline of parochial educational work, and to lead the youthful pastor into habitual self-control. Having been desired to continue those lectures into another series, I have selected three subjects which will necessarily come under your notice in the future labours that the providence of God opens before you, viz.: 1. Missions, and their reflex results in the parish. 2. Dissent, and the mode of dealing with it. 3. Public Teaching, and Parish Literature.

I aak for your secret prayers, my dear young brethren, that I may have grace to speak wisely, and you to hear profitably, upon these several topics.

In speaking of missions it will be right to 40 MISSIONS, AND THEIR REFLEX RESULTS

define what is meant; for it is in a limited sense that the expression is used to-day. Every one has a mission from God. Every living soul impressed with volition may fulfil this mission under God's grace, or fail to fulfil it by yielding himself a servant to Satan through sin.

Beyond the mission which is stamped together with conscience upon everv soul 1 , the members of the mystical body of Christ who have been baptized into His death and made partakers of His life *, have a special mission given them in their new birth to their Father's 1 Rom. i. 20.—" For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse."

Bom. ii. 14, 15.—"When the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another/'

* 2 Cor. v. 15.—"He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again."

2 Cor. v. 17.—" Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

Gal. iii. 26,27.—" Ye are all the children of God by feith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ."

Gal. iv. 6, 7.—"Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ."

IN THE PARISH. * 41

glory. Their covenant-relationship to God in Christ pledges them to show forth the fruits of the Spirit " in goodness, righteousness, and truth."

And again, beyond this mission which is common to all Christendom, a still more special mission is laid upon those who are called to be the watchmen on the towers of the spiritual Zion, and ordained to exercise the ministry of the Lord Jesus in the Gospel of the grace of God. And yet again, the mission of this ministry is still more narrowly limited and more closely defined, when, with our ordination vows upon us, we are sent into our several parishes to preach to the whole as well as to the sick, to minister in the house and the school as well as the church, to reprove, to rebuke, and to exhort, with all long-suffering and with doctrine, the souls specially consigned to our pastoral cure.

But all this, you will perceive, applies to a personal sense, and a personal fulfilment, of a personal mission. In addressing you as being, or about to become, parish pastors, you will need to be reminded of something more than isolated and mere personal efforts to promote the glory of God.

In her corporate capacity the Church of Christ has received a mission to "preach the Gospel to every creature." In your special mission as office-bearers in parishes, it will be

42 MISSIONS, AND THEIR KEFLEX RESULTS

your business and duty to develop the corporate power of the Church in those parishes. This corporate power must doubtless first of all be directed to its home-work; it must exhibit itself in loving charity to the young by providing efficient education; in pious care for the sick,

the aged, and the suffering, so that the needs of all are sufficiently supplied; in holy zeal that carries the testimony of the Gospel in warning to the sinner, as well as in cheering comfort to the feeble saint. The graces and charities of the Gospel should, first of all, be developed so as to reach to and touch (in the way of testimony at least) every soul in every parish by the united action of the Church in that parish!

This is the home mission of the Church; this is parochial work as exhibited in its internal organization; this exhibits to men and angels

" the Church in the parish," as clearly as St. Paul exhibited to the Colossians and the Laodiceans " the Church in the house" of Nymphas 8 .

But it is morally impossible that the Church can end its work at home, though it is bound to begin there. " Go ye," said the great Founder of the eternal corporation against which the gates of hell shall never prevail, " into all the wprld, and preach the Gospel to every crea-

• CoL to. 15.

ture." But they to whom this commission was given were to " begin at Jerusalem." So now the Church must begin its work within its own boundaries; but so soon as the fluttering mo-tion of the Dove of Grace is felt above the brows of your parishioners, so soon as the radiant light of the Spirit illuminates their hearts and beams through their happier countenances, just so soon will they desire to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gives them utterance, and to testify to those who occupy the place of the Gentiles the exceeding grace of God.

The spirit of " mission " is the same, whether it be applied to home or to foreign operations ; but its developments are different according to its application. When applied at home, it teaches us to condense our energies; when applied abroad, it teaches us to expand our sympathies. Now there lies a snare in each of these paths. There is a

powerful centripetal force at work in the one, a centrifugal force in the other; and there is danger to the young and ardent pastor, 1. lest in adopting his parish as his centre, he lose sight of the external relationships of the Church in her missionary vocation; or, 2. lest in spreading his sympathies too widely in the cause of souls perishing at a distance, he be betrayed into neglect of those souls entrusted to his special and personal mission at home.

The uutidote to both of these snares is to be touud iu the pastor's personal faith in, and love to£, Christ. If he gravitates to Him as his sjjjiritttal Centre, the local centre of a parish \yiU never rob him of his sympathies for souls iu the shadow of death; nor will the distraction of sympathies over-indulged ever lead him away from the personal and local mission Christ has laid upon him. The work at home and the work abroad are neither of them ends in themselves.

They are only means whereby the glory of God is to be promoted; they are both works for Christ, who is Himself the true Centre and Life of the Christian pastor's being.

Thus much of preface as to missions generally has seemed necessary, lest any should suppose that the mission-work of the Church abroad was to supersede, or even take precedence of, the pastor's mission, or the Church's mission, at home. The object of the former lectures was to show how, in its main features, the latter was to be done. Let me now invite you to consider how best you can aid in doing the former.

There are two great agencies already in operation whereby the National Church seeks to fulfil her missionary work abroad: the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and the Church Missionary Society. These societies have the same end in view, the glory of God in the propagation of the Gospel of His Son; but they differ somewhat in the point from which they start. The former cherishes more the corporate action and organic formation of the Church; the latter, the personal action and volition of associated individuals in the Church. Both are legitimate channels through which the sanctified will of Christian men and

English Churchmen may act; and the adoption of the one in preference to the other generally indicates the bias of the mind towards corporate or individual action, as the case may be. Their several and distinct, yet common operation, has been thus happily described by one whose judgment we are bound to reverence: "They are the two great arms of the Church; now spreading to the right and to the left the Gospel of Christ, and now joining together in one common effort; now scattering the precious seed of the word of God abroad, now clasped together at home in prayer and praise \"

My mention of these two agencies is not of course to recommend one to the prejudice of the other, but to recommend the object they both have in view; and to show th&t, on whichever side your sympathies may lie, there is a ready agency provided, through which you may promote a missionary spirit among your parishioners. It is not a question of Paul, or Apollos,

4 Bishop of Lincoln's Speech at Nottingham, June 30, 1856.

46 MISSIONS, AND THEIR REFLEX RESULTS

or Cephas; but it is a question of working for Christ, that " the heathen may be given Him for an inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for His possession."

No one can compare the history of modern missions with the Book of the Acts of the Apostles without being forcibly struck with the striking parallels they exhibit. Time would not permit me to draw these out at length, but I have noted a few, which I may find other opportunities of advancing, and which appear to me amply sufficient to impress any unprejudiced mind with the fact that the foreign missions of the Church of England have features identical with the early missions of the Church of Christ; and hence, that if it was the duty of the Church then to encourage missions, although at the cost of suffering and martyrdom, so it must be the duty of the Church note ; and so will continue to be, until the Gospel has been preached to every creature.

We come now to the practical question, How is the mission-work to be encouraged in our parishes f

The simplest and most effective plan I believe to be this: for an extended experience has demonstrated that it is calculated to elicit and encourage and sustain a practical and beneficial interest among the people at large.

Let the subject of missions be brought before your congregations from the pulpit at some

suitable season, say at Advent, or Epiphany, or Whitsuntide, and let the principles of missions be laid down and enforced from the Scriptures. It will not be necessary to have a collection upon such an occasion, unless previously desired by members of your congregation; but shortly after the sermon it will be expedient to invite those whose interest in the cause has been aroused, to attend a meeting in which the detailed operations of the National Church's missions may be recited. Either of the great societies will provide clergy applying for them with a deputation to % explain the working of the mission cause, as well as with collecting books and boxes whereby the alms of the parishioners (in the absence of the weekly offertory) may be easily and systematically collected. A meeting once a quarter will enable the parochial clergy, without more than occasional extraneous assistance, to keep their flocks well informed as to the progress the kingdom of Christ is making in its aggression upon heathendom, and its propagation among our too much neglected colonists abroad. Each new meeting will not improbably add one or more new collectors, besides several new subscribers, to the missionary association. It is almost sure to grow when it is once set on foot; and few are they who having learned to take an interest in the missionary cause ever lay it aside! It is felt to be a privilege no less than a duty;

48 MISSIONS, AND THEIR REFLEX RESULTS

and zeal and love will urge on the cause which obedience to the command of Christ has once set in motion.

Let me now speak of the reflex results of missions upon the parish itself wherein they are encouraged.

The love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the power of the Holy Ghost flings a light behind as well as before it. The love of missions, as imposed by Christ upon His Church, once encouraged in the soul of Christ's faith-fol members, brings certain benefits upon all who foster it with their gifts. If indeed we ' join in the work merely from our fondness for this or that society, we may fail to find the blessing I speak of; but if our love be for Christ and the glory of His Name, then the society will be a secondary consideration, and only regarded as the instrument whereby we fulfil our duty, not in itself the object of our affection.

Imagine then that you have succeeded in introducing a desire for the propagation of the Gospel abroad into your parish at home. Is it possible that your parishioners who have learnt through you to disseminate Christ's truth to others, will be satisfied with less than Christ's truth themselves P

But it will not merely teach them more to appreciate the love of the Son of God; it will take from them that selfishness of Christian profession, which acknowledges a personal salvation in the Gospel, and then stands- still so soon as it believes that is secured. It is the attribute of faith to appropriate the promises of the Gospel; but faith must work by love; and if we really have faith to appropriate God's promises in His Son to ourselves, we must have love enough to extend those promises to others. A missionary spirit in a parish brings out this spirit of love in its plenitude; and thus tends to enlarge our views of Christ's abounding mercy, and of His Church's ever expanding and never ceasing responsibility.

And hence you will perceive that the law of brotherhood, which ought to make the redeemed world one in Christ Jesus, finds freer scope in those parishes where a love of missions is encouraged than in those where it is not. Men are led to feel that their true centre is Jesus as the Head of redeemed humanity; not in a locality like a parish, or a geographical division like a nation. The best Christian is the truest cosmopolite; and that, not as undervaluing the hallowed ties of patriotic and local affections, which God has given to twine'

together the minuter reticulations of human society; but as seeing and feeling the citizenship in heaven, and therefore being placed far above the more insignificant and merely temporary bonds of earth.

And beyond thp enlargement of views and

50 MISSIONS, AND THEIR REFLEX RESULTS

conviction of the true centre of all unity, which grow out of a full realization of the mission-work of the Church of Christ, there is a lesser but very practical advantage which accrues to parishes where the love of missions is felt. We live in an age notorious for its divisions. The liberty of spirit which characterizes our country and our day is apt to make us split upon the merest trifles. The ornaments of a church, or the erection of a school, a phrase in preaching, the adjustment of a vestment, or a posture in Divine worship, is in turn seized upon as a cause of division, or remarked.on as a ground of suspicion. Now, brethren, if we can show to those who are so ready to criticize us that we regard the inside of truth far more than its outer development,—that our anxiety is not to magnify ourselves or our influence, but to win souls to Christ,—that our strife is a strife against Satan and sin, and not against a party or an opinion,—that our zeal is for God and not for man, for eternity and not for to-day,-surely in doing this we set before the eyes of our people so high and noble an object, that all petty differences fade away in its pursuit, even as lesser fires perish in the presence of the sun. 0 believe me that an enlarged love, a stronger hope, a livelier faith, and a purer zeal, are all encouraged in those parishes where the

mission of the Church is understood, and its fulfilment aimed at by pastor and people in happy union.

I feel bold in saying that your home exertions in the cause of Christ and His Church will never suffer the loss of what is offered to the Lord in His cause abroad; for this is the grace which in a special sense "scattereth and yet increaseth," and while it " watereth others, is," by its reflex results, " watered also itself."

12

LECTURE IL

DISSENT, AND THE MODE OF DEALING WITH FT.

The mode of dealing with Dissent as exhibited in our parishes, is frequently a matter of great delicacy and difficulty to a young pastor.

I believe the practical solution of the problem to lie in marking the distinction clearly in our own minds between Dissent and Dissenters.

It is certainly no part of my duty to apologize for non-conformity, or separation from the National Church as such. I do not see how any one can read Ephesians iv., 1 Corinthians xii., Romans xii., xiii., and fail to trace therein the duty of clinging to the Church as an united body; and that to rend it is contrary to the purpose of God. Nor do I see how any one can study the course of history, and fail to acknowledge that the National Church, whereof we, by God's grace, are members, if not ministers, is a true and living branch of the holy Universal Church of Christ. But seeing that there are many Christian men of undoubted honesty, as well as undoubted personal piety, who do decline to con-DISSENT, AND MODE OF DEALING WITH IT. 53

form to the National Church, we are bound in charity to assume that they see cause for their non-conformity, though we do not. Many of these, moreover, have now bgen for generations trained and educated in divergence from, if not hostility to, the principles which are cherished as true by us. They have been regularly and carefully taught to regard the National Church as a mere establishment, or the

creation of an act of Parliament; and it would be unreasonable in us to expect that they should all at once give up prejudices that have practically grown into convictions, merely because we in our ministrations tell them that we hold them in error.

First of all, then, in our dealings with Nonconformists, let us very clearly distinguish between Dissent and Dissenters. Let us, in all simplicity and honesty, declare the error in principle that stamps disunion, "God is the God of order, not of confusion." But at th#

same time, let us deal with the largest charity toward those who, through education or other circumstances, have adopted the error our Church condemns.

We are indeed bound to contemplate this subject, not only in a spirit of charity towards others, but in deep humiliation a* regards ourselves. Those of us who have laboured long in the ministry are personally conscious of such painful shortcomings, that we may reasonably

suspect ourselves of having sometimes aided the prejudices of non-conformity by our own personal failure in duty. And if this be true (as it is) of many who pass through their work with the average amount of personal fidelity, and it may be even of personal success, how much more powerfully must its truth be illustrated in the case of those who have been manifestly deficient in the performance of the solemn duties of the ministry? There are in this Church of England many parishes where it is * impossible for the pastor to feed all his flock with spiritual nutriment, sometimes from population, sometimes from extent of area; but, alas! there are many more where the attempt is not made as it should be; where the means of grace are not offered to the laity as they should be; where coldness usurps the throne of love, and indifference quenches the fire of zeal. * When therefore we examine into the causes of Dissent, and find that the neglect of duty in the pastors of the Church is not the least prominent among them, that apathy, indiscretion, partisanship, covetousness, self-indulgence, and sin in various shapes among ourselves, have frequently stimulated division among those who might have been attracted by holy and zealous love, we cannot but acknowledge that a portion at least of the sin of schism rests upon

those within the Church, who have repelled a yearning though eccentric faith from its boundaries,

as well as on those without, who in restlessness and discontent have withdrawn themselves from its influence.

This, I think, is true of the present as well as of former generations; but even more of palliation than this may be found for those around us who have inherited and been trained in the non-conformity they profess. Had the Church # and her ministry always been faithful to the high vocation laid upon them, there never could have been any ground whereon religious men could erect a system of non-conformity.

I say religious men: for it is important to draw a second distinction beyond that already noticed in reflection on this subject. Dissent is of two kinds; religious and political. The latter is essentially schismatical and frequently seditious. The former is never seditious, and only accidentally schismatical.

From religious Dissent the National Church, as representing the body of Christ in these realms, has nothing, and can have nothing to fear; but has many souls to reclaim to her own more excellent way.

From political Dissent the National Church, as an establishment, may have much to fear. But as it is not in a political but religious sense we have to consider the question,—being engaged in a warfare whose weapons are not carnal,—as in fact we are called not to be establishmentarians, but -members of, and ministers in, the mystical body

of Christ, tee have nothing to fear from Dis sent.

This may be contrary to the preconceived notions of some. But observe, the stronghold of Dissent is to be found in these two elements, ignorance and self-will. Ignorance perishes beneath knowledge, and self-will is sanctified into obedience when it is absorbed into the mind of Christ. The service that aimed at mastery requires only to learn that the mastery it sought is rebellion, and its subordinated self a perfect freedom: it will then gladly cherish and

use the powers it formerly despised, and walk in grateful happiness in the path ordained for its exercise.

In my last Lecture I had occasion to refer to the twofold nature of Church life—its corporate and personal elements. Dissent ignores the former, and cherishes only the latter. Standing upon the ground of the relationship that subsists between God and the individual soul, it knows not how to translate into any intelligible meaning that beautiful passage in the Epistle to the Ephesians, iv. 12—16, which speaks of visible unity and an edified body on earth, in the perfect manhood of the Church, under the Headship of Christ. The Dissenters' point of view only enables them to see God as a Spirit sanctifying the soul; and clouds that ennobling view of the Holy and Undivided Trinity which in the Word, and Church, and Sacraments of

God is so beautifully revealed. They can see no reproduction or visible representation of the mystery of the incarnation in the grace of the new birth into the body of Christ; they trace no renewal of the power of the atonement in the commemorative reception of the blessed elements whereby we feed by faith on the body and blood of Christ, and are made one in Him and He in us. God forbid that we should deny to them the exercise of individual faith in their life and actions; but the experience of history warrants us in asserting that their system is utterly insufficient to guarantee to posterity the security in its integrity of the faith once delivered to the saints.

How then, we come next to inquire, how are we to deal with Dissent as we find it in our parishes ?

First of all, we must be fully persuaded in our own minds of the reality of our Church's mission, and our own as her ministers. Then, in the strength of the Spirit who has called and sealed us to His service, let us go forth with the word of God in our hands, the authority of the Church in our lips, and the love of Christ and all mankind in our hearts. We meet with those who tell us that though we go to church and they to chapel there is no difference between us.

Is it charity to agree with themP My belief is that it is neither charitable nor honest. We are bound to assert a

difference, or to condemn ourselves for not sympathizing with all they say and do. If there is no difference, there ought to be no division.

At the same time, while we assert the difference that exists between the Church and the sects, we must be careful to make two points very clear to those who separate from us: viz. 1. that we hold that difference ourselves as a point of conscience; and 2. that we hold it in a spirit of charity, allowing to them that latitude on the point of conscience which we claim for ourselves.

The Church will never fulfil her mission by mere dogmatism. The assertion of her ministers that they hold authoritative jurisdiction over Dissenters in their parishes will never make one Dissenter the less. But if Nonconformists are made to feel the gentle, loving, ministering, soul-caring influences of the Church—whether they attend her public ministrations or not—they will soon learn to acknowledge her living and hallowing power. The Church of Christ is built upon suffering, not upon assumption. There are no anathemas used as bricks in her building. The power of excommunication she possesses is designed to be reserved for sin, not to be wantonly exercised against mistakes. The spirit of cursing is far from her gentle bosom. The spirit of love 1

1 Someof the Canons of 1603 are painful exceptions to these assertions.

hallows her every thought, and influences her every action.

If in this spirit of love—pure, self-denying, holy, and zealous love—

you set about your work with the Non-conformists of your parish, you will find that you will secure their respect by your conscientiousness and firmness, while you win their affection by your zeal and kindness. You will endeavour to deal with Dissent rather by attraction and absorption than by antagonism; and though the process will necessarily be slow, you will not find it the less efficacious in the end.

We know that truth expels error in the moral world, just as light destroys darkness in the material world. But Dissent is not all dark, nor all erroneous. It has its particles of truth and light, though they are mixed up with much that is wrong. Now if it be your object to set forth in all their fulness and beauty before the eyes of Dissenters the harmony and proportions of the Gospel — the doctrines of Providence, and of Regeneration, as revealed by the Son of God for our guidance and sancti-fication ; the power of the Creator, the love of the Redeemer, the grace of the Sanctifier; the atonement of the cross, the pledges of the covenant; the death unto sin, the new birth unto righteousness; the necessity of holiness, the instrumental efficacy of faith; the corporate life of the Church as the body of Christ,

visibly united in and through the sacraments ordained by Himself; the personal life of the Churchman as a member of Christ vivified by the indwelling Spirit of his Lord!—if these be set forth by each of yon as a minister of the Gospel, with all authority and in all humility, then you will find that the true particles of Dissent (be they more or fewer) will be attracted and absorbed into the Church, while the false particles will be precipitated and evaporate. Its errors will fade away and disappear before the full blaze of the light of truth, tabernacled in the lamp of love.

It is not an easy task to fulfil all the duties implied in what has been said. In dealing with mere political Dissenters, your indignation may sometimes be roused; in dealing with religious Dissenters, your forbearance may sometimes be taxed. But if you keep your own principles steadily in view before you, your • indignation will never lead you into wrath or evil-speaking, and your forbearance, whenever called forth, will readily respond. We are called to be brethren of Him who " when He was reviled reviled not again; when He suffered threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously." He hath " left us an example that we should follow His steps," and when we are tried as He was we must " go and do likewise

*."

* An instance has very recently come to my knowledge Off a

Some perhaps may be indisposed to follow the line now recommended, because it does not at once denounce the sin of division, and encourage a crusade against it as opposed to the words of the Gospel and the authority of the Church. In answer to this I would simply say, Let the Church and her ministers prove their authority by the superiority they exhibit! If you have reason to believe that a dissenting minister in your parish preaches well, give dissenting teacher in this diocese going into a clergyman's house and telling his servants " that the Church clergy did nothing for conversion; that they never converted a single soul/' What would he your conduct in such a case ? Perhaps you think, like Jonah, that you would " do well to he angry." Nature certainly would lead us to feel anger at a remark alike uncharitable and unjust. But it strikes me the first lesson conveyed to the clergyman's mind hy such a remark should he to examine well into the spiritual state of his own household, to see that they, at least, were all walking in the condition of Merctvoxa—the grace of a true and spiritual conversion—so that no member of his own family should give any " occasion to the enemy to blaspheme." " The godly man, he shall be my servant: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight." Then let him carry the aspersion as a healing stimulant in his bosom. Let him go forth watchful, gentle, zealous, persevering among his flock; let him test the truth or falsehood of the remark by the lives of his parishioners.

Let him work and pray, and labour and not faint, until he is able to say of all his people, " The seal of my apostleship are ye in the Lord."

This will be the true answer to the accusation. He may keep his anger till he has proved the fidelity of his ministry: and when his success proves this, he will find his heart so full of gratitude to God, and of charity to his fellow-sinner, that no place for wrath will be found.

yourself no rest till you preach, better! Is lie active among the poor P

Be more active yourself. Is he a good superintendent of his schools P

Be a better superintendent of your own. Does he teach truth mixed with error P Be careful yourself to teach truth in its simplicity and integrity. God and the law have placed you on a platform above him.

You will shame God and the law if you permit him to exercise greater influence than you can exercise! The Church has given you a commission such as he does not even profess to hold. . You will

shame both your Church and your commission if your influence is inferior to his 3 .

But in all the emulation that may be excited in your bosom, beware of admitting a single spark of bitterness or personal enmity. All your work is for the God of love. It is only in love you may contend.

To sum up all 9 the strife to which the ministry of the Gospel of God are called in the National Church is a strife against Satan,

* Baxter's Reformed Pastor, ch. ii. s. iv. 1.—" The best way to silence such usurping teachers is for those to whom it be-longeth to do it themselves so diligently, that the people may not have need to go a begging; and to do it judiciously and affectingly, that a plain difference may appear between them and usurpers, and that other men's works may be shamed by theirs; and also by the adding of holy lives and unwearied diligence, to high abilities, to keep np the reputation of their sacred office, that neither seducers, nor tempted ones, may fetch matter of temptation from our blemishes or neglects."

not against man. Let every soul in your parish be very dear to you.

Strive in prayer for every one. Set an example in your own person to every one. Let your own " repentance whereby you forsake sin"—your own " faith whereby you believe the promises of God"—your own "

perfect charity with all mankind "—be patent to all. Let your preaching, your teaching, your pastoral visitation, your social conversation, all mark you as a man of God, and then the sons of the Church will love you, the enemies of the Church will respect you, Dissenters will bring their children to be taught by you, and—even if for their own lifetime they remain Dissenters—will cease to perpetuate Nonconformity, where the beauty of holiness is exhibited in the ministry and Church of Christ.

LECTURE HI.

PUBLIC TEACHING, AND PARISH LITERATURE.

It is with much diffidence that I offer a few remarks on a subject which has been treated by such men as Burnet, and Baxter, and Patrick, in former days; and Abp. Sumner, and Professor Blunt, and other distinguished writers in our own; but our usefulness as parochial ministers is so intimately woven with the exercise of our gift of preaching, that I dare not altogether pass it over in silence.

And first of all I would earnestly implore you never to degrade what St. Paul calls the " grace given " of " preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ l " into any mere intellectual exercise. Do not undervalue the powers of mind in your composition. Employ your intellect in the work faithfully; but use it as a servant called in to obey the master's behest; do not stoop to it, as though it had a power to act independently of your own believing and sanctified will.

The Scriptures teach the ministry of Christ to look upon their power of teaching as a gift. " Having gifts differing according to the grace that is given us," writes St. Paul *, " whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation." This gift, as he himself possessed it, he only valued as it was "in demonstration of the Spirit and of power*;"