when we are praying expressly for that end; because God works by means; he employs the ministry in making known the gospel, and these prayers have a happy effect upon our own spirits; they prepare us tɔ receive the truth from the lips of those for whom we pray; they lead us to feel our own responsibility, and to place a proper estimate upon the means which God has appointed for the conversion of the world. These prayers if sincere, have a tendency to cause us to make a becoming use of the means of his appointment, while, at the same time, we are constrained to feel our dependence for success upon his almighty arm. Then let the duty come home to every heart, and let it be performed. Brethren, pray for us in your closets, in your families, and in your meetings for prayer. Let every Saturday night be observed as a season of prayer for your pastor. Let every member of the church, let every Christian, then, intercede with God in behalf of him who speaks to you in the name of the Lord, and of all the ministers of Christ. In the morning of the Sabbath, too, let them have a large place in your supplications. When about to go up to the house of the Lord, remember, is an earthen vessel to which the treasure of the gospel is committed, and retire to seek God's presence and blessing for him, that your own soul may be refreshed, and that success may attend the word of the Lord that it may have free course-run from heart to heart—and be glorified in the conversion and salvation of perishing sinners! it THE END. PLEA FOR PRESBYTERIANISM. BY THE REV. ROBERT DAVIDSON, D. D. PASTOR OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEW BRUNSWICK, N. PHILADELPHIA: A PLEA FOR PRESBYTERIANISM. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. ALTHOUGH all subjects are not equally important, yet each is valuable in its place. While it would be highly reprehensible to make Church government a habitual theme of Sabbath discourse, it is every way proper, upon suitable occasions, when the public attention is directed to the subject, and when we may hope for a patient and favourable hearing, to set forth the arguments by which our peculiar tenets are defended. Some are Presbyterians through the force of education, or the accident of relationship; others, because they have received their religious impressions from some preacher of this denomination; others, on account of personal predilections; and others, because they are persuaded that this is the best and most Scriptural system. In all the sects, probably, it is the smallest number that have joined from pure conviction of being right; otherwise, it would be difficult to account for so much indifference to sectarian distinctions, and so many instances of capricious change of church relations. But it is proper that we should know whether we are right or wrong in our ecclesiastical preferences: that if we are in error, we may repair it; or if satisfied that we are right, we may firmly maintain our ground, and defend the church of our choice against the objections of our assailants. There are some claims set up in contradistiction to ours, which, if conceded, would annihilate our orders, render invalid our sacraments, and take away every revealed hope of salvation. Since consequences so important are involved in the decision, and since all truth is, and should be, in order to godliness, it becomes us to inquire into our duty. "Obey them that have the rule over you," is the command in one place. "We beseech you, brethren," is the expostulation in another, "to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. These are cogent admonitions to pay due respect and obedience to the regularly appointed officers of the church, and in order to a compliance, we should distinctly understand who the scriptural officers of the church are. Some insist that Prelates have exclusive authority to rule and govern; others, going to the opposite extreme, are equally positive that we must be subordinate to the whole company of the brethren. Should we be convinced that either of these is right, the apostolic admonition binds us to obey the Prelate in the one case, the brotherhood in the other. Should we reject both extremes, and choose the middle ground of a representative government, and the parity of the clergy, we should be able to give a reasonable account of the steps by which we arrive at this conclusion. Dismissing all other considerations as extraneous to the legitimate object before us, we have a right to insist on confining the inquiry to the New Testament alone, as the sole infallible rule of practice as well as of faith. Lest, however, it should be supposed that we shrink from appealing to other species of argument through fear, we hesitate not openly to aver, in the outset, that we have yet to learn the argument that can inspire us with fear. It may be well, therefore, before proceeding to our main defence from Scripture, to touch briefly on a few preliminary points, more for the purpose of clearing our way, of formal discussion. than I. However firmly we may advocate our position, we do so in perfect charity toward those who differ from us in opinion. Happily ours is a system which does not require, for its own establishment, the unchurching of every other denomination of Christians, as the Ottoman Sultans never think themselves secure till they have put out of the way all their brethren. We must never lose sight of the distinction between what is essential to the being, and what is essential to the perfection of a church. With such as conscientiously prefer some different mode, and who assume for their favourite system no more than we assume for ours, a nearer approach to scriptural order and perfection, we have no quarrel. If they show no intention to |