tian teacher, upon Christian principles, and not upon human motives only, the exercise of these virtues from human motives, no more invalidates the doctrine of the alienation of the heart from God, and, therefore, the necessity of the assistance of a divine power, than the bursting forth of a few wild flowers, or a little self-sown wheat, amidst the thorns and thistles of an uncultivated field, can render unnecessary the toil of the sower, or the labour of the reaper.

The Anti-evangelical preachers have frequently deserved the censure of their brethren, by the incautious manner in which they have spoken of the efficacy of the Sacraments. Baptism, more especially, has been represented to be so absolutely necessary to salvation, and to be attended with blessings so valuable to a Christian, that it would almost appear to be equally essential to future happiness, with faith and good works. They apply those passages in St. Paul's Epistles, which describe the influences of the Holy Spirit, too exclusively to the apostolic age. When they speak of those subjects, which are too frequently discussed in the affected phraseology to which I have alluded, they adopt the very opposite extreme, and use language so cold, and tame, that it would almost seem as if

they deemed energy a crime, and the eloquence of enraptured devotion, fanaticism or folly. They only then use (pardon the ungrateful terms), a language which may be called cant, when they declaim against canting language. Scripture is too unfrequently quoted. The necessity of spiritual assistance, the one great doctrinal truth of the dispensation under which we live, is insisted upon with too much timidity, as if the divine aids which are afforded to the faithful believer in the atonement, were incompatible with that degree of human liberty, which is essential to the responsibility of a Christian. They study, as they ought to do, severe and strict reasoning, and correct and elegant composition, in their discourses, but they do not sufficiently remember, that all the reasoning of a Christian teacher, is only then useful when it kindles the affections, as well as instructs the mind. They are contented with appealing to the intellect, rather than to the heart; and their hearers sometimes leave their churches, convinced of a truth, but unmoved as to any practical conviction of its importance, and the necessity of its personal application. The bold appeal, the affecting interrogation, the energetic address, the irresistible persuasion which is founded upon the undeniable

solemnities of the truths of Christianity, do not sufficiently characterise the teaching of those, who only seem to be enthusiastic, when they denounce enthusiasm, and who are more anxious to avoid censure, than to attain to excellence.

The Evangelical preachers are worthy of our imitation, where they frequently insist upon the two principal truths of Christianity, the Atonement of our Lord, and the consequent bestowment of the divine assistances of the Holy Spirit. The Antievangelical preachers are worthy of our imitation, in maintaining the necessity of outward religionthe authority of the Church over its membersand the peculiar advantages of Episcopacy as the best bond of union to an inquiring people and a divided clergy.

The conclusion to which I think you will have arrived, is probably that which I have so frequently urged upon you that a Christian clergyman will be anxious to avoid the faults, and imitate the excellences of the two great parties which divide the attention of the public. He will neither enrol himself among the ranks of the one or of the other, but he will be contented to be called a "Catholic Christian of the Church of England." I say a Catholic Christian; for though one of the dis

tinguished ornaments of the Church in the present day, in treating upon this subject, considers it to be sufficient, "that we refuse any distinctive appellation but that of Christians of the Church of England *,” I am of opinion that this is not suffi cient. One large and corrupt portion of the Church of Christ has assumed to itself the epithet which is alone characteristic of the Universal Church, and not of any particular division of that Church. We boast ourselves to be Catholics. We pray for the Catholic Church. We recognise as our brethren all baptized Christians, who by baptism are admitted into the visible Church. We further acknowledge, by assuming the noble and honourable epithet, Catholic, that all those who "love our Lord Jesus Christ with sincerity," to whatever communion they may belong, are Chris

* Dr. Whately-Bampton Lectures, p. 260, 261. I meet there too with an admirable remark, which I submit to the consideration of those, who think that, because all clergymen ought to be evangelical in the proper sense of that word, they may safely retain the epithet evangelical in the peculiar sense-" those of the Corinthians who said, I am of Christ, using this title to distinguish them from other members of the same Church, were no less censured than those who said, I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos."

tians in deed and in truth-and while we are compelled among the many societies of Christians, and among their many conflicting creeds, to adopt one society, and to prefer one creed-and while we believe, as I firmly do, that the Church of England is the society most worthy of our support, and the creed of that church to be the best summary of Christian truth, I cannot forget that I am a member of the Universal Church-a Catholic of the Church of England. This is true liberality-to compromise no truth, to receive willingly no error, but to love all as brethren, and to believe, and to act, in all things as Catholic Christians, who are members of the Church of England.

Do not deem me tedious if I point out to you yet further, the exceeding advantage which must attend this mode of preaching. The great majority of the numerous errors which have at various times afflicted the Catholic Church, have originated in partial views of truth, and in omitting to take all truth into consideration, when some one undoubted truth was to be discussed. The real Catholic preacher will take a general or universal survey of the propositions he submits to his people. The most usual illustration of this remark is derived from the well-known controversy on the compati