bility of the foreknowledge of God with the responsibility of man. The Catholic preacher will shew the certainty of the double truth, that without the knowledge of that part of eternity which forms the future to man, God cannot be perfectand that without some power of determining whether good or evil shall be his choice, man cannot be responsible. He will lament the weakness of intellect which prevents his discerning clearly the right developement of all the difficulties attendant upon the subject; but he will never insist upon one truth, to the utter exclusion of another. The unCatholic, or sectarian, or partial observer of the system of redemption, insists, on the contrary, upon one only of these propositions. Whether

he be called Jesuit, Pelagian, or Arminian, he insists so much upon the freedom of the will, that he almost destroys the doctrine of the foreknowledge of God-while another, whether he be called Jansenist, Augustinian, Fatalist, or Calvinist, seems to annihilate moral responsibility, in his zeal for the supposed perfections of the Almighty.

But it is not in this often quoted instance only, that Christians destroy truth, by their un-Catholic views of some doctrine of Christianity. Nearly every sect, and every party, is established upon

a

some error of this nature—that is, upon some partial view of a truth which is undoubtedly to be received, but which is rendered un-Catholic by their peculiar mode of abolishing, or denying, or omitting, or degrading, some other truth which ought to be received as part of the same religion. The Socinian is right in affirming that Christ was a man; he is fatally wrong in denying the truth of the other discoveries in Scripture, respecting the divinity of the same Saviour. The Catholic of the Church of Rome is right in maintaining with the Catholics of the Church of England, and with the Catholics of the Church of Scotland, the real presence of the Son of God, in the administration of the Sacrament —he is wrong in affirming that presence to be actual and corporeal and so I might proceed through many instances of the same kind. We are required to preach the truth; and if there be one prayer which the Christian preacher is required to offer, more appropriate and more useful to himself and to the Church, than other petitions, it is this

-that it would please God, not only to lead him to truth, but, to use the language of Him who spake not as man spake, that He would guide him into all truth. If this petition be granted, the language of the preacher will be like his creed. It will be that

of a Christian and a Catholic: and it cannot be rightly described if it be called by any term which expresses either sectarian phraseology, or a partial view of truth. He will preach in simple and unaffected language, the faith, which I may call the vulgar Christianity-the Christianity, I mean, which was common to the Christian Churches in the three first centuries, before the corruptions of the Church of Rome began the Christianity which is still common to the Episcopal Churches of England, and Scotland, and America, to the Lutheran and Calvinistic communions-to the Protestant Dissenters of our own country-to the Wesleyan Societies, and to the Church of Rome itself, though it is there disfigured, and disguised, by the accumulated errors of ages. He will preach the union of the doctrines, I mean, of the Trinity, the incarnation, and the atonement—the necessity of divine assistance to restore the soul to its Creator-the certainty of the resurrection from the dead, and the undoubted usefulness of the two appointed sacraments, the outward means of grace, and that system of Church government which is founded upon Scripture, and antiquity, upon usefulness and Make these great truths the foundation of your preaching, and you will then attain to

reason.

the character of a true Catholic. Live but according to these, and you will be the real Christian. Never suppose that by shrinking from the bold declaration of these truths, you will conciliate one enemy of Christianity, or establish one wavering Christian in his faith. Never imagine that because the doctrine of the Trinity is mysterious, or the doctrines of the Atonement, and divine assistance have been perverted, you will do well, by avoiding to affirm their truth. Never condescend to degrade your hallowed cause, by interpreting the miracles which are related in Scripture, as if they were natural events, exaggerated perhaps by the sacred historian, or magnified by popular tradition. Remember, that if there is a Deity, that Deity must be Omnipotent; and there is no such thing as nature, considered as a system of laws, independent of God. Nature is but a name, for an effect, whose cause is God. All is God, and the laws of God. The common course of things is the usual law, and a miracle is nothing but an unusual law of the same Deity, who appointed the ordinary routine, which is called the law of nature. If there be a Deity, there is no greater difficulty to a wise man in believing in miracles, upon the evidence of an inspired book,

than in believing in the evidence of his senses. Preach your religion with all its mysteries, and all its difficulties, provided you are satisfied that you preach the fair inferences deducible from Scripture. The union of the concurrent testimony of the best interpreters, and sound, impartial criticism, will be sufficient, by God's blessing, to preserve you from material error. I have said nothing to you upon the inferior subjects of the best manner of preaching, nor of the proper style of composition. Useful directions will be found in many books upon these points, to which I can add but little. I can only say, with respect to the manner of preaching, avoid with the utmost abhorrence all affectation, and address yourself to your congregation as if you were a friend, or a brother, anxious to persuade them to believe some truth which to you appears to be of the utmost importance or to act in some manner which you are convinced is alone right, and wise, and good. Be in earnest, and that earnestness will be the best eloquence. With respect to your style of composition, I would give you advice of a similar nature. So study your subject, that it shall fill your soul, and occupy all your thoughts. Write out, before you commence your homily itself, a clear and