evils. In the litany, they are addressed to the second Person of the Trinity, and commence at "Remember not, Lord, our offences," &c., and after a petition for forbearance, consist of a comprehensive enumeration of the kinds of evil; and all who know their own hearts and their dangers, bodily and spiritual, will admit that this part is wisely and prudently drawn up. Sin is the first thing prayed against, as the greatest of evils: then its causes and consequences; its several kinds and degrees, inward and outward, spiritual and carnal; against the judgments which it provokes, and the dangers which it causes, both to the security of the government, by sedition, and the welfare of the Church, by heresy of faith and separation from her communion; but chiefly do we pray against that hardness of heart, and contempt of God's word and commandments, which alone can seal us up in final impenitence and everlasting ruin. Then it concludes in an affecting enumeration to the Saviour of the means which he employed for our deliverance; his veiling his glory by humbling himself to assume our nature, his trials and his sufferings, his resurrection and ascension, and mission of the Spirit; and by the means and for the sake of these tokens of love, we entreat him to deliver us-events which are still pregnant with the most healing and enlivening influences; and which, if they are seriously and affectionately brought home to our hearts, and resorted to as a source of practical strengthwill afford us help and consolation in the most alarming conjunctures, in all time of our tribulation, in all time of our prosperity, in the hour of death, and day of judgment !

The words "Be not angry with us for ever" is a quotation from Psalm Lxxix. 5, and signifies our request, that the sufferings which Christ does think fit to inflict upon us, and some of which, we surely all

feel, he would in mercy shorten. It is common to speak of afflictions that last long, as if they were endless.

INTERVENING CONSIDERATIONS ON SCHISM*.

Heresy and schism are, in Scripture language, so far of the same signification, as they both imply division or separation. Only heresy seems to include in it an obstinate maintaining of some false doctrines, which schism does not. For men may forsake the established Church from a dislike to some forms or ceremonies, or points of discipline, and still adhere to the essential articles of faith; which may be the case of many dissenters. Now these are not guilty of heresy, though they are of schism. But when any sect maintains and teaches doctrines contrary to the Gospel or to the true orthodox faith, these are, in the strictest sense of the word, heretics. Such were the Sadducees among the Jews, who denied the resurrection, and the existence of angels and spirits; and so they are expressly called in Acts, v. 17, where what we translate the sect of the Sadducees, is in the original the heresy of the Sadducees, and such, I fear, are some of our modern sectaries, the leaders of them at least, who, like the "false teachers" foretold by St. Peter, "have brought in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them," or as St. Jude expresses it, "denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ;" for they certainly do, who deny

"A man may forfeit the privileges enjoyed by him as a member of Christ's Church in two ways; either on account of heresy, of his adopting opinions opposed to the great truth of God's word, or through schism, through a disregard of Church authority, and a notion that so long as his doctrine is true, he may join what sect he pleases, or even set up one for himself. Such a privilege is sometimes called 'Christian liberty;' but the true liberty with which Christ has made us free, is theirs alone who, in reverencing his ministers, walk in the way of his commandments."-Essay by a Layman.

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his divinity and the doctrines of the satisfaction and of his sacrifice upon the cross, and our consequent redemption by him, which are the professed tenets of the Socinians, and of other teachers among the separatists, though they do not assume that name.

The word schism in the original is derived from a verb which signifies to cut, divide, or separate; it must therefore relate to some body capable of being. divided or separated. Upon reference to Eph. i., we find that the Church is, in figurative language, called the body of Christ; and in 1 Cor. xii., we find the the same apostle arguing, from the connexion which subsists between the members of the natural body, to the necessity of a similar connexion between the members of the spiritual body; and the intention of our being baptized into this one body, or Church of Christ, he fully informs us, Eph. iv. 13 and following verses; from which it appears that one great object in the establishment of the Church upon earth was, that it might become one great comprehensive society, continually increasing in numbers and in strength; a firm, compact, indissoluble body, so fitly joined toge ther and connected by the harmony of its component parts, as thereby to be best calculated to produce glory to God and love among men. The term schism denotes a division among the members of which that body is composed, occasioned by a want of obedience to the government which Christ, by his apostles, settled in the Church, and a consequent separation from its communion, in contradistinction to the Divine plan of its establishment; the design of which was, that all Christians should be joined together in the same mind, and in the same worship; continuing, according to the primitive pattern, "in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers."

In modern times, such is the lamentable confusion of language prevalent, that every society of professing Christians is called a church, by what authority and under what teachers soever they may be placed; and in this case there can consequently be no such sin as that of schism in the world. For the sin of schism presupposes the establishment of a certain society by Divine authority, with which all Christians are bound to communicate. Now, if the Church, instead of being a society established under a particular government for the purpose of Christians living in communion with it, is anything and everything that men may please to make it, a separation from it becomes impracticable; because a society must have acquired some regular and collected form before a separation from it can take place. But on the supposition that every society of professing Christians is the Church of Christ, the Church in that case consists of as many separate societies under different forms, as there are fanciful men to make them; and, consequently, is no longer in that collected state in which it is possible to live in communion with it; for before the members. of a Church can live in communion with each other, the Church, as a society, must be at unity with itself.

To determine on the legality or illegality of a practice, from man's opinion concerning it, is to set up a standard of judgment which is perpetually varying, and on that account ever liable to deceive. Christians, in religious matters at least, have a more sure word than that of man to depend on; if they are wise, therefore, they will not suffer themselves to be governed by a lesser authority, when they have a greater at hand always to direct them. Custom has indeed so far reconciled us to the divisions that have taken place among Christians, that they are no longer

seen in the light in which they were seen in the primitive days of the Church; whilst charity, forbidding us to speak harshly of the spiritual condition of our brethren, has in a manner tended to efface the sin of schism from our souls. But though we presume to judge no man, leaving all judgment to that Being who is alone qualified to make allowance for the ignorance, invincible prejudice, imperfect reasonings, and mistaken judgments of his frail creatures; yet it must not from hence be concluded, that it is a matter of indifference whether Christians communicate with the Church or not, or whether there is a doubt upon the subject of schism, whether it be a sin or not.

It may justly be supposed that so heinous a sin as that of schism was condemned by our Saviour and his apostles. The unity of the Church seemed the subject which lay nearest the Saviour's heart when he was about to leave the world to go unto the Father. Not only did he set forth this unity under the expressive image of the vine and the branches, in his last discourse with his disciples, but he made it the leading subject of the prayer which he then addressed to his heavenly Father, not only in behalf of his immediate disciples, but also in behalf of his Church in all successive ages. "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me,” John xvii. 20, 21. Accordingly, there is no subject more strongly and constantly pressed upon us in the Apostolic Epistles than that of unity. It would seem that the apostles, or rather the Holy Ghost by whom they were inspired, foresaw what a strong tendency there would be amongst men to break this unity, (for truly a spirit of separation readily enlists on our side