"Scripture." And as we have bound ourselves not to teach any thing which is not contained in the Scriptures, or which may not be proved by it, so have we engaged to "minister all the "doctrine, the sacraments, and the discipline "of Christ ;" to hold back nothing that is profitable to our hearers; to declare unto them all the counsel of God. Let us not then, my Reverend Brethren, be for a moment cast down, or deterred from following the plain path of our duty, by the imputation of intolerance sometimes cast upon our Church; or of want of liberal sentiments, applied, but, I trust, with as little shew of reason, to ourselves. Intolerance can never be rightfully predicated of a Church which preaches not itself, but Christ, Christ crucified for all; a Church which is forward and zealous to disseminate the Gospel through all the regions of the earth; a Church which adds to the Gospel no traditions of men; which requires no services, and has instituted no ordinances which have not the warranty of Scripture; a Church, which not only * The Ordering of Priests. + Acts xx. 27. invites, as to the exercise of a privilege, but enjoins, as a duty of paramount obligation, all its members, according to Christ's special command, to search the Scriptures* ; which encourages them to imitate the Bereans, whose commendation from the Apostle was, not only that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, but that they searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so †. In the same spirit our Church interferes, as of herself, with no man's conscience. She asks assent to no principles of her own devising. She requires faith of the reasoner upon reasonable grounds. She refers only to doctrines which existed in the Scriptures before the Church, from which she derives her existence, her orders, and her authority, was founded by Christ, and built up by his Apostles; to those doctrines of His divinity, incarnation, and mediatorial office, on which He ordained His Church to be erected, as on a rock, against which he promised that the gates of hell should never prevail ‡. Intolerance may lengthen out the feeble ex * John V. 35. + Acts xvii. 11. Matt. xvi. 18. istence of a falling church, propped up by hu man devices, and striving to support itself by earthly dominion, but it could add no stability to an edifice deeply founded on the rock of ages. St. Paul himself was intolerant, while strong in human learning, and firm in the world's morality, he was yet in ignorance and unbelief on the subject of Christ's kingdom. He then made havoc of the Church, entering into every house, and haling men and women, committed them to prison *. He then breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord; but when he was miraculously called to preach the faith which once he had destroyed with all his former zeal, how forbearing became his demeanour! with all his accustomed earnestness of manner, how mild, how gentle, how persuasive his addresses! Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God §. Now I Paul myself beseech you, by *Acts viii. 3. † Ibid. ix. 1. § 2 Cor. v. 20. the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you *, Nor is it only to the doctrine (the doctrine †, kar' εžoкηy) which we are appointed to teach, that we ought now to take heed with peculiar jealousy, but to ourselves. Far be it from me to be supposed to have spoken in derogation of science, or with apprehension as to the results of its widest diffusion. The faithful Minister must hail with joy the rapid progress of the present age in intellectual attainments. True science has ever been the hand-maid of religion. It is often hers to clear up what was obscure, to confirm what appeared to be doubtful, and thus to shed around the Sacred Volume a new, an unexpected illumination. She has thus appeared to be one of the means, since the cessation of miraculous interpositions, designed by the Divine Spirit to enlighten and to cheer the path of the believer; and to invite and to lead the steps of the doubtful to the temple of Divine Truth. But when human science, vain of the facility with which she may have subdued prejudice and error in worldly concerns, acquires * 2 Cor. x. 10. † Επεχε σεαυτῷ, καὶ τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ. 1 Tim. iv. 16. an overweening confidence in her own powers, when she indicates a contempt of sacred institu tions, and a disdain of the helps to devotion and religious peace, which are mercifully vouchsafed to our weak and limited faculties in Sacraments and Ordinances ;-when, forgetting that the world by wisdom knew not God, she presumes to undervalue the claims of Revelation, and to question the influence and authority of a visible Church :-when thus she walks, after the rudi ments of the world, and not after Christ, her torch affords then only an unsteady gleam, a bewildering glare; her power becomes an unmitigated despotism. The Apostle in the text does not proscribe philosophy, properly so called, but that which is associated with vain deceit. It becomes us, indeed, at this time, if ever, to extend to its utmost possible limit the horizon of our knowledge, sacred and profane. To continue to be efficient instructors, we must preserve our relative station in society by higher attainments in secular as well as sacred erudition. We cannot otherwise retain the respect and confidence of those who have a right to expect that the priest's lips should keep knowledge, if they are to seek the law at his mouth*; and if *Malachi ii. 7. |