works" has she done for her people; for which of these works is it sought to destroy her? She is ready to spend and be spent in their service; she has watched over their interests, and wept over their failings; she has been the guide of their lives, the friend of their youth, their manhood, and their age. Oh! may we not, without presumption, use the language once adopted by the blessed Jesus himself, "They hated me without a cause?"

Let us, then, my Brethren, not be cast down by painful forebodings, like the desponding Patriarch, when, amidst the wreck of his hopes, and his apparent destitution, he sorrowfully exclaimed "all these things are against me,' but, roused to greater energy by the difficulties that surround us, and animated by the assurances of success that await it, let us imitate his conduct, when, in his awakened recollection of the Providence that was over him, he said, "It is enough," and resigned himself to the guidance of his heavenly Protector. Then, how trying soever may be our present discouragements, we may look forward to the dawn of a brighter day, when the offspring of our Church, like the children of the Patriarch, shall gather with delight around their venerable Parent, and together unite in the praises of Him-"the

God which fed them all their life long-the Angel which redeemed them from all evil, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."

To my Brethren of the laity gladly would I be permitted, before I conclude, to address a few words of affectionate exhortation. If the Apostle, in the text, with such solemn impressiveness, has reminded us of the duties which belong to our Ministry, neither has be been unmindful of the reciprocal obligations incumbent upon those among whom we minister. "Remember them,” he says, "which have the rule over you," who "watch for your souls as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief.” They are no common recollections which should be inspired by those who minister unto you in holy things; who, while they reprove the obstinate, encourage the weary and contrite sinner; who watch with solicitude over the instruction of your children, and solace, by the promises which the Gospel offers, the chambers of the sick, and the beds of the dying. No, Brethren, it is a solemn and affecting office to do all this, in the view of that reckoning which will soon take place at the judgment-seat of Christ—to stand, as it were, between God and our fellow-sinners, by pro

claiming the long-suffering of the one, and presenting to him the prayers and praises of the other. "Remember them," then, "which have the rule over you," who preach unto you the word of God, and "esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake." And may I not urge the Apostolic entreaty, "Brethren, pray for us ?" Pray that we may feel the responsibility of our office-that we may be fitted for it—that we may be successful in it-that, "rightly dividing the word of truth," we may "keep back nothing that is profitable unto you"-but that testifying to all "repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ," we may so fulfil the duties of our stewardship, that, at the end of our course, we may be enabled from the heart to say with the Apostle, "I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God."

Finally, Brethren (to use the words of one * whose sentiments are so deserving of the weight which is attached to them), "If you really love the great and glorified Head of the Church, you will love the Church which he has purchased with his blood, and, as one of the purest and most efficient branches of it, you will love, and * Blunt, of Chelsea.

venerate, and unceasingly pray for, the Established Church of your native country. You will draw the closer to her in this, which, if dark clouds foretel the tempest, may soon be her hour of need. You will uphold her religious institutions, you will maintain her union with the State, you will stand by her most scriptural characteristics, her Apostolical episcopacy, and her episcopally-ordained Ministry. You will support her best, her truest, her spiritual interests." "You will love her, because within her walls you have first learnt the way to Zion'-because within her walls you have found guidance and instruction, and encouragement and peace. She has been your Spiritual Parent, nurse, and counsellor; and you will in return be her faithful children, her uncompromising supporters, her enlightened, and prayerful, and steady friends. You will say of her, the Church of God, as David said of old of the City of God, 'If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee,' in thy trouble, to help thee -in thy dangers, to assist thee-in thy difficulties, to pray for thee-'let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; yea, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.' And you will, if you are the true and consistent mem

bers of such a Church, pass from the worship of her courts below, to that blessed place of which the Apostle declared, I saw no temple there, for God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it: and the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.'"

THE END.

SALISBURY:

W. B. BRODIE and Co., CANAL..