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taken to the universal fitness of the duty of mutual respect between man and man. And then, to shew that this respect should, nevertheless, have a reference to the quality and condition of the persons paying and receiving it; he adds, by way of example, “Love the Brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the King."

In this our day there is, perhaps, hardly any positive command of Scripture more generally neglected, or, I may say, resisted, than this duty of which we are now speaking. In private life, what do we see in others, or experience within ourselves, but struggles for preeminence, and jealousies of being thought in any way inferior to those around us, either in birth or station; -either in wealth or influence;-in talent or skilfulness in the management of our affairs;-in strength of body, or dexterity in applying it to useful labours? What artful insinuations of their own superiority, what subtle and underhand depreciations of others, float about in the atmosphere of every little society! Again, in public life, how does the violence of party appear completely to reverse this doctrine of Christian gentleness, and reciprocated kindliness. In private, the stiff neck usually wears some disguise to conceal its unamiable character; but in public, the motto, blazoned on every party banner, is "no submission," -"no compromise,"-" no concession." Among the foremost supporters even of a just and righteous cause, there are few to be found whose party feelings are in unison with the spirit of discharging their duties, as "servants of God," and "for the Lord's sake."

It may be worth while here to look briefly at the cir cumstances of the times in which St. Peter wrote this Epistle. If ever there was a state of things under which a spirit of discontent and opposition to existing

institutions was allowable in a follower of the meek and lowly Jesus, it would appear to have been that, to which I desire to call your attention. The whole of the civilized world lay at that time under the domination of the power of Rome. Judea had been subjugated to the common yoke; and those governors whom the Christian converts were required to obey and respect, as "sent from God for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that did well," were, both in Judea and elsewhere, not only Heathen-men, but strangers from a distant country, bearing rule, each in his subject province, in the name of the Emperor of Rome. And who, at that very period, was the person filling the august throne of imperial Rome? Who the King, to whom, as supreme, they were required to submit, and pay honour? Who, but that man, whose name stands conspicuous among all the tyrants of the earth, as the greatest tyrant of them all? Nero was then Emperor. Nero, who was afterwards put to death as the enemy of mankind; whose cruel persecutions desolated the Christian Church; and under whom it is believed, both Paul and Peter himself suffered martyrdom.

How comes it to pass, then, that in these more peaceful times, a spirit of insubordination and innovation possesses so large a proportion of our fellow-subjects? How does it happen, that in this more favoured land resistance rather than submission to constituted authority is commended by many as a positive social duty,-nay even as a Christian obligation? and that, not only by partizans who openly bow the knee to the idols of this world, but by others who profess to go out, and separate themselves from among us, as less worldly than ourselves, and more scriptually exact in their lives and

doctrines? But let us not be led astray by the force of evil example, or forget that all party violences and animosities, which tend to weaken the charities of life, and to loosen the bonds which hold society together, are at variance with the religion of the Bible. We know not but that the days may come when, like our Lord's troubled followers, we may find it difficult "to possess our souls in patience." Let us then, in hours of quietness and repose, calmly examine the duty which lies upon Christians, of submitting to every ordinance of man "for the Lord's sake;" and of learning cheerfully to do our duty in that state of life unto which it shall have pleased God to call us.

But the religious institutions of our country seem to be threatened with inroads and assaults even more than the civil institutions of the land. The venerable Protestant Church of England is on one side loudly and vigorously attacked, and on others, insidiously and closely beset by open or secret enemies. Because our Saviour asserted that his kingdom was not of this world, it is pretended that Rulers and Governments are hereby prohibited from providing by law a system of religious instruction for their subjects: a position by no means warranted by the words themselves, and directly in contradiction of the example of God's judgment respecting Rulers and Governments, expressed in various parts of the Old Testament. Hence, because Kings have been its nursing Fathers, and Queens its nursing mothers, our Church is evil spoken of. But the great stone of offence on which our adversaries stumble is, that her Ministers are not generally compelled to preach the Word of God in poverty and dependence. Riches, no doubt, are encumbered with their peculiar temptations; but we

know too well, that poverty is not a state which is exempted from them. Numberless are the shapes and disguises which the world puts on, in order to decoy or scare us from the narrow way. St. Paul, when he speaks of "all that is in the world," enumerates "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." The objects of ambition may, equally with the possession of riches, be opposed to that poverty of spirit, which shall inherit a blessing. And ambition is a passion by no means confined to the bosoms of Kings, or the aspirations of the great. It meets as hearty a welcome in the breast of the peasant, as in that of his prince; and finds sometimes as ample a field for its development, in gathering reputation or influence within the confines of a village or neighbourhood, as in compassing the elevation or overthrow of a kingdom.

Fashion also, or a restless activity in the pursuit of novelties, is one of the vanities of the world, which deludes equally every class of mankind. Whether they be rich or poor, the giddy and the thoughtless, and the unoccupied are ever ready to join the passing crowd, in pursuit of something new. When fashion leads her followers to spend their time and thoughts in unprofitable or injurious occupations; or their substance in extravagant dress or gaudy display, it is matter of deep regret to the religious mind: but when fashion invites to a spirit of trifling in holy things, and a disposition to hunt after amusement and novelties in the most momentous business of life-the one thing needful, a serious contemplation of such levity is fraught with painful sorrow. "The time will come," says the Apostle St. Paul, "when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts, will heap to

themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables." It is now nearly eighteen hundred years since St. Paul wrote thus to Timothy, his friend and fellow-labourer in the ministry. To what precise time he refers we presume not to determine, but we think that the Apostle's prediction does not altogether fail of fulfilment in our own. The religion of Christ being now eighteen hundred years old, perhaps you will permit me to say of it, that it is essentially an old-fashioned religion. We deny not that in the course of so many centuries, by unfaithful traditions, by change of language and usages, and by the fallibility of human judgment, there might be, and there were, admitted into the doctrines and ceremonies of some churches, considerable errors, the chief of which were corrected in the Reformation of the Church of England by an appeal to the only test of truth in religion—the Bible. Let me warn you then, in all earnestness, with regard to novelties in faith and religious practice, that although, for the causes above-mentioned, whatsoever is old in religion may not be in every respect absolutely perfect; yet whatsoever in it is new, is, and must be necessarily, false.

I have thought it to be a part of my duty, as your appointed minister, to offer you a few observations on the subject of an Address *, which has lately been circulated among you with some industry, as I am informed, by a Dissenting Minister of a neighbouring town. There are two or three passages in it, upon which I am urged by the responsibility of my office, yet nevertheless with some reluctance, to lay before

*“ A plain, faithful, and affectionate Address to the Inhabitants of Hadleigh, and the neighbouring Villages, by John Raven."

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