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might become a true christian; and their prayers were both so heard as to be granted. which Mr. Hooker would often mention with much joy, and as often pray that he might never live to occasion any sorrow to so good a mother; of whom he would often say, he loved her so dearly, that he would endeavour to be good, even as much for hers as for his own sake."-Walton's Life of Hooker.

The following extract affords an example of a dutiful child's obedience to his parents; as well as of a parent fulfilling the reciprocal duty of training up his child in the way he should go.

"I return to my intended relation of Robert the son, who began in his youth to make the laws of God, and obedience to his parents, the rules of his life; seeming even then to dedicate himself, and all his studies, to piety and virtue. And as he was inclined to this by his native goodness, with which the wise Disposer of all hearts had endowed his; so this calm, this quiet and happy temper of mind (his being mild, and averse to oppositions) made the whole course of his life easy and grateful both to himself and others: and this blessed temper was maintained and improved by his prudent father's good example; and by frequent conversing with him, and scattering short apophthegms and little pleasant stories, and making useful application of them, his son was in his infancy taught to abhor vanity and vice as monsters, and to discern the loveliness of wisdom and virtue; and by these means, and God's concurring grace, his knowledge was so augmented, and his native goodness so confirmed, that all became so habitual, as it was not easy to determine, whether nature or education were his teachers. And here let me tell the reader, that these early beginnings of virtue were by God's assisting grace blessed with that St. Paul seemed to beg for his Philippians; namely, That He that had begun a good work in them would finish it. And Almighty God did: for his whole life was so regular and innocent, that he might have said at his death, (and with truth and comfort) what the same St. Paul said after to the same Philippians; when he advised them to walk as they had him for an example."-Walton's Life of Bishop Sanderson.

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ESSAY THE SIXTEEENTH.

Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king as supreme, or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him, for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well." 1 Peter, ii. 13, 14. The voice of reason and the voice of conscience, as well as the express commandment of God calls upon men to render civil obedience to their rulers.

1. The voice of reason; because rulers are placed at the fountain head as it were of the best information, and therefore have better means of knowing what is good for the people, than any individual subject or number of subjects can possibly have. Hence the subject may be fairly considered to be in the same position, in a political point of view, as an inexperienced youth; whilst rulers and governors are in the position of experienced parents, who have the advantage of the choicest legal knowledge; of the services of the best and most talented students of political economy, and of the wisest lawyers and judges; as well as of the advice of the higher order of the clergy. For these reasons, the State, i.e. the Sovereign and those in authority under her, have advantages for the enacting and alteration of laws, which no persons in an inferior station can command.

2. The voice of conscience teaches civil obedience: because that power which is exerted on the side of law and order, and for the

discouragement of wickedness and vice, conscience tells us must be right. For this reason St. Paul exhorts men to obey the higher powers not only for wrath but also for conscience sake.

3. Not only the voice of reason and of conscience; but also the voice of God in Holy Scripture teaches obedience to the ruling powers. The following are the words of St. Paul.

"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained by God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." Romans xiii. 1, 2, 3, 4.

But since rulers stand in a parental relation towards their subjects; here also the reciprocal duties of superiors to inferiors is clearly implied. Hence it is the duty of all rulers to govern the people committed to their charge according to law, and not in an arbitrary and tyrannical manner; and especially to see that impartial justice be administered to rich and poor alike, by those in authority under them, and whose duty it is to administer and expound the law. All persons, moreover, having the reins of government in their hands should be very careful to invite their subjects to obedience by their own good examples. How faithfully the the Church of England has taught the necessity of a strict and diligent performance of both these classes of duties; a reference to a few passages, out of an abundance of evidence which might be brought forward, will clearly show. In the Communion Service the duty of subjects, to obey the Sovereign is most strongly taught in the following words.

"That we and all her subjects duly considering whose authority she hath, may faithfully serve, honour, and humbly obey her, in Thee, and for Thee according to thy Blessed Word and ordinance."

But the Church of England not only teaches men to obey, but also to pray for their rulers and governors; and in those prayers she inculcates at the same time the duties of rulers towards their subjects. Thus in the Litany we read as follows.

"That it may please thee to keep and strengthen in the true worshipping of Thee, in righteousness and holiness of life, thy servant VICTORIA, our most gracious Queen and Governor. We beseech Thee to hear us, Good Lord."

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"That it may please Thee to rule her heart in thy faith, fear, and love, and that she may evermore have affiance in Thee, and ever seek thy honour and glory. beseech Thee to hear us, Good Lord.'

"That it may please Thee to bless and keep the magistrates giving them grace to execute justice and to maintain truth. We beseech thee to hear us, Good Lord."

And now let the appeal be made to the fidelity with which the faithful and devoted sons of the Church of England have fulfilled this part of their duty towards their neighbour. And here there will be no need of giving particular instances of loyalty and obedience; for what were the

entire lives of Sanderson, Bull, Hammond, Jeremy Taylor, and others, but living exemplifications of the most firm and unshaken loyalty? What sufferings and privations did they not prefer to being disloyal to their King? In the most trying times how faithful and true they were to their Sovereign! and well may it be so; for how can a churchman who really acts up to his principles, as they did, be otherwise than loyal? A disloyal churchman would be a contradiction in terms: How congenial such obedience was to the sentiments and feelings of these great and good men is beautifully expressed by one of them in the following words.

"I am most certain that, by living in the religion and fear of God, in obedience to the King, in the charities and duties of communion with my spiritual guides, in justice and love with all the world in their several proportions, I shall not fail of that end which is the perfection of human nature, and which never will be obtained by disputing."-(Bishop Jeremy Taylor.)

The following extracts refer to the bright example of one in authority faithfully fulfilling the reciprocal duties of a superior towards inferiors, by impartially expounding and administering the laws :

"He continued eleven years in that place, managing the court, and all proceedings in it with singular justice. It was observed by the whole nation how much he raised the reputation and practice of it: and those who held places and offices in it can declare, not only the impartiality of his justice, for that is but a common virtue, but his generosity, his vast diligence, and his great exactness in trials. This gave occasion to the only complaint that ever was made of him; That he did not dispatch matters quick enough: But the great care he used to put suits to a final end, as it made him slower in deciding them, so it had this good effect; that causes tried before him were seldom if ever tried again." Bp. Burnet's Life of Sir Matthew Hale.

"Another passage fell out in one of his circuits, which was somewhat censured as an affectation of unreasonable strictness; but it flowed from his exactness to the rules he had set himself.

"A gentleman sent him a buck for his table, that had a trial at the assizes: so when he heard his name, he asked, if he was not the same person that had sent him venison? and finding he was the same, he told him, he could not suffer the trial to go on, till he had paid him for his buck. To which the gentleman answered, that he never sold his venison, and that he had done nothing to him, which he did not do to every Judge that had come that circuit; which was confirmed by several gentlemen then present: but all would not do; for the Lord Chief Baron had learned from Solomon that a gift perverteth the ways of judgment; and therefore he would not suffer the trial to go on, till he had paid for the present. Upon which the gentleman withdrew the record.

"And at Salisbury the Dean and Chapter having, according to the custom, presented him with six sugar loaves in his circuit, he made his servant pay for the sugar before he would try their cause."-Bp. Burnet's Life of Sir Matthew Hale.

"The Judge was of a most tender and compassionate nature; this did eminently appear in his trying and giving sentence upon criminals, in which he was strictly careful, that not a circumstance should be neglected, which might any way clear the fact.

"He behaved himself with that regard to the prisoners, which became both the gravity of a judge, and the pity that was due to men whose lives lay at stake, so that nothing of jeering and unreasonable severity ever fell from him. He also examined the witnesses in the softest manner, taking care that they should be put under no confusion, which might disorder the memory, and he summed all the evidence so equally, when he charged the jury, that the criminals themselves never complained. of him.

"When it came to give sentence, he did it with that composedness and decency, and his speeches to the prisoners directing them to prepare for death, were so weighty, that many loved to go to the trials when he sat Judge, to be edified by his speeches and behaviour in them; and used to say, they heard very few such sermons. But though the pronouncing the sentence of death was the piece of his employment that went most against the grain with him; yet in that he could never be mollified into any tenderness which hindered justice.' -Bp. Burnet's Life of Sir Matthew Hale

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ESSAY THE SEVENTEENTH.

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls as they that must give account." Hebrews 13 ver. 17.

The voice of reason calls upon men to reverence, obey, and succour their spiritual pastors; since in spiritual things they stand in the place of parents towards the people committed to their charge. They are the spiritual fathers of their flocks, not only because each member of the same has through their instrumentality been born again to God; but also because it belongs to their office to impart that spiritual instruction to all classes of their people, for which a diligent, prayerful, and laborious study of God's word eminently qualifies them.

Those persons, then, through whose instrumentality the faithful are born again, and are afterwards fed with the bread of life, are properly called spiritual fathers, and for the same reason the bishops are called fathers, since they are the spiritual heads of Christ's family upon earth. Does not the voice of reason then call upon men to esteem and reverence persons who are the means under God of conveying so much spiritual benediction and grace to the people committed to their charge? Does not the voice of reason call upon men to obey them, and to submit to their godly admonitions; and likewise urge them to do all they can to enable them to give themselves wholly to the spiritual improvement and well being of their parishioners, by supplying them liberally with those things which are needful for their decent maintenance and support?

Does not the voice of conscience, moreover, unite with the voice of reason in calling upon men to obey, reverence, and succour their spritual pastors; since conscience dictates that it must be right to reverence and obey them who are continually labouring for their instruction and welfare; as well as to impart freely of their substance to support them in their arduous and difficult work, and not to suffer all the days of their earthly pilgrimage to be perpetually embittered by the multiform sorrows and anxieties of poverty? And what the voice of reason and of conscience dictates, that the voice of God as declared in Holy Scripture fully confirms, since it teaches OBEDIENCE in the words obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls as they that must give account; since it teaches men TO ESTEEM AND REVERENCE them in the words Know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and esteem them very highly in love for their works sake; and since it teaches men TO CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR SUPPORT in

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the words let him that is taught in the word minister unto him that teacheth in all good things.

It is the duty of the people, moreover, to pray for their spiritual pastors and guides. The reciprocal duties of pastors towards their people are evidently implied.

These duties are the diligent performance of the public offices of the sanctuary, which are prayers and thanksgiving, reading of the Holy Scriptures, preaching, and a right and due administration of the Holy Sacraments. They consist moreover of a diligent performance of the spiritual works of mercy, which consist of teaching the ignorant, counselling the simple, reproving and admonishing the sinner, and consoling the afflicted. How faithful the Church of England has been to her trust in requiring of her ministers a due performance of all these spiritual works of mercy will appear plain from the solemn vows required of every one who would be admitted to the Holy office of Deacon and Priest, as well as from several of the rules contained in the Prayer Book, to some of which reference is made in what follows.

1. Teaching the ignorant. By the rubric postfixed to the catechism, the Church requires public catechizing on every Sunday and holiday ; after the second Lesson at Evening Prayer. And now let us proceed to consider the fidelity with which faithful and devoted sons of the Church of England, have fulfilled their sacred duties towards the people committed to their charge.

"Mr Bull was too sensible of the necessity and advantage of catechizing, to neglect an institution which hath so direct a tendency to promote piety and religion in the minds of men. The instructions from the pulpit very often miscarry for want of laying a good foundation in the first principles of religion, and from not understanding the meaning of those words and phrases which so frequently occur in set and formed discourses; and it is a vain attempt to reform the world, without seasoning the minds of youth with that necessary knowledge of the christian mysteries upon which all religious practice must be built. He laboured therefore particularly in this province, and did not content himself barely to hear youth repeat the words of our excellent catechism, but he expounded it to them after a plain and familiar manner, whereby he did not only sow the good seed of the word in young and tender minds, but also enlightened those of riper years, whom he encouraged and exhorted to be present at his catechetical performances, and who were too much ashamed of their ignorance to overcome it by any other methods.

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God was pleased so far to bless his endeavours of this kind, that he carried fifty persons we'l instructed in the principles of religion at one time to the visitation at Cirencester, who were all confirmed by the bishop, when his whole parish did not consist of above thirty families." Sometimes in the dispositions of his charity, the bishop had a particular regard for the good of souls; and because it is very difficult to instruct those in the necessary principles of religion, who are grown old in ignorance, he therefore enticed such by a pecuniary allowance to receive knowledge. It is certain that the extremities of old age participate in some degree of the weak and helpless condition of childhood, and what makes it still more lamentable is, when the mind for want of due cultivation in the preceding stages of life, is altogether destitute of those christian principles, which should then support and comfort it.

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And therefore a charity of this nature, which endeavoured to repair the omissions of a neglected education, was of the greater importance; because persons in that condition stood upon the brink of eternity, without having made that provision which was necessary to procure the happiness of so great a change. He allowed therefore twelve pence a week a piece to twelve old people of Brecknock, upon condition that they would submit to learn the principles of the christian religion, and be willing and ready to give an account of them"-Nelson's Life of Bishop Bull.

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