we are of, in this matter. If the object be to gain our brother, this is not to be effected by a process of barren forms, much less by unkindness and reproach. We must feel and manifest a real concern for his good. We must make him see, if possible, that though an erring brother, he is still to us as a brother; and that we do not forget that it is a brother's feelings, a brother's character, and a brother's immortal welfare, that we are handling; and, if he compel us to go so far as to divide him from our company, that it is with unfeigned sorrow we proceed to that extremity, in the discharge of a duty, to him, as well as to Christ, which we dare not disregard.

9. The faithful discharge of this duty is the truest test of a Christian church. The apostle writing to the Corinthians concerning the disorderly member whom he had required them to excommunicate, tells them he did it to prove the universality and the reality of their obedience to Christ: "For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things." Whatever a church may be in respect to its creeds or its forms; whatever diligence it may use in gathering numbers to a visible profession within its pale; however costly the temple it erects and dedicates to God, or thronged the attendance there; if it be wanting in the article of discipline, it lacks an essential proof of its being a genuine church of Christ. Ye are my friends, saith Christ, if ye do whatsoever I

command you; and on what subject are his commands more explicit than on this? It was their remissness in this particular, that called forth his rebukes of several of the seven churches of Asia; and the faithful perfor>mance of it by others of them, that received his commendation.

Finally; I know of no language too strong to express the importance of this subject, or to impress it suitably on the mind. The discipline of the church, essential to its purity, is essential to every object for which it exists. Its increasing, and, eventually, entire corruption, will be the consequence of its neglecting this duty. Sin not purged out, is by an apostle compared to leaven, which leavens the mass. No such church can truly prosper; or can answer the ends for which churches are instituted. Forfeiting the favor of Christ, through neglect of his laws; losing the respect of the world, and its self-respect, through the tolerated scandals that spring up in it and blemish its character: it will go down hill decaying and losing its vitality, till little shall remain to it but its name and form, to distinguish it from the world. It is no longer a city set on a hill. Its comeliness, and beauty, and influence, are gone. It may still bear the banners,' but no longer has the terribleness,' of an army of Christ. Or, if it should appear outwardly to flourish, as some churches do, in whose assemblies the gay and the worldly find it convenient to worship, some for fashion and some for form's sake, and where church

ambition builds more diligently than godly sincerity and faithfulness to souls,-if it should go on growing in numbers, and accumulating materials of some sort, its prosperity is deceptive. "Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." Whatever it may have of the form, it will have little of the reality, of a spiritual society. It will want the simplicity, it will want the fervor, the distinctness from the world, the religious ener and influence, and all that is proper to a peculiar people, purified by Christ. It is a field where tares grow by permission. They may increase its greenness and luxuriance for the time, and flatter the undiscerning eye of the cultivator, or beholder; but what will the harvest be" in the end of the world?” ·

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If such be the importance of discipline, let it be faithfully attended to; and let not fear or policy prevent. The case may arise, it often does, when to go forward in a thorough discharge of this duty may seem to be portentous of evil. It may threaten to harrass the church with the resentments of disorderly but powerful members; to overwhelm it with clamors; to diminish its strength; or to destroy its existence. But faith is to be exercised here as in every thing else pertaining to the kingdom of Christ. The remembrance that it is Christ's laws that we are called to administer, and Christ's church. that is concerned in the consequences; that it is his

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wisdom that appoints, his authority that commands, his power that sustains; and that, whatever the issue may be, it can never be worse than his displeasure; should be our sufficient warrant to proceed. There can be no ground to fear that he will not vindicate his own laws, and bear out his church in a faithful administration of them. Nor let it be imagined that these laws can be dispensed with, without incurring his frown, and revealing, sooner or later, the folly of forsaking the wisdom of Christ, for the timid dictates of human prudence.

Very many facts might be given corroborative of these remarks: showing in some cases the decay and corruption of churches through neglect of discipline; and in others, their great prosperity in consequence of its maintenance. I am acquainted with a church, once large and flourishing, "one of the green spots of Connecticut," as I have heard it called, where, in consequence of there being no discipline, I was told, there had been no conversions, or very few, for some twenty years or more! by which time both the church and the place were as full of disorders as can well be imagined. On the other hand, I could mention churches which have been blessed with successive revivals and large accessions in connection with this duty. And this is what ought to be expected. For when is a church more prepared to be blessed in this manner, than it is in that peculiar frame which is suited to the work of discipline?-humble,

prayerful, forgiving, and sensible of dependence on God. Or when is its separateness from the world more impressively evident to "them that are without," than when it divides the wicked from its company?

A venerable minister related the following. He was the pastor of a small country parish in Connecticut. Six of the male members, persons of influence, became guilty of heinous offences at one time. He began, with a heavy heart, to take such steps as the case required; when some of the brethren besought him to desist, at least for a time, thinking, in consideration of the standing of these persons in society, and that of their families, that to subject them to discipline would prove the destruction of the church. To this timid policy he yielded; and "from that time," his language was, "the church visibly went down, down, down, till it scarcely existed, and seemed threatened with a total extinction. I perceived my error and awoke to my duty; and going to such of the members as I could most confide in, whom I found by this time to be of my mind, I said to them, 'We must go forward and execute the laws of Christ's house.' We did so; and in one day cut off the six.

"I had appointed a meeting that evening at a private house, by desire of a poor sick woman whom illness had long detained from our public assemblies. I went expecting to meet a few neighbors only, when, to my great surprise, the house was filled. The Spirit of God was there, and for those six, the Lord gave us sixty!