and important events in the nation's history which deserve to be enshrined in undying remembrance. The Church has made the prayer-book a tablet on which she has engraven her gratitude for privileges continued to the empire, through the means of deliverance effected in the very crisis of danger. By the services which specially belong to this day,* she has told it out that in times long passed indeed, but still unforgotten, the interests, the destinies of Protestantism, the thousand blessings both political and religious, which are interwoven with it; the stability of the kingdom itself, were all trembling upon the brink of a precipice of ruin, and that the Lord brought to light the perils which threatened them, and guarded our liberties in the hour which was to have witnessed their downfall. By these services she has enjoined her children to be grateful, and put, as it were, the hymn of thanksgiving into their lips: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits; bless the Lord who saveth thy life from destruction, and crowneth thee with mercy and loving-kindness."

And now, brethren, that we have dwelt thus minutely upon the several topics we designed to treat of, the lawfulness and expediency of precomposed forms of prayer, and the popular ob

* This Sermon was preached on the 5th of November.

jections taken to our Liturgy-we desire to bring this subject to a close by addressing a few words of admonition not unconnected with it. In the first place, let us bind it upon ourselves as a duty not to condemn the usages of others, when those usages are not condemned by revelation. For ourselves, we claim the right to worship God in that manner which we know to be lawful, and which we deem to be most expedient. Let us extend the same license

We

to others. We can have no quarrel with our dissenting brethren in respect of their mode of public worship; for while we advocate the superiority, we assert not the necessity of liturgical forms. pronounce our own way to be more excellent than theirs; but we deny not the excellence of theirs. We view the question which has been discussed this day to be one of opinion and preference, rather than one of necessity and unaltering rule; not as one fitted to break up Christian fellowship, but as one on which the Churches may afford consistently to differ.

Secondly, While we pursue this course of moderation towards others, let us remember that there is a duty we owe to ourselves. It is inculcated in the words of our text-"Hold fast the form of sound words." Let no false or sickly liberality make us insensible to the blessing we possess in our tried and time-honoured Liturgy. It is our duty to love it, it is our duty to study it; and while, above all, we

seek to imbibe its blessed spirit, it is our duty, if need be, to rally round and defend it. Brethren, we live in times when things are not honored because they are sacred, nor respected because they are venerable from antiquity. The hand of innovation has touched the temporalities of our Church, and meddled with parts of the external structure. But it must not dare to touch the ark. If ever the hour comes, (and, looking to the aspect of the times, we know not how soon it may come,) when the restless spirit of change, which is so remarkable a character of our days, should direct its reckless and intrusive energies against the spiritualities of our Zion, should dare to interfere with her Articles, or to modify the wholesome faithfulness of her Liturgy, then shall the hour have arrived when it shall be the bounden duty of the laity of our Church to arouse themselves from a slumber in which they have too long indulged, and, gathering themselves round the Prayer Book, as the citadel of the fortress, to tell those who would rashly infringe on their best privilege—" Ye shall not come up into this city, nor cast a bank against it."

Lastly, Brethren, be prepared to give, to every one who asketh, a reason of the attachment to our Liturgy which is in you. It will not satisfy the objector that you profess to love it because it has been in your hands from childhood, and its sounds are those you have ever been accustomed to. You must learn

to repel the assailant, and to produce substantial reasons for your adherence. And to do this, you must study your Prayer Book. You must become acquainted with its several excellences to be able to point them out to others. And such a study will be neither uninteresting nor unprofitable. Each step in it will lay open more of the deep experience, the sterling orthodoxy, and the unctional spirit of the framers of our formularies. It will tell us more of what genuine prayer is; for, from the fervor, the fulness, and the elevation of the Liturgy, we may learn what it is "to worship God in spirit and in truth.".

SERMON IV.

THE OFFICES, RITES, AND CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH.

1 CORINTHIANS XIV. 40.

LET ALL THINGS BE DONE DECENTLY AND IN ORDER.

OUR attention has now been occupied for three Sabbaths upon different sections of the same interesting subject. In entering upon it, we made it our first duty to consider the spiritual character of the Church of Christ, as being a point of infinitely higher importance than aught connected with the structure of any visible Church upon earth. We then entered upon the examination of the Church with which we ourselves are externally and ecclesiastically connected, for the purpose of ascertaining, by calm and candid inquiry, whether, in her system and peculiarities, she was deserving of our adherence and attachment. And in pursuing this inquiry, we investigated, first, the construction of the government and ministry of the Church of England; and, after due and honest