Father for his heap of benefits daily and plentifully poured upon us, not forgetting to bestow our alms upon God's poor, to the intent God may bless us the more richly. Thus ye may well perceive and understand wherefore churches were built and set up amongst christian people, and dedicated and appointed to these godly uses, and wholly exempted from all filthy, profane, and worldly uses."

Secondly. We may learn the duty of maintaining our churches in substantial repair, of decently adorning them, and keeping them clean and fit for the accommodation of those who resort to them. "It is a custom," says our Homily, in its quaint and homely language, but which I rather present to you than my own, since it bears the stamp of authority, "used of all men, when they intend to have their friends or neighbours to come to their houses to eat or drink with them, or to have any solemn assembly, to treat or talk of any matter, they will have their houses, which they keep in continual reparations, to be clean and fine, lest they should be counted sluttish, or little to regard their friends and neighbours. How much more then ought the house of God, which we commonly call the church, to be sufficiently repaired in all places, and to be honourably adorned and garnished, and to be kept clean and sweet, to the comfort of the people that shall resort thereunto.

"It appeareth in the holy Scripture how God's house, which was called his holy temple, and was the mother church of all Jewry, fell sometimes into decay, and was oftentimes profaned and defiled, through the negligence and ungodliness of such as had the charge thereof. But when godly kings and governors were in place, then commandment was given forthwith that the church and temple of God should be repaired, and the devotion of the people to be gathered for the reparation of the same. We read in the fourth book of the Kings, how that King Joash, being a godly prince, gave commandment to the priests, to convert certain offerings of the people towards the reparation and amendment of God's temple.

"Like commandment gave that most godly king, Josias, concerning the reparation and re-edification of God's temple, which in his time he found in sore decay. It hath pleased Almighty God, that these histories, touching the repairing and re-edifying of his holy temple, should be written at large, to the end we should be taught thereby, (among other things,) that he is highly pleased with all those which diligently and zealously go about to amend and restore such places as are appointed for the congregation of God's people to resort unto, and wherein they humbly and jointly render thanks to God for his benefits, and with one heart and voice praise his holy name.

"Wherefore all they that have little mind or devotion to repair and build God's temple, are to be accounted people of much ungodliness, spurning against good order in Christ's church, despising the true honour of God, with evil examples, offending and hindering their neighbours otherwise well and godlily disposed. The world thinketh it but a trifle to see their church in ruin and decay. But whoso doth not lay to their helping hands, they sin against God and his holy congregation. For if it had not been sin to neglect and slightly regard the re-edifying and building up again of his temple, God would not have

been so much grieved, and so soon have plagued his people, because they builded and decked their own houses so gorgeously, and despised the house of God their Lord. It is a sin and shame to see so many churches so ruinous and so foully decayed, almost in every corner. If a man's private house wherein he dwelleth be decayed, he will never cease till it be restored up again. Yea, if his barn where he keepeth his corn be out of reparations, what diligence useth he to make it in perfect state again? If his stable for his horse, yea, the sty for his swine, be not able to hold out water and wind, how careful is he to do cost thereon? And shall we be so mindful of our common base houses, deputed to so vile employment, and be forgetful towards the house of God, wherein be treated the words of our eternal salvation, wherein be ministered the sacraments and mysteries of our redemption? The fountain of our regeneration is there presented to us, the partaking of the body and blood of our Saviour Christ is there offered unto us : and shall we not esteem the place where so heavenly things are handled? Wherefore, if ye have any reverence to the service of God, if ye have any common honesty, if ye have any conscience in keeping of necessary and godly ordinances, keep your churches in good repair, whereby ye shall not only please God, and deserve his manifold blessings, but also deserve the good report of all godly people."

In unison with these sentiments, it was the custom of the Church of England, for a very long period, whenever her churches were decayed, and the inhabitants of the respective parishes unable to defray the expense of repairing them, to solicit, by means of Briefs, the charitable contributions of all her members, towards the necessary expenditure. Many causes combined to render this method inconvenient and ineffectual; among others, the cost of collection the expenses having usually amounted to one-half, and sometimes to nearly two-thirds of the whole amount received. To remedy so manifest an evil, an act was passed in the year 1828, "To abolish Church Briefs, and to provide for the better collection and application of voluntary Contributions for the purpose of Enlarging and Building Churches and Chapels." By this act it is directed, that whenever His Majesty shall see fit to issue his royal letters authorizing such a collection, all the money so contributed shall be paid over to the Society for Promoting the Enlargement, Building, and Repairing Churches and Chapels. This Society was instituted in the year 1817, by many zealous members of our Church; and, by means of their liberal donations, together with many annual subscriptions, and a collection by virtue of the King's Letter in the year 1828, has been enabled to assist 959 parishes in repairing, enlarging, and rebuilding their churches, providing in them 239,313 additional sittings, of which 178,565 are free and unappropriated. The entire expenditure of the Society for these purposes, during the seventeen years of its existence, amounts to nearly 200,000%. Nor is it among the least of its claims to public support, that all this has been accomplished at a very trifling annual expense for the management of its affairs. In making it then the channel through which your voluntary contributions are to pass, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that they are subject to scarcely any deduction; and that the several parishes which need assistance will obtain a grant in

proportion to their intended outlay, with no further trouble than that of, applying to the Society, and stating the particulars of their case. So great an improvement in a matter of such infinite importance to the Church and to society will doubtless receive the approbation it so well merits, and induce you cheerfully to answer the call which is now made upon you, under the authority of the King's Letter, which you have recently heard read.

But while we allow the justice and excellence of these arrangements, we must look to those high and holy motives which our faith suggests, to kindle our zeal, and animate us to exertion in this good cause. We must remember that the glory of God and the good of our fellowcreatures are the objects to which all our actions are to be directed; and that, in whatever degree our ability to promote these objects may exist, we cannot neglect to exert it, without compromising our christian sincerity. Admitting, as every Christian must, the duty of worshipping God in public, as well as in private, we shall perceive at once the necessity and duty of providing temples for that purpose; and the obligation resulting to each individual Christian to promote so desirable an end. We must consider well the uses. of public worship; how the whole christian world are brought together, as it were, with one heart and one mouth, to glorify God, to acknowledge their own sinfulness, and to sue for his merciful forgiveness; how they are instructed in the doctrines and duties of their religion, and exhorted to faith, and penitence, and newness of life; and encouraged to pray for the aid of the divine grace, that they may truly and sincerely love God, and be kind and charitable to men. We must further inquire into our own. state and condition; what progress we have made in the road to happiness; and how much we have been assisted in the prosecution of our journey; how often we have been refreshed, and encouraged, and invigorated, "in the courts of the Lord's house," by attending on the public services of the Church, when our own strength had failed us, and our own hearts grew faint. Let us then turn our eyes to the wretchedness and misery of our fellow-pilgrims, who, from whatever cause, are destitute of such a help and guide, in the way to the city of God. Let us but contemplate their wanderings and backslidings, their weariness and faintness; too often, their utter hopelessness of reaching the eternal gates through which they desire to pass to their everlasting rest. Imagine such souls to be desiring and longing to enter, yet unable to obtain admission into, the courts of the Lord. Surely our hearts will burn within us to supply the hospitable roof which shall shelter them from the storms of disquietude and grief; the friendly hand to point the way, and support them through the rugged and uneven paths of life; and the voice of peace, to fill their hearts with confidence and hope! Surely, with a grateful sense of the spiritual blessings we ourselves enjoy, we shall cheerfully contribute, out of the abundance of the temporal things which God has given us, that the poor destitute also may be nourished with heavenly food unto life eternal!

But these are not the only considerations which should lead to such a determination. It must be borne in mind, brethren, that you are members of a pure branch of the Church of Christ, in which the word

of God is preached, and the sacraments are administered by a duly authorized and apostolical ministry. You are aware that it is our duty to endeavour" to keep the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of peace.' Indeed there is no duty more zealously inculcated throughout the New Testament than that of unity of sentiment and operation in the members of the Christian Church. The mischiefs of a contrary course are apparent, from its common results in matters less important than those which concern our everlasting welfare. A kingdom, a house, or even a family, divided against itself is soon brought to insignificance or ruin. Need I, then, urge the necessity and importance of providing church room for all the inhabitants of every parish; lest, for want of it, our brethren be induced to wander into strange folds, and, being corrupted by the seducing words of man's wisdom, to array themselves in unnatural hostility against their spiritual mother. Such are too often among the fatal results of a deficiency of church room.

Who, then, that has at heart the interests of religion, and the welfare of our Church, can look without regret, without a deep and awful sense of their spiritual misery, upon the members of our population who are without the means of worshipping God, on the Sabbath day, in their own parish churches, and are therefore not merely liable to be led astray, but are actually taken captive, by every wandering enthusiast or profane person, who designs to make them his prey. Not to dwell upon the evil consequences necessarily flowing from such a state of things, to our Church Establishment, I would fix your attention on its demoralizing effects to our labouring classes in particular, upon whose good conduct and peaceable demeanour, let it be remembered, depend, in a great measure, the peace and happiness of every other rank in society. Frail and erring beings, as we are, we all need continually to be reminded of the high and holy nature of our faith, and of our awful responsibility, as accountable creatures, for the due discharge of the duties of our christian profession. How deplorable, then, must be the state of those who, with a just sense of such responsibility upon their minds, are without the means of having it duly improved to their own present and future advantage, and the comfort and happiness of those around them! Wicked and perverse, as many are, the calls to repentance, and the solemn warnings to avoid God's judgments, ought ever to be sounded in their ears. How desperate, then, the condition of those, who, ignorant or forgetful of their responsibility, and almost without God in the world, are destitute of the opportunity of being taught the knowledge of God and of salvation by Jesus Christ, and of being urged to stedfastness in faith, and purity in conduct, and so to live that they may be prepared to die!

These are considerations which should dispel lukewarmness and indifference, as the orb of day disperses the shades and mists of night. They should kindle the holy flame of zeal in the bosom of every man who values his faith as a Christian, and whose heart is devoted to God and godliness. They should rouse the slumbering Churchman into watchfulness; and induce him to "watch about (his) Sion, and go round about her; and tell the towers thereof," to "mark well her bulwarks," and SET UP HER HOUSES. Nay, the time is come when we must not only watch, but buckle on our spiritual armour, prepared

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to go forth in the strength of the Lord, contending earnestly faith once delivered to the saints." The haters of God and the despisers of religion have combined together to root out the remembrance of His name, and of our Zion in which he chooses to dwell; while the Edomites of our day goad them on with the ancient and unnatural cry— "Down with it, down with it, even to the ground!" It is no time, brethren, to stand at our ease, and rest on our arms, while foes like these are in array against the ark of the Lord. We must up and be doing. We must fight manfully under Christ's banner, against sin, the world, and the devil. We must be more stedfast in faith, purer in heart, holier in life and conversation. And, above all, we must unite to strengthen and defend our Zion, by enlarging and increasing her folds, and by multiplying her shepherds; that the prodigal and the wanderer may be restored to her bosom, and food and shelter provided for all who are disposed to accept them. "Be thou faithful unto death," saith our Lord to the Angel of the Church in Smyrna, " and I will give thee a crown of life."

CLER. CANTUAR.

MISCELLANEOUS.

HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN SECTS.

No. IV.

ARIANISM, concluded.

SECT. 3.-Arianism in England.-Conclusion.

DURING the latter part of the seventeenth century, the tenets of Arianism had been repeatedly broached by foreign writers, and imported into England chiefly by those who dissented from the Church. In reply to these opponents of the orthodox creed, as well as to others of a Socinian, rather than an Arian stamp, Bishop Bull directed his two great works, the Defensio Fidei Nicence, and the Primitiva et Apostolica Traditio; wherein, by an accurate investigation of the doctrines maintained by the primitive Church down to the decision of the council of Nice, he established a convincing argument, that those doctrines were the true primitive articles of the Christian faith transmitted by the Apostles to their successors. His complete success over his adversaries was acknowledged by the most eminent divines, both at home and abroad; and his labours will ever furnish an invaluable defence of the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity in Unity. The controversy, however, was not extinguished; and it again broke out, shortly after the death of Bishop Bull, in the very pale of the Established Church. In the year 1708, Mr. William Whiston, the successor of Newton in the Mathematical chair at Cambridge, and the translator of Josephus, stood forth as the avowed champion of the Arian doctrines. He seems to have imbibed, or at least to have been confirmed in, the adoption of these principles from a perusal of the Apostolic Constitutions, an acknowledged forgery; but which he did not hesitate to declare "of equal authority